Help... K.N. Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, Japan

The summer of 2003 gave me the most shocking and memorable experience of my entire life. It was a fine day. On July 15, 2003, I went to a juvenile nursing institution in Osaka. As a volunteer class from our school, about fifty of us went there to clean up the dirty, mossy pool and to play with elementary school children. Do you know what a "juvenile nursing institution" is? It is a place for children who cannot live with their parents. There are many reasons for children to live there; their parents' death, divorce, disappearance, violence, the lack of money for food, and so on. In this institution, there were about 200 children from babies to high schoolers. It was Tuesday. My friend Megumi and I waited by the hall door for the children to come home from school. My heart was beating fast. To tell the truth, I was very puzzled about how I should get close to the kids in the institution. I knew that there were kids from various situations. "What if I say something about my mom? Will they get sad?" "Can I scold the kids? What if they were getting domestic violence from their parents?" Many questions were tumbling around my head. But soon, the children came running back from school with their school bags on their backs. Later, during study time, Megumi and I nervously approached two girls who were sitting at a table, doing their homework. "Hi! Are you guys doing your homework? What's your name?" We tried to get close to them as naturally as possible. However, contrary to our expectations, they completely disregarded us. Their eyes gave a cold look to the strangers who suddenly intruded into their ordinary day. One girl's name was Toyomi. After a few minutes, Toyomi asked us whether we could help her with her homework. It was obvious to anyone that she was starting to open her heart. To my surprise, she did not look different from any 4th grader around my neighborhood. Having heard that many children in this institution had twisted personalities because of their backgrounds, Toyomi's smile somehow made me feel relieved. But it wasn't Toyomi who caught my attention, it was the other girl. Her name was Nana. Nana was a thin, straight haired girl with glasses. Since Megumi was helping Toyomi with her homework, I tried to get friendly with Nana. She started her homework, but soon she became irritated and gave up right away. "No no no." I told her. "You should do your homework! Come on, study steadily." I finished my words, when she answered, "I know, could you just shut up?!" I was surprised. What a dirty mouth! While I was amused, she copied Toyomi's homework word for word. And when she had finished, she crumpled up her homework and threw it into the garbage can just near her. I thought again, "...and she has a very devious personality." Nana was just the girl I imagined when I heard the words "juvenile nursing institution." I picked up her homework from the garbage can and handed it to Nana. "Make sure you write your name on this and hand it in to your teacher tomorrow, okay?" "Shut up!!" Our conversation did not last long at all. Nana objected to everything I said. Not long after this, I was called by one of the staff members. Though I wanted to talk with Nana more, I had to go. I left Nana to Megumi and went to see another girl. A few minutes later, Nana went off outside with Toyomi and Megumi to play. After this, I did not see Nana until the last moment of our visit. I heard from Megumi afterwards that Nana's feelings were not stable, as I had thought. Megumi said, "When I see Nana smiling, the next moment she has a look of anger. She shouts at me, and I was half crying you know!" Well, time ran fast. Soon it was evening, and the sun was setting. It was time for us to leave. We all started walking back along the path we had came in on that morning, headed for the train station. But then I heard some voices behind me. I turned back and saw Nana and Toyomi calling my name. Though we were only together for about a half a day or maybe less, I was able to be a friend for them. Nana, who I thought was such a bad girl at first seemed very dear to me then. Nana and Toyomi even asked Megumi and me when we could come back again. I was about to cry, for I was too happy. However, we did not know if we could come again, and we were told by the staff not to make easy promises. Therefore, we suppressed our feelings and said goodbye. I was very surprised that Nana came to say goodbye to us because she was giving me some attitude. Nana must have wanted to do things that would catch my attention, I thought, like crumpling up the homework and using bad words; so that I would care about her. Nana was not able to express her feelings straight. I thought it must be because she grew up without knowing the love of her parents. I felt sad. However, I thought again. She would grow up feeling the love of the staff from now on. Until then, I was paying very careful attention to my words when I talked with Nana and Toyomi. However, when I saw them smiling and running happily towards us, my worries disappeared. At that moment I thought that we should do something to make a better environment than now. Each and every child; not just in the institution I went to, but every one of them throughout the nation, must have traumas and be worried deep inside, which they would not usually show. What we need to do now is to free the children from those troubles. However, this is not something you can do by going to an institution once or twice. We need people who will always be by their sides, like a real parent. Although in reality, when I went to the institution in Osaka, they were short handed. Right now, one staff member needs to take care of about ten kids! Can you imagine having that many kids yourself? Actually, many or almost all of the institutions that exist are short handed like this. Now, anyone who is reading this can give a hand. If you have any interest, please join in. They need you. Please help light a bright future for the children!!

Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Kanae Nakatani, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.

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