📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
This year is 71th memorial year after the nuclear bombing were thrown in the city of Hiroshima in 1945. It is still recorded as first and remains the only time nuclear weapons were ever used in a war. Every summer, Hiroshima City University hosts a 4 days FREE peace camp on their campus ground in Asaminami area in order to provide volunteers and visitors a place to stay (since hotel price goes high and all booked before/after the Aug 6th). They believe peace camp is not just an accommodation, but also a place new people meet up and interact with one another. During the camp, people seek an opportunity to think about world peace, a society with no violence and no nuclear weapons. At the Peace memorial ceremony, Hiroshima city mayor and other VIP guests give a speech and the message from the United Nations Secretary-General will be delivered as well.
It is a joint project with KUSUNOKI childcare center, Hiroshima University and Kochi town in Hiroshima. CIEE Japan has been organizing this project since 2008 and it is going to be 9th anniversary in this summer.
KUSUNOKI Childcare center (JAPANESE) http://qoonea.com/kusunoki/index.html
Student NPO “TSUNAGARI” (JAPANESE) http://t-trip.6.ql.bz/~t-trip/tsunagari/
💼 What the programme involves
-Help children at KUSUNOKI childcare center for a week
(Take children to the park, have them take a shower and a nap. Prepare snacks)
-Participate and offer a silent prayer to 70th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony and its related events in August 6th
-Take turns in wood chopping, cooking, planning an event (have an open air concert, do fireworks, make candles, sendoff lanterns and “KAIDAN” Ghost Stories telling during night time), pitch/clean tents. There are about 150 people (both volunteers and campers) attending the peace camp between August 4-7th.
-Attend cultural exchange workshop/discussion with Hiroshima University Students. In previous year, they made Japanese cuisine, origami, and paper fan together with International volunteers. Students are planning something new this summer
-At Kochi town, volunteers join activities such as bamboo craft, toy, running Somen noodles, farming with handicapped, visiting senior care home, elementary school and Shinto shrine
The weather is not stable at this time of the seasons. Outdoor work (especially during camping) may change if it rains.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Accommodation:
Volunteer will stay at 3 different places
1. KUSUNOKI Childcare center – On the floor with matress (August 1~4 , 7~10)
2. Peace Camp - Tent (August 4~7)
3. A volunteer house -Shared room (August 10~16)
Facilities:
It depends on the accommodation. Basically a kitchen, bathroom, restroom are equipped. During camping, volunteers take a shower at the school gym. A laundry is nearby the childcare center.
Meals:
Volunteers take turns and cook/clean by themselves. During camping, volunteers cook at least one big dinner for all volunteers
📍 About the location
Hiroshima city which has overcome and recovered from the tragedy of atomic bombing in WWⅡ is now the biggest city in Chugoku-Shikoku Region. If you would like to visit Osaka/Kyoto/Nara/Kobe area, plan your trip after the project, you will not be able to go sightseeing those tour spots during workcamp. A volunteer needs at least 5,000 JPY in cash if she/he wants to go sightseeing on free-day.
⚠️ Requirements
1. Extra fee 3,500 JPY(about 30 EURO) . Please pay on arrival. This fee will be used for transportation during the camp.
2. A participant should be between 18 – 30 years old.
3. If your volunteer cancels a project with any reason after confirmation slip has been submitted to CIEE Japan, we request your organization to find an alternative volunteer. Cancellation gives a huge impact in this project because there are many local people preparing to welcome international volunteers (They do some pre-study about the countries international volunteers are from)
4. Volunteers should study about the history of Hiroshima –Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Atomic Bomb Museum, the Atom bomb dome - before coming to Japan.
Sleeping bag, mattress (at a childcare center, a floor is very hard and sleeping bag may be too thin to hurt your back), work clothes that are suitable for activities (T-shirts, pants), sneakers, toiletries, towels, hat/cap, rain wear, Volunteers are requested to introduce their own countries by showing photos and maps, teaching children’s songs and plays, or introducing recipes.