Our goal is to protect the dignity of these children with special needs.
What do we mean by protecting the dignity of these children? Oftentimes, parents of children with special needs feel that they have to continuously restrain their children in public places. After the great earthquake and tsunami that destroyed a major part of our town, these children lost a place where they can play freely without having to always worry that they may be disturbing others.
Thus this idea of “HOP Children’s Square” was born. This is one step towards building an environment where these children can be accepted as they are and thrive in the community.
Objectives of the public space “HOP Children’s Square”
１．Our children with special needs will be able to have a steady and stable growth. When they can play freely in a safe environment, they will be able to release their daily stress and they can engage in various daily activities with a positive attitude.
2．They will learn how to communicate and interact with people through playing with others in this park. This will equip them with necessary social skills.
3．Children with special needs and without special needs will learn how to accept and understand each other through playing in the same park. This will help them grow and eventually build a community without walls between them.
We need your help！
We are raising funds to cover the part of the necessary expenses to build “HOP Children’s Square”.
Where we are in the process
The money to purchase the land was donated by a local philanthropist.
We are still needing 20 million Japanese Yen to get the park ready with proper equipment with a playground, public bathroom and so forth.
*In Japanese cities, most people would have at least one park within walking distance of their residence. On the other hand, most people in our town have to drive to reach the nearest park, and the city has no budget for a new park. We believe that someone has to make this possible, which is why we are doing what we are doing.
It is only recently that people have started to talk more about children with special needs in Japan. In the past, families of these children had a tendency to keep them away from the outside world. But things are starting to change. Now there is a growing awareness of the need to raise these children as part of the community.
We, as social workers in the community, would like to support theses children and their families, utilizing various support systems and programs that exist.
We have purchased the land to build a permanent facility for these children. This facility will have a park on its property so that other children in the community can come in and play together with the children with special needs.
Our vision is to create a community with no walls between people with and without special needs.
And we invite you to be a part of this project. Please come join us.
Takumi Sato
Chairman of NPO Seminare
