No.044 Summer 2009

NEWSCELINE × Ai Tominaga × KIDS EARTH FUND “The Ai bag”
Well-regarded French brand, CELINE, released the mother’s bag, “The Ai Bag”, produced byfashion model Ai Tominaga. While working as a model, Ai Tominaga, who is a mother of a fouryear-old boy, was engaged in the project from its inception. “The Ai Bag” is functional and large
so all women, including mothers, will find it easy to use, but it is also fashionable since it isdesigned based on CELINE’s popular series "TOURBILLON” in coated canvas.
“The Ai Bag” is a charity product, and a portion of its profit will be donated to KEF. A productrelease event was held on March 14th at CELINE one Omote-Sando Boutique, where heartwarming children’s paintings from all over the world were displayed. During the event, Ai Tominaga, who engaged in the production of the bag, and Harumi Torii, the representative of Kids
Earth Fund had a talk show. Ms. Tominaga mentioned, “Children give us energy and smiles. I
hope this thoughtful bag will be put to use by wide variety of people.” Her love of children andcommitment to the bag could be seen in her comment.
Ms. Tominaga, CELINE and the participants’ heart-felt concern for children was palpable
throughout the event.

At the event, many people including customers,models, and other participants celebrated the releaseof the new bag.

Picture of Friends in a Happy WorldOn April 29th, under a cloudless sky, Kids Earth Fund conducted
an art workshop in Toyama City. The workshop was a part of anevent commemorating the 3rd anniversar y of Fuji Light Railwhich operates the “PORTRUM” that runs in the city. Children
who like trains came and joined the workshop. They got excitedas they saw a long white canvas and paints of various colors onthe ground. The canvas was soon filled with flowers, smilingfaces, and the PORTRUM they love – all of which were thethemes of the event.

Several flower arrangements designed from children’s
paintings were displayed during the event. A miniature PORTRM was donated to Kids Earth Fund.

Asked to name the picture, children came up with names such as “Happy Painting”, “Painting ofMy Fr iends”, a nd so for th. Fina lly the per fe c t na me for the big exciting pa inting wa s
chosen: ”Picture of Friends in a Happy World”!
When the painting was displayed on the stage, the children presented the name to the audience
with a smile.
Since April 27th, Fuji Light Rail has been operating the “Flower PORTRUM” which is donatedchildren’s paintings to KEF from all over the world. When you go inside of the PORTRUM, youfeel as if you are in a kid’s room. Without the kind cooperation of Actus Toyama Shop, which
donated special materials, this event would have been impossible. The train is full of playful
touches which make not only kids but also adults smile.
We also held an art workshop at Actus Toyama Shop to bring children’s lively spirit to the world.
Many joyful children gathered there, too. At first they wondered what they should paint, but
once they started, their imagination took over. Some of them said, “I want to paint more!,” andothers started painting pictures with their hands, instead of brushes. The completed paintings
were filled with lots of colors and fun.
The pictures painted at the art workshops will be displayed in various places in Japan. “FlowerPORTRUM”, filled with the spirit of children from around the world – including children fromJapan, will be in operation until the end of October.

1,000,000 People’s Candle Night
1,000,000 People’s Candle Night was held throughout Japan again this year. Kids Earth Fundparticipated in one of the events called “1,000,000 People’s Candle Night @ OSAKA CITY 2009
SUMMER.” The event was filled with people’s generosity and warm heartedness. From June 1stto the 7th, children’s paintings from all over the world were exhibited at the atrium of Hilton
Plaza East. People who participated in the event seemed to enjoy the opportunity to see thechildren’s paintings and the messages drawn in them. At a nearby café the Plaza, candle
shades with children’s paintings were displayed. The smiles and laughter of people all aroundthe world were lit up by the glimmer of candles. Candles decorated with children’s paintings
were sold at the event, and the profit of the sales was donated to Kids Earth Fund. People’skindness, like the glimmer of a candle, will be sent to the children in need of support throughKids Earth Fund.

■ NEW MEMBER

ThoseÊ whoÊ recentlyÊ becameÊ membersÊ ofÊ KEF:Ê TitleÊ Omitted/Ê AlphabeticalÊ OrderÊ Ê (MarchÊ 1,Ê 2009Ê Ð Ê MayÊ 31,Ê 2009)(IndividualÊ Members)Ê Ms.Ê MasakoÊ SuzukiÊ Ê Ê Ms.Ê KeikoÊ MatsumotoÊ Ê Ê (CorporateÊ Member)Ê LOOKÊ Inc.

