By Robert John Bliss
We JETs are a lucky bunch. We are well-paid. For many of us, our rent is paid for or subsidized by our contracting organizations. ALTs get to teach adorable children all the time. CIRs get to be involved with the community and in improving and maintaining international relations. We’re given several paid days off each year. In other words, we have an amazing job! I think I reflect the feelings of many of us when I say I’m always looking for ways to give back to the Japanese community which has given me so much. Here in Tokushima, we’ve found a great way to do just that every year.
It was my great pleasure to be the lead coordinator for this year’s Child Welfare Center (CWC) Christmas visits in Tokushima prefecture. A CWC is a home for kids who, for whatever reason, cannot be at their own home for some length of time, whether it be for a few hours a day, for days at a time, or simply all the time. Every year Tokushima JETs (as well as other volunteers) donate their time and money to give something back to our community by volunteering at these homes. We visit six CWC homes all around the prefecture in early December and spend two hours with the kids there. We play games and chat. At the end of the visit, Santa comes to give each kid a present. Each home has between around 15 and 70 kids. This year, we bought gifts for 235 kids. Each gift is around 1,000 yen, meaning we raised about 235,000 yen for gifts this year. It’s an absolute delight for everyone involved. The kids are always excited to have us visit and spend time with them and, of course, to receive their presents. We’re always happy and excited to be making a difference. And the kids are great! Who WOULDN’T want to spend time with them?
I’m very proud of all the Tokushima JETs who volunteered their time, energy, and money to making these visits an amazing success. I’m especially proud of the 5 individual JETs who went the extra mile and volunteered to coordinate the visits of individual homes and of the 5 JETs who volunteered to coordinate gifts for each home. I’d also like to express my great appreciation and gratitude for the Tokushima chapter of Smile Kids Japan, which was founded this year by Tokushima ALTs, for coordinating the visit for the 6th home. As much energy as I put into these visits, they put in far, far more. I simply could not have done this without all of them.
I encourage everyone in every prefecture to try to give back to their communities in whatever way possible. Volunteering at homes for disadvantaged kids is just one way (which I highly recommend). But there are so many other opportunities out there for those who will take them. For our part, we in Tokushima are hoping to expand the efforts of Smile Kids Japan in our prefecture and visit more CWC homes, more often. We also produce and perform an annual musical play at no charge to the audience. The play is in simple English with some Japanese as well. It is met with great enthusiasm each year by the Japanese community. So give back to your community anyway you can. Whether it’s helping those who need it or just bringing smiles to people’s faces. Our communities have given each of us so much. The best way to say thank you is to give something back.
