| | The Summer camp was called "Camp Starfish" and about 30 kids were the YMCA's counselor Maddy-san's group. We were so grateful that we had a help from 4 non-members including 17-y-o Kensei-kun since providing 3 programs (Origami, Calligraphy & Kimono wearing) within one hour wasn't so easy. Today, we had 4 instructors at each program and 2 photographers in 2 separate rooms while Maddy-san's colleagues were also helping us organize groups, and it worked perfectly.
Just like the name, Starfish, kids were in the water (swimming) right before our program. So naturally, their hair was wet and their hands were damp. Besides there was no air conditioner in the room. As a result, the Origami papers, Calligraphy Hanshi papers and Kimonos all got damp, too. Accordingly, Jumping Frog the Origami were having a hard time jumping... Kimonos and belts as well as instructors, especially me, were all soaked... After a bucket of sweat, however, there was always a big reward we receive from kid's happy face, and that is absolutely priceless.
Thanks to Keiko-san who called her friends to join us. I hope there will be another time we could work together again in the near future. Thanks to Akiko-san for her good thinking to prepare calligraphy letter sample of easy characters for kids. Lots of thanks to Atsuko-san for taking care of those Kimonos - It may take up so much space to hang them in the house (wouldn't be able to do under direct sun or bring to dry cleaning as it'd ruin the materials) and probably take more than a week to dry them all. And, as always, to our 14 (!) wonderful volunteers who decided to offer their time and labor to accomplish this special mission as great cavaliers to support Maddy-san. Most of all, on behalf of our organization, members and Japanese people, I would like to say sincere thank you to Maddy-san for not just her generous donation to MHJCA which we, of course, were very very grateful but also that she taught us something very important - Her warmness and kindness she had expressed toward kids had truly touched our heart. I sincerely hope she would always remember the World Peace starts from an individual's kind heart like hers. God bless you, Maddy-san.
Midori Shinye
Project Leader | | 8月11日Kingston YMCAでのｶﾙﾁｬｰﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑ
この"ｷｬﾝﾌﾟ･ｽﾀｰﾌｨｯｼｭ"という名のｻﾏｰｷｬﾝﾌﾟの中でYMCAｶｳﾝｾﾗｰのマディーさんの担当するｸﾞﾙｰﾌﾟには約30人の子供が参加しています。1時間の間で30人近くの子供を相手に3つのﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑ(折り紙・習字・着物の着付け)をこなすというのは結構大変なので、啓子さんが17歳の顕成君を含む知り合いの方4名をヘルプとして呼んで下さったので本当に助かりました。その結果今日は各ﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑ毎に4名のｲﾝｽﾄﾗｸﾀｰ、2つの部屋にそれぞれ写真係りがついて、マディーさんの同僚のｶｳﾝｾﾗｰの方々が監督する中でﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑを進めましたがとてもうまくいきました。
"ｽﾀｰﾌｨｯｼｭ" という名前の通り子供達はﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾗﾑの前に水の中に(水泳をして)いたということで、当然全員の髪がﾍﾞｯﾁｮﾘ濡れていて手も湿っぽくなっていました。その上にエアコンが部屋に入っていなかったので、結果折り紙ﾍﾟｰﾊﾟｰから習字の半紙から着物まですっかり湿ってしまいました。どうやら聞いたところによると、折り紙飛びｶｴﾙがなかなか飛ばなかったとか...。着物から帯、それからｲﾝｽﾄﾗｸﾀｰ(特に私)までﾍﾞﾄﾍﾞﾄ...。しかしいつもの様に子供達の楽しそうな笑顔を見たらﾊﾞｹﾂ一杯の汗の苦労の甲斐がありました。
お友達を呼んで下さった啓子さん本当に有難うございました。また皆さんと近い将来何かいっしょにさせて頂けたらと願います。それからちゃんと気を使って子供達が書きやすい字のサンプルを用意して下さった章子さん、有難うございました。着物は外で太陽に当てたりﾄﾞﾗｲｸﾘｰﾆﾝｸﾞには持っていけないので、あれ全部を家の中で干すにはものすごい場所を取ったと思うしおそらく完全に乾くまで1週間以上かかってしまうと思いますが、湿った着物を全部預かって下さった篤子さんに感謝感謝です。それから、マディーさんをサポートする目的で今日ガス代抜きでご協力頂いた14名のﾎﾞﾗﾝﾃｨｱの皆さんに心からお礼を言いたいと思います。最後に、会に個人的に寄付を送って下さっただけでなく、大変意味のある教えを学ばせて下さったマディーさんにMHJCAだけでなく日本人を代表して心から感謝致します。彼女の子供達に対する暖かい真心に対して私達全員本当に強く心から感激しました。世界平和というのは彼女の様に一個人の親切心から始まるということをぜひいつまでも覚えていてほしいと願います。マディーさんに神様の恵みがありますように。
新江 緑
ﾌﾟﾛｼﾞｪｸﾄﾘｰﾀﾞｰ | |