子 供 地 球 基 金 / K I D S E A R T H F U N D 〒 1 5 0 - 0 0 1 3 渋 谷 区 恵 比 寿 3 - 2 5 - 2 T E L：0 3 - 5 4 4 9 - 8 1 6 1 / FA X：0 3 - 5 4 4 9 - 3 9 6 2E - m a i l： i n f o @ k i d s e a r t h f u n d . j p / U R L : h t t p : / / w w w . k i d s e a r t h f u n d . j p /ダイビング / Diving
アデリナ・クスマ・ワードハニ / Adelona Kusuma Wardhani
インドネシア / Indonesia
7歳/ 7 years old©子供地球基金/ KIDS EARTH FUND

Special
Topic

Kids Earth Fund in Canada

The venue was covered with 300 paintings of children

F ro m M a y 1 2 t o 1 6 , K I D S E A RT H
FUND’s art exhibition, “Children’sImpressions 2009,” was held in thelobby of National Nikkei Museum &Heritage Centre in Burnaby, Canada.
Kids Earth Fund has conducted charity activities in about 40 countries
and art exhibitions in many countries,including Centre Georges Pompidou
in Paris and Pushikin Museum inMoscow, but this was the first time
for us to hold an art exhibition inCanada. This exhibition was realizedwith support of National Nikkei
Museum & Heritage Centre and Japanese Consulate General in Canada aswell as many individuals.

Picture books, post cards and other KEF
goodies with children’s paintings on themwere sold at the museum, and a lot ofpeople made donations for children all
around the world.

キッズ・アース・ホームプロジェクト

During the event, we held an art workshop
with local children at the museum. Everyc h i l d s h o w e d t h e i r i n t e re s t w h e n w e
explained the purpose and activities of Kids
Earth Fund. “Where would the paintingsgo?” “Which counties’ children do you support?” – They asked a number of questions
with their eyes twinkling. Once they understood their paintings would help children
around the world, they started painting
pictures more excitedly. A lot of heartwarming paintings were completed in theend of the workshop. Also, there arechildren who donated money to us fromtheir allowance. It seems that the sense ofcharity is rooted in a wide age-range ofpeople’s minds.
The local news, newspapers, magazinesand other forms of media widely reported
about our event this time, and more thaneight hundred people visited the exhibitionin 5 days. What kind of message did those
who came to the exhibition receive from thechildren’s paintings? We believe that,through the event, the idea of “KIDS HELPI NG K I DS” wo u l d b e u n d e r s t ood a n dspread in Canada.

About two hundred pictures painted bychildren all over the world and a hundred
paintings of Canadian children donatedfrom three local schools were displayed in
the lobby of the museum.
Nearly a hundred and fifty people, including
the children in Burnaby who donated theirpictures, came to the museum for theopening ceremony held on the 12th. The
ceremony started with the speeches of Mr.
Seiichi Otsuka, Japan Consul-General in
Vancouver, and Mr. Mitsuo Hayashi, Director of the Nikkei Heritage Centre. Ms. KaoriOhtake played the harp for the ceremony,and the museum was filled with the finetune of the harp and a bright atmosphere.
People who came to the exhibition enjoyedchildren’s heart-warming paintings whileeating Japanese cake offered by Cosmos
Seminar volunteers.

KIDS EARTH
HOME Project

KIDS EARTH
CAR Project

To enrich Artwork and psychological program
more, KEF continues to offer support activities,
to become a model case of recovery, not only tochildren but also to Croatian communities wheresituations are still unstable.

Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center- Let’s Paint with Your Imagination!

Kids Earth Gallery with Girls Scout~Cheerful Spring Time~

KIDS EARTH HOME Report~No.1 KIDS EARTH HOME Croatia~
It almost feels like summer, in April in Croatia.
Trees and flowers are vividly growing at thegarden of KIDS EARTH HOME that was reconstructed last September.

11 girls from the American Girls Scout visited ourgallery.
This was the first time for them to have an art
workshop with us, but maybe because it was abright sunny day, the children never seemed tobe nervous but were quite cheerful. Seeing sucha huge canvas and a variety of colors of paints,
they got even more excited. After us explainingthat the theme of the workshop would be“Cheerful Spring Time,” they started painting
pictures very excitedly as if they were waiting forthat moment. The blank white canvas turned intoa colorful picture filled with ladybugs, rainbows,
and lots of flowers in the end of the workshop.
The picture seemed to show their cheerfulness.

