📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Kunimi-En is a school and home for mentally challenged people, and was founded in 1996 as "A big home where everyone cares for others". The main aim of this school is to provide mentally handicapped people with a comfortable living space, treating them as individuals with dignity, so that they feel at home and enjoy their life. All staff is trying to focus on not only to enrich the services they are providing but also to introduce their welfare programs and activities to the local people. There are approximately 40 people living in the facility. Kunimi-en has been our partner since 1998 (it is actually the first year of CIEE’s incoming workcamp), and it is going to be 20th anniversary this summer.
Since 2016, Kunimi-En started to broaden their IVP activities to a local daycare center so that Int’l volunteer can experience more deeply about Japanese lifestyle as well as getting more chances for intercultural communication with locals.
💼 What the programme involves
June 25th- 30th
-Assist handicapped people (from 25 to 75 years old) both indoor (hand craft, drawing) and outdoor activities (taking a walk, visiting an art exhibition)
-Help daily routines (cleaning the room and facility)
-Introduce volunteer’s home country (prepare your presentation in advance)
-Have a daily meeting with stuff in the morning/evening
July 1st – 9th
-Assist seniors at day service center (About 20-30 seniors). Other activities are TBD
🏠 Accommodation on site
Accommodation:
June 25th- 30th RYOKAN （Japanese style hotel) Volunteers commute to Kunimi-en by a car
July 1st – 9th TBD
Facilities:
June 25th- 30th Japanese Tatami room with Futon mattress, a washer, a Western-style lavatory and a public bathroom with bathtab (you share the space with others at the same time). No kitchen. Internet access is available. Supermarket and convenience stores are located in 10 minutes by car.
July 1st – 9th TBD
Meals:
June 25th- 30th Provided (or sometimes instructed where to buy) by staff 3 times in a day
July 1st – 9th TBD
📍 About the location
Kunimi-En is about half an hour by train from Kofu city in Yamanashi prefecture. You can enjoy the wide view of Mt. Fuji, registered as a world heritage, a highest mountain in Japan, with the Japan South Alps in the background. This area is also famous for a rapid Fuji river, and those landscapes are depicted in famous Japanese printing "Ukiyoe" by the artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760～1849).
A volunteer needs at least 10,000 JPY in cash if she/he wants to go sightseeing on free-day.
⚠️ Requirements
1. A volunteer who has an interest or studies for social welfare (Social service) are most welcome. Please show your understanding and consideration on developmentally handicapped people such as autism disorder or Down syndrome etc.
2. A motivation letter (more than 5 sentences long) is required. Please include your interest, motivation, experience and strength of yourself in English or Japanese.
ℹ️ Additional information
Conversational Japanese would be very helpful (but not required) to enjoy this project.