Category: Reports

Charity party – Thank You

Over 70 nadians participated in our annual charity party on March 9. Thank you for your attendance! Spending time with all of our friends, surrounded by great food, is an immense happiness to us all.

We had the opportunity to present our activities from the past year, and receiving your positive feedback is a great motivation as we tackle our activities in the coming year. Some of you encouraged us with tears in your eyes, and gave us great confidence that we are on the right path. As we continue down this path, your supportive words will remain close to our hearts.

We would like to express our utmost gratitude to Patric Pachon from Restaurant Le Petit Bedon, who has always been a staunch nadia supporter, for providing us with the wonderful food and venue.

Report: ski trip with people living with epilepsy

nadia new thrilling activity achieved: onsen and ski trip with people living with epilepsy (Japan Epilepsy Association, Chiba pref) at Nikko Yumoto Ski resort
We enjoyed so much while helping skiing, bathing together, learning how to help when a seizure occurs.
We made new friends and will do it again next year! Thank you so much for those who joined!
Why don’t you join us next events?

Ogatsu Playground Build Report – September 2016

This fantastic project started back in February 2016, after team nadia was asked to bring a kids playground to the city of Ogatsucho in the Ishinomaki area. Ogatsucho is a small fisher village directly at the cost line. Residential buildings are rebuilt on higher grounds as many houses were destroyed by the 2011 tsunami.

The very fun part was to involve children from the Koyama Home orphanage in Chiba throughout the planning phase as well as the build and opening ceremony.

Thanks to our friends at Playground of Hope (PoH) and the sponsors of International Volunteer Group (IVG) this became a huge success.

ogatsu-2016-01nadia volunteer committee members met with the Koyama Home kids the first time in July to introduce and discuss about the project.
The second meeting was a done via Video Conference. The breakfast menu on the day of event was decided with the kids then.
And the third time we met again in August, finalizing the plan and started folding a 1000 paper cranes.

After a night in the bus we started the day early with a rich breakfast prepared by the kids. Salad, sausages, scrambled egg and toasted bread was on the menu.ogatsu-2016-02

While the Koyama Home group went on an organized “sightseeing” tour we started with the playground construction from the very beginning. The group came back in the early afternoon and all helped with putting the parts together.ogatsu-2016-03

Thanks to the professional lead of Yannick, Angela of POH and Horiuchi-san of Sakae corporation the playground and spring rockers were in place in the evening.ogatsu-2016-04

Dinner with deliciously fresh seafood was organized by the local community. That was a highlight by itself.ogatsu-2016-05

Day two was all about the opening ceremony.
After quickly folding some more paper cranes the speeches of all involved parties were spoken and balloons released.ogatsu-2016-06

A local taiko drum formation impressed with their powerful and synchronized drum performance and our Okinawa music performer Ritsuko animated to dance.ogatsu-2016-07
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It was a pleasure to see the local and the Koyama Home children playing on the brand new playground.ogatsu-2016-09
ogatsu-2016-10Another round of BBQ with the freshest scallops and hoya (sea pineapple) for lunch before we went back on the long drive to Chiba and Tokyo.

It was an outstanding experience for team nadia to work together with all the involved groups. Especially heartwarming is the relationship with the Koyama Home children, which we will never forget and hopefully staying in contact with other projects in the future.
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by Rolf

 

Sanja Matsuri Report – July 2016

We were able to organize this trip thanks to the fundraiser event with auction on 3/11 earlier this year.

The journey started with a smaller group of volunteers and about the same amount of nadia core members on Friday night from Shinjuku.

The bus drove through the night and we arrived safely early morning in Ishinomaki. We could get another few hours of sleep, laying down in the Minato community center.

