Natural Disaster Youth Summit
Our hearts are all with those victims caused by the earthquake and tsunami that happened around Indian Ocean. It is sad to say this is the way the year of 2004 is leaving.
Friends, it seems for me the earth tells, "You, human beings are on a crust of the living earth. The living earth has its own awful energy and its restless motion started 46 hundred million years ago. I do not care to whom, when, where; it is my own motion, not for you."
On this rending crust of earth, we live and have built our societies. When we face the violent motion of earth, how we can keep our lives safe and survive.
JEARN thinks using the full wisdom from ancient times, and local and world languages, we need to learn about these destructive natural works, to predict, to prevent, and to send the same amount of love to fully cover agony and sorrow to the disaster areas.
This is why iEARN has created the "Natural Disaster Youth Summit" Project http://ndys.jearn.jp/eng.html. Children learn how to help each other through this project. This is facilitated by Kazuko Okamoto, Yoshie Naya, Masahiro Okuuchi, Yoshiko Fukui and many other volunteers, and I say it is our contribution from the country of earthquakes.
Please join this project. It has a pre-conference on 18th January, and Youth Summit Conference 2005 on 28th March.
To answer Cheryl Morgan, UK:
Yuko - what iEARN activities or actions were most helpful to your
children who suffered through two major earthquakes in recent years?
Here are some I can tell now:
After Kobe Great Earthquake, there are some documents to advise those who help children severely affected by the disasters, and even to advise those who help adults who help children through the bitter experiences that last a long time. Ms Ozawa at International Christian University, Tokyo, made a handbook of "Kokoro no Care" (To Care for the Hearts of Children), full of advice on matters facing children. http://www.survival.org Sorry, it is in Japanese. I need to ask Ms Ozawa if they have it in English.
It has : no forced encouragements to them but stay together beside them and wait and wait until they start crying or talking themselves, for example. They have used up enormous self encouragements already.
I learned that some bright color tapestry in their classroom or comfort quilt works are good to cheer their hearts up, as well as many messages from all over the world on the wall.
Mr.Kihara, a teacher in Kyushu, is preparing to send Art Mile Mural size cloth to one of those schools in Niigata (bought by donation). The children altogether will design and paint on it focusing on their group works, and forgetting the pain in their hearts. It is a kind of therapy.
When children survive, but close their minds, no facial expression, no words, or even trying to appear ok at the moment and later collapse, they need a long time to recover fully and the time to recover varies with each child.
There are many others to share with you, and these exchanges may be in "Natural Disaster Youth Summit" Project. It is not only for earthquakes, but for typhoons, for any other natural disasters in the years to come.