Support for children in disaster areas in Japan

A lot of playgrounds disappeared in Tohoku region because of the tsunami damage or for the construction of temporary houses. Therefore, we deliver varied play tools to several temporal houses areas, open spaces around there, or somewhere like this, by operating the play kitchen car, which is called “Sammy”. We create an opportunity for multigenerational residents to gather and mingle with others.

At the moment, we have got a new problem to resolve. Because some residents have started leaving their temporary houses, the social community which has been grown up for 4 years is coming down. There is a little conflict about moving house between adults and it affects negatively on children’s relationships.

In this summer, we organized an event of Nagashi Somen (Flowing Somen Noodles Event, a Japanese traditional summer event to eat somen noodles) with children living in a temporary houses area. The children decided their tasks and schedule of this event by themselves. They prepared one by one, and when they need our help, we supported them while staying by their sides. First of all, they made fire by using ancient method and split the bamboo tubes with us. In this temporary houses area, the relationships among children are getting better and better than in the past. Children respect with each other, make the rule of play together, and create their place for play.

There was no precedent for such a catastrophe, therefore we do not have a clear answer the “what should we do?” question. However, we believe that play can be helpful way to build a child friendly environment. We will continue operating our mobile play, while considering how the reconstruction support should be and how the environment for children should be.

Links:

• HP of this project