Saturday morning we split into several groups:

Gentaro and Joji visited Chiba-san to plan about the Ogatsu playground build in September

Sakiko and volunteer friends went shopping for ingredients and then prepared crepes in the Minato community center kitchen for the Sunday festival

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Koss and a fellow volunteer drove to Kamome school for disabled kids where we built a playground at the end of 2014; they did some maintenance and weeding around the play-set

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Morgan and Rolf took some volunteers to the annual grass and weed cutting around the Atsuta shrine. Fortunately we got reinforced by locals helpers

It was raining quite hard the whole Saturday but on Sunday it luckily cleared up, right on time for the Sanja kids festival.

The preparations and ceremony started early Sunday morning.

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By the time the kids and adults in their blue happis (shirts), carrying the mikoshi (portable shrine), shouting ‘yoisa yoisa’, came back from their rounds around the neighborhood the following entertainment was ready:

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giant “magic” bubbles (not so gigantic in the picture)

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the shovel guitar players proved again that it doesn’t need strings to play the shovels

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the Ogatsu taiko drummers took it away with their outstanding powerful performance

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the Okinawa performers sang and played traditional songs with their shamisen guitars

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fishing water balloons and toys which turned into a big splash zone in the end – how fun was that!

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various foods like yakisoba and others from the local community as well as crepes from team nadia

THANK YOU, supporters of the 3/11 memorial dinner and volunteers to make a difference by supporting this great festival event. We participated the 5th time this year and its always great fun as you can see on the pictures above.

by Rolf

 

Ishinomaki meets Kumamoto

After discussing what Nadia could do for the survivors of the Kumamoto earthquake on April 14, we came up with our latest program called “Ishinomaki meets Kumamoto” – to deliver products purchased from Ishinomaki food product companies, which experienced the great earthquake five years ago, to an area in Kumamoto which was devastated by this recent disaster. Nadia contacted a company it has had a long-standing relationship with which very eagerly jumped on board and even arranged additional suppliers to join in.

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Meanwhile, we received contact from a group called Nishihara Village Tanpopo House in Kumamoto, asking for food and other provisions. Nishihara Village is located close to Aso and was one of the most severely damaged municipalities along with Mashiki Town. This organization’s main mission is the operation of a facility for people with disabilities, but after the earthquake it began providing hot meals and delivering relief supplies. Nishihara Village Tanpopo House was recently featured on a n NHK program called Baribara aired May 29, in an episode titled “90 days from the Kumamoto earthquake – rebuilding Nishihara Village and the workshops”. (Japanese only: http://www6.nhk.or.jp/baribara/lineup/single.html?i=128)

Fortunately, Suenaga-san from Miyagi was on his way to volunteer in Kumamoto and delivered the relief supplies by car for us – travelling the great distance of 1600km! We are very happy that we were able to deliver Nadia’s support to Kumamoto. A big thank you to everyone that helped out in the form of donations and delivery! We are praying for the speedy recovery of Kumamoto.

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Nadia International Soccer Friendly Cup 2016 Report

Tokyo, May 27-29, 2016

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Event Overview
Nadia NPO is actively supporting many projects for children affected by the March 11, 2011 disaster in Tohoku. Since 2013, Nadia has delivered over 18 new “Playgrounds of Hope” to disaster-stricken areas in Tohoku, in addition to sending children affected by Fukushima disaster to summer homestays in Italy and rebuilding of a new community center/soccer club house in Rikuzentakata.

The Nadia International Soccer Friendly Cup is the result of a collaborative proposal to invite soccer teams from the disaster-stricken Tohoku area to the Kanto area to participate in a soccer tournament to build lasting friendships between Tohoku and Kanto, in addition to exposing them to an international community of children and families in the much in the same way the global community has rallied together in support of the Tohoku region since 2011. The event was first held in May 2015 with 4 teams from Tohoku and 4 from Tokyo International Schools. The success of this event led to the building of long lasting relationships between Tohoku and Tokyo teams.

kids soccer 2016-02Following the success of the event last year, the members of Nadia were excited to run the event again with the ambition to make the event bigger and better. An important accomplishment this year year was the connection to the local Hikarigaoka community via the community liaison Hiroshi Asemi. We expanded the event with the addition of a soccer field and 2 local Japanese soccer teams, which meant more fun and time play for all participating kids. In addition, we also had a special guest, Manuel Belleri from AC Milan soccer school who performed as a soccer clinic coach to the delight of all
participating teams.

