[TOKYO, JAPAN, 29 July 2011]
Under the Tegami Project (“tegemi” is Japanese for “letter”) messages from children around the world are being delivered to children in the Tohoku region. For Phase 3 of the project, letters from children in Iceland were delivered to Kamaishi Preschool in Iwate Prefecture.
On this occasion, Iceland native Mr. Arnar Jensson, who assisted in the delivery of the letters from Iceland to Japan, was kind enough to volunteer to personally deliver the letters to the preschool. Kamaishi Preschool’s school building was damaged in the tsunami, and classes have now been restarted using the former Kamaishi-Minami Preschool building. When we arrived at the preschool the children were all playing energetically.
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| Mr. Jensson singing with the children. |
Upon entering the classroom, the 24 upper-class children welcomed Mr. Jensson with a warm greeting. When Mr. Jensson asked the students whether they knew about Iceland, some of the children said, “Is it a country with lots of ice cream?” Soon after, however, the children immediately became immersed in Mr. Jensson’s stories as he told them about the distant country. They were very surprised to hear that while Iceland is far away from Japan, the two countries share many similarities; Iceland is also an island country, people eat a lot of fish and there are onsen hot springs. The children listened carefully to Mr. Jensson as he told stories and even did some magic tricks, and they were on the edge of their seats as he showed pictures of the landscapes and animals from his home country. The children even sang and danced to Icelandic version of “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”.
After everyone was finished learning about Iceland, it was time to give the children the letters. Everyone watched excitedly as two children opened the box of letters for the rest of the class. One by one the students began to pull out beautifully colored letters from the box. The children found letters painted in a rainbow of colors, letters with smiles drawn on them, and a message board with pictures and messages. After receiving the letters the older classmates read the message aloud as everyone listened with big smiles on their faces.
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| Children smiling as they read the letters that arrived from Iceland. | A message board that arrived from Iceland. |
Next, all of the students gathered to write a reply to the children in Iceland. Some children drew Icelandic flags, some made origami animals and others wrote “takk” (“Thank you” in Icelandic). The children then took turns dropping their completed letters into the postbox. Moreover, the students folded helmets out of newspaper to give to the Icelandic children as presents.
The children then formed a chorus and sang the Japanese children’s song “Sekaiju no Kodomotachi ga” (Children Around the World). Next, the children took a group photo to include with their letters and folded helmets. The children smiled as they told us, “I was so happy to get the letters” and “I want to go to the hot springs in Iceland someday.” An invisible bridge had been formed between these children and their friends so far away in Iceland.
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| A boy writing “thank you” in Icelandic. | A boy proudly putting a picture he drew into the postbox. | The children wore their paper helmets in a group photo. |
All photo credits: © Japan Committee for UNICEF/2011/K.Goto
| Receiving Prefecture |
Type of Emergency Supplies |
Arrival Date |
Quantity | Donating Company |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyagi | Water | 19 Mar. | 12,288 bottles |
VanaH Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Fukushima | Water | 22 Mar. | 12,672 bottles |
VanaH Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Miyagi | Underwear for boys and girls | 22 Mar. | 200,000 | ||
| Iwate | Underwear for boys and girls | 23 Mar. | 30,000 | ||
| Fukushima | Water | 23 Mar. | 4,680 bottles |
KIRIN MC DANONE WATERS Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Miyagi | Children’s shoes | 23 Mar. | 10,000 pairs |
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| Miyagi | Children’s diapers | 24 Mar. | 80 packs | P&G Japan | |