The following teams returned to compete this year to try to reclaim the Soccer Cup from the DSTY Eagles who were the winners of last year. The returning Kanto teams were the A-JIS Junior Jaguars and DSTY Eagles. From Tohoku, Rikuzentakata’s Shishiori FC, Souma’s Ohno Sports Youth FC and Ishinomaki’s Fantasista FC returned to this year friendship soccer tournament. In addition to these 5 teams, the Tokyo West Hawks, Harunokaze Canaries FC, Hikarigaoka Kid FC joined from the first time from Tokyo and the Nakano FC team joined from Sendai, also for the first time.

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The core Nadia members of Guy Roberge, Justin Ho, Fri McWilliams, Naomi Rennie, Asumi Ota and Morgan Knight in coordination with Greg Culos from Aoba JIS formed the core committee to coordinate and execute this event to great success. Operation of the event was coordinated by volunteers from Nadia and the participating sponsor organizations to help with setup, supervision, food preparation and refereeing of the games.

Arrival of the Tohoku Teams
The Nadia International Soccer Friendly Cup was hosted on the weekend of May 28th and 29th with the Tohoku teams arriving on the evening of Friday, May 27th to dorm at the gymnasium of A-JIS. Many of the children from Tohoku were in Tokyo for the first time. The Tohoku kids were so excited after their arrival to dorm at A-JIS, they were found to have woken up to an energetic sunny 6:00 am start to the day (somewhat to the dismay of the supporting Tohoku coaches staying with the children overnight, who were hoping for some extra sleep).

Day 1 Soccer Matches and Activities
The Tokyo teams and volunteers arrived on the morning of May 28th when meetings for the coaches and volunteers were held. The opening ceremony hosted by Greg set the outline and tone of the event to be one of friendly competition and sportsmanship. On Day 1, all teams played a total of 5 games with a mix of teams playing against international teams, local Japanese teams and Tohoku teams on 2 fields.

kids soccer 2016-04Soccer matches commenced at 9am and ran throughout the day, through lunch and right up until dinner. Teams that were not playing on the fields had the opportunity to attend AC Milan’s soccer clinics, play in the pool and cheer other playing teams between their own matches.

The events continued well into late in the afternoon with the soccer teams being taken to the local sento to bathe after their final matches. A dinner BBQ was hosted by the volunteers consisting of hamburgers, hotdogs, salad and grilled vegetables.

kids soccer 2016-05Both the Tohoku teams and Kanto teams were exhausted from a full day of activities by the evening and retired to the gymnasium where they would dorm for the night in preparation for the 2nd day of soccer matches. A total of 130 kids stayed over at Aoba.

Throughout the day, local community volunteers from Aoba-JIS, Hikarigaoka local community were gracious enough to set aside time to work alongside the corporate volunteers from our sponsor organizations.
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Andreas and staff at Cezar’s Kitchen ensured all kids were in top shape
for the game by providing delicious breakfast and lunch on Saturday

The staff of Caezar’s Kitchen provided breakfast and bentos for the first day of the matches, while also assisting with the procurement of all food for the volunteer-run BBQ on Saturday evening and the finale BBQ hosted on Sunday.

Day 2 Soccer Matches and Activities
Based on the results from Day 1, the teams were ranked to play in the final tournamenent matches. Like Saturday, the children woke to an early start and were practicing on the soccer pitch by 6 am.
The staff of Caesar’s Kitchen had breakfast for kids ready by 7:30 am for

the teams to be ready for their initial matches at 9 am. The 2nd day of the event had a total of 11 matches among all teams to determine the final rankings and the winners of the Nadia International Soccer Friendly Cup.

kids soccer 2016-07The Tokyo West competing against Shishiori FC at Harunokaze field

With the games running throughout the day, the volunteers from the sponsor organizations came together to prepare for the finale BBQ.

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BBQ on Saturday and Sunday featured Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Seasonal Grilled Vegetables prepared by our dedicated volunteers to the delight of all kids

By 1:50 pm after the rounds of intense play, the tournament came to a close and the competing teams were brought together for the closing ceremony. Placement awards were for:

First Place: A-JIS Junior Jaguars, awarded by Satoshi Mitsuda, CSR Committee at J.P. Morgan

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Second Place: Tokyo West Hawks, awarded by Momoko Nakayama, CSR Committee at Societe Generale

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Third Place: Ishinomaki Fantasista FC, awarded by Hiroshi Asemi, Hikarigaoka Community Liaison

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MVP Award: Masaya Tanaka, awarded by Naomi Rennie, Nadia Organizing Team

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All participating teams received a Nadia gift bag containing:

  • A Friendly Cup T-Shirt and Program
  • A soft mini soccer ball
  • A laminated newsletter souvenir of the event

In addition, the Tohoku teams received a gift of from AC Milan.

It’s all about Friendship
Whether it is on the field or in other activities held throughout the weekend, our goal was to provide a memorable event and long lasting friendships between all kids in a bigger and better fashion than the 1st Edition. On that aspect, we can say our mission was accomplished!

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May the friendships developed over a memorable weekend last a lifetime!

kids soccer 2016-14Many thank you letters from participating Tohoku kids

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Nadia’s Organizing Team

A word of thanks
This event would not have been possible without the support of many organizations and individuals. Nadia would like to express their thanks to A-JIS Ken Sell, Head of School, and Greg Culos, Director of AJ Extension, for working hand-in-hand with Nadia on this 2nd Nadia International Soccer Friendly Cup. We would like to also express special thanks to Hiroshi Asemi for bringing in the local community and connecting us with local teams and volunteers. We would like to also say thank you to our corporate and food sponsors who provided financial and logistical support with their volunteers.

Thanks to all our supporters and sponsors!

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Kamome Gakuen blooming Tulips

By Joji
Last December, nadia volunteers visited Kamome Gakuen, a school for disabled kids、to celebrate Christmas.   While there we planted a small tree and tulips and with the coming of spring  the tulips have bloomed.
We also donated a play bench to complement the playground set we built two years ago.

Tulips are perennials that bloom yearly and we hope that they symbolize our commitment to the school and to Tohoku.   Thanks to all who make this possible.

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Ochakko closing ceremony – report

by Kaicho

ochakko201601sAfter three and a half years Ochakko is being closed down and the structure is being donated to a local group.  While it is a bit sad perhaps, as we leave behind some good memories, in the end we should realize that it was not the building that made it memorable but the people we met and the things that were done at Ochakko.  We should also be glad that the needs of the community are evolving and moving forward and we can be proud that through Ochakko, we at nadia, were able to be a small part of that process.
ochakko201602sAs I said at the ceremony, the building Ochakko was simply a building, but Ochakko was about the people and the community.  Many thanks to Kayo, Team 3-11, and all others that made it what it was.  We hope that even if the building is gone, we can continue building on the relationships we have created and can continue to help the community going forward.

Many thanks to Air Liquide, and the many other sponsors and volunteers that made this possible.ochakko201605s

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Kamome Gakuen Christmas Party 2015 – Report

It’s the third time hosting a Christmas party at Kamome Gakuen in Ishinomaki and the children and families were delighted to join in the festivities. Volunteers prepared food for the event on Saturday.