| Iwate | Children’s underwear | 24 Mar. | 9,700 | ||
| Fukushima | Water | 24 Mar. | 12,288 bottles |
VanaH Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Iwate | Shoes | 26 Mar. | 1,404 pairs | Achilles Corporation | |
| Iwate | Underwear for boys and girls | 27 Mar. | 28,266 | ||
| Iwate | Boots | 27 Mar. | 7,462 pairs | ||
| Iwate | Wipes | 28 Mar. | 1,200 | P&G Japan | For babies |
| Miyagi | Recreation kits Early Childhood Development kits |
2 Apr. | 50 of each | Procured from the UNICEF Supply Division | |
| Iwate | Recreation kits Early Childhood Development kits |
2 Apr. | 50 of each | Procured from the UNICEF Supply Division | |
| Miyagi | Book bags | 6 Apr. | 70 | Nihon New Bag Chain | |
| Iwate | Book bags | 6-7 Apr. | 340 | Seiban | |
| Miyagi | Schoolbags | 8 Apr. | 18,000 | Procured from the UNICEF Supply Division | |
| Iwate | Schoolbags | 8 Apr. | 18,000 | Procured from the UNICEF Supply Division | |
| Miyagi | Personal security buzzers (for crime prevention purposes) | 8 Apr. | 5,000 | ||
| Iwate | Personal security buzzers (for crime prevention purposes) | 8 Apr. | 5,000 | ||
| Miyagi | Minicar | 8 Apr. | 3 cars | ||
| Miyagi | Nutritional supplements | From early April | 4,000 bottles | ||
| Fukushima | Water | 11 Apr. | 1,536 bottles | VanaH Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Miyagi | Replenishments for recreation kits | 12 Apr. | 60 sets | ||
| Miyagi | Miniature toy cars | 12 Apr. | Approx. 1,200 | TAKARA TOMY | |
| Sagamihara* | Water | 12 Apr. | 12,288 bottles | VanaH Co., Ltd. | Two-liter plastic bottles |
| Miyagi | Play mats | 13 Apr. | Two types; 80 of each type | IKEA | |
| Miyagi | Drawing sets | 13 Apr. | 60 sets | IKEA | |
| Iwate | Preschool-size chairs, tables and low tables | 14 Apr. | 75 chairs; 11 tables; 9 low tables | Donated to preschools, primary schools, junior high schools and high schools in the disaster area as well as their new locations | |
| Miyagi | Mopeds | 15 Apr. | 5 | ||
| Iwate | Notebooks and stationery sets for primary and junior high school students | 15. Apr. | 16,700 sets | ||
| Miyagi | 183 computers; 57 copiers and fax machines; 61 printers | 18-21 Apr. | Distributed to preschools, primary schools, junior high schools and high schools in the disaster area as well as their new locations | ||
| Fukushima | Movable blackboards | 21 Apr. | 10 | ||
| Fukushima | Temporary toilets | 22 Apr. | 20 | ||
| Iwate | Geiger counters | 28 Apr. | 14 | For schools in Soma City | |
| Iwate | Dressing room/ breastfeeding partition system | 28 Apr. | 21 sets | ||
| Saitama* | Milk | From late April | Shelter in Futabamachi, Kazo City | ||
| Saitama* | Yogurt | From early May | Danone Japan | Shelter in Futabamachi, Kazo City | |
| Iwate | Color pencils (120 sets) and paint (240 sets) | 13 May | |||
| Iwate | Student lamps | 14 May | 15 | ||
| Iwate | Stationery sets | 16 May | 840 sets | ||
| Fukushima | Lockers | 16 May | 22 sets | For the Board of Education of Minamisoma City | |
| Fukushima | Computers | 16 May | 1 | Ishikawa Town Board of Education | |
| Miyagi | 2 copiers; 2 computers; 2 printers | May | For Higashi-Matsushima Day-Care Center and Watari Day-Care Center | ||
| Iwate | Water receiving tank, water purifier tank, water supply tank | May construction | May construction | ||
| Miyagi | Solar-powered vaccine refrigerator | 18 May | |||
| Fukushima | Fans | 30 May | 112 | Minamisoma City Board of Education | |
| Fukushima | Masks | 30 May | 100,000 | Minamisoma City Board of Education | |
| Iwate | 1 copy machine | 2 June | |||
| Saitama* | Shoes | 15 June | 460 pairs | Converse Footwear Co., Ltd. |
-Number of UNICEF Children’s Mini Libraries distributed: Approximately 150,000 books to over 900 locations (as of 20 June 2011).
-Number of children that have participated in the UNICEF “Let’s Play! The Outdoors Playtime Project” in Fukushima Prefecture: Approximately 5,600 (as of 26 May)
*Areas receiving disaster victims.
*In certain cases some supplies may be taken from prefectural supply storage warehouses and distributed to shelters and disaster sites in other prefectures.
As of 9:00 a.m. on 17 June 2011 (compiled by the Information and Public Affairs Division).