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There was an abundance of food and good cheer for the 53 kids and adults on Sunday. Santa Claus was a big hit with the students from Kamome . The children smiles even greater with gifts from Santa with the help of his special Reindeer. Great time for the kids, families, the staff and volunteers too. Merry Christmas

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–nadia

Playground of Hope in Shinchi, Fukushima – Report

Shinchi, Fukushima, Sept. 4-5, 2015

A New Playground for the Kids in Shinchi, Fukushima

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Event Overview
Late last year, Playground of Hope (PoH) proposed to nadia to work on a joint project for building a playground in Shinchi Machi, Fukushima. The Fukushima prefecture has been greatly affected by the March-11, 2011 disaster, from the earthquake, the tsunami and following radiation. It has also been affected by another disaster: being forgotten and left out of most of the volunteer and rebuilding recovery efforts as often Miyagi prefecture and the city of Ishinomaki have seen more inflows of volunteers. As the situation evolved in Fukushima and the level of radiation receeded to normal and safe levels (even below Tokyo levels in many areas such as Shinchi). nadia decided to work on the deployment of a new Playground of Hope at Komagamine Elementary School.

The fundraising efforts
Such endeavors requires a lot of support, both in terms of volunteers and also financially. nadia approached its partner organizations, Societe Generale and The Lycée Français International de Tokyo (LFIT) to help deliver on this project.

02Societe Generale organized a Bike Ride fundraiser on Oct. 25-26, 2014 to raise funds for this project.  More than 20 staff from it’s Tokyo office volunteered in the fundraiser efforts and committed to raise over 600 euros each in support of nadia.  Many staff, friends and family members supported each of the bike riders fundraisers.

03A few weeks later, the The Lycée Français International de Tokyo also organized the Course de Noël (Christmas Run) where kids from the primary school setup a fundraiser race also in support of nadia. Many kids, their parents, school staff and teachers contributed to the fundraising efforts.  Both events allowed nadia to raise a very large portion of the funds necessary for the project.

The building of the playground and volunteer efforts
In September 2015, 17 Societe Generale employees and family members as well as 11 LFIT students, teachers and parents volunteered to be part of the deployment of the Playground at Komagamine Elementary School.

The volunteers left on the evening of Friday September 4th and travelled by bus to Sendai. The journey by bus went really smoothly and we all went to bed quickly in order to be ready and sharp for the big day the next morning leaving Sendai at 8am to be in Shinchi-Machi at 9am.

04Upon our arrival we were warmly greeted by the Komagamine Elementary school staff along with PoH team.  The representatives of the school explained how the area had been impacted by the March 11 disaster and how the area and school has been recovering and now welcomes displaced kids (14% of the 166 kids) from other affected areas of Fukushima. Although radiation levels in this town is now below Tokyo levels, the city and whole prefecture are now fighting another problem: obesity in kids is on the rise following years of reduced outdoor play, hence the importance of providing this new playground to the community. After this explanation, everyone got to meet each other briefly in order to get to work together as efficiently as possible.

05We were assigned tasks that were super well organised and everything went very smoothly and fast. By noon, 75% of the playground was already set up. We took a welcome lunch break together again, allowing everyone to get to know each other a little bit more.  By 4pm the playground was fully completed and it was time for a big BBQ and fun sharing times, that again, the volunteers teams pulled out beautifully. The local families and friends of the school were amazed and happy how such a jolly fun group of people managed to give their kids the best gifts of all : being able to PLAY MORE !

All in all, this project and adventure was a huge success by telling how louds the laughters were heard and cheers the kids made when they were finally allowed to play with their new playground.

Everyone worked hard and enthusiastically throughout the day, working in groups where one another hardly knew each other but always followed the tasks assigned with smiles and cheers. Everyone got along so well in a very simple and efficient manner, teaching the great values of effort, team spirit, giving and thankfulness.

06A word of thanks
This project would not be possible without the contribution of all the volunteers from and donators who supported it. The smiles on the local kids faces, and on everyone’s faces were priceless.  The memory of happy volunteers that gave their time, support and full enthusiasm on that day and the immediate results of this fantastic project will resonate for many years to come in our minds and hearts. We all wish to be part of more projects like that in the months and years to come!  Thanks for your support.  Best wishes and see you all soon for the next project !