When we started feeling the coming of spring,
we held an art workshop at Kanagawa Children’s
Medical Center Surgical Department. Sevenchildren participated in the workshop whose
theme was “Let’s Paint with Your Imagination.”“Guess what this is?” A boy who is good atpainting proudly showed the picture he alwayspaints. A girl put the brush down on the table
and started to color her fingers and paint a
picture with them. Another girl painted a pictureof her memories of a fun bus trip. Their drawing
paper was full of their favorite things andwonderful memories.

Jikei Hospital – “The Tree of Y”

Where is the child who painted this picture from?

At the art workshop held at Jikei Hospital inMarch, children worked on making “Tree of Y”
bloom. It was a beautiful sunny day when weheld the workshop, and well all felt the coming ofspring under the sunshine. Each one of those
who participated in the workshop painted
pictures based on the theme, “Spring.” Drawing
on paper with colorful Y shaped trees whichwere made by the volunteers, the children
painted flowers and fruits, decorated blue
cotton, leaves, acorns, and pink and red heartshaped colored paper. It seemed like a warm
spring breeze would come out of the pictures.

Children enjoy making art Trees and flowers plantedwith smiles at the work- by children are growing
room on the 2nd floor.
in the big garden

Column DEAR KIDS, DEAR THE EARTH vol.26

KEF Advisor /President of Bornelund Inc.

Exhibition●Toyama-shi, Toyama
April 29th (Wed.)
Toyama Light Rail 3rd Anniversary
Event, Hana Portrum

Hiroko Nakanishi

For children, “play is life”.
Playing is learning. It promotes the “will to live”. Children feel excitement when imagining something,exhilaration when using their body to play, amusement when using their hands to create something,and joy when working together. We have been developing environments in which children can playand fostering children’s “will to live” for thirty years, and we are glad that the importance of play has
gradually begun to spread and be understood by the Japanese public.

Five years have passed since then, and I have held exhibitions of pictures drawn by children in many
places and delivered toys to children in countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam.
What we can do for children is to help them maximize their own potential and to protect theirprecious playground, the Earth. I plan to continue my small contribution to support children all
around the world.

●Tokyo・Shinjuku-ku
November 13th (Thu.) ‒MUJI Shinjuku, B1●Kita-ku, Osaka
May 19th (Tue.) ‒ May 28th (Thu.)
Gallery Space “Deva”, Ema●Chuo-ku, Tokyo
March 5th (Thu.) ‒MUJIRUJI RYOHIN Yurakucho, 2F●Kita-ku, Osaka●Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

June 1st (Mon.) ‒June 7th (Sun.)
1,000,000 Peopleʼs Candle
Night @ OSAKACITY“Kids Smile Gallery”

June 7th (Sun.)
Mitsui-Sumitomo Sponsoring Concert Hall,
Nihon University CASALS HALL
●Meguro-ku, Tokyo●Kobe-shi, Hyogo
May 23rd (Sat.) ‒June 1st (Mon.)
Actus Rokko

Some children started painting directly on thepaper, and the others started painting acorns
pink and yellow and glued them on the paper.
The picture painted by boys with green and blue
paint gave an image of strong breath of spring.
The picture painted by girls with pink and yellow
flowers and fruits gave an image of the comingof warm and crisp spring days. Well, let’s see
how this spring is going to be. Spring has finally
come! The pictures were filled with such feelingsof the children.

“Well, what color drawing paper should I paintpictures on?” Pink, yellow, sky blue – the colors
they chose were all sweet, spring-like colors.
They painted pictures of flowers, animals andplay outside with full use of their imagination.

Children who come to the new HOME go straightto the workroom at the second floor as if it’s their
daily routine since a long time ago. At the workroom, “URASHIMA TARO” drawing, which wasdonated by exchange donation from SHISEIGAKUEN welcomes them. Children spend their
fun time playing with friends or drawing pictures
as they wish.

Not too long ago, I had a very moving experience. On our company’s 25th anniversary, I wanted to
do something meaningful for the world. Following the theme of “play”, we took photos of children
playing in 30 countries and published a photo-book, the profits from which we donated to children inneed of support. In the process, we came to know KIDS EARTH FUND and learned that there weremany children in the world who live in countries with ongoing wars, who have AIDS, and who have towork because of poverty. Through this project, I felt as though I met the children in the photographs.

A number of local children donated their paintings
and funds to Kids Earth Fund

KIDS EARTH FUND has decided to expand thefunction with support of Japan Management
Organization for Postal Savings and Postal LifeInsurance.

●Bernaby, Canada

June 20th(Sat.)- June 26th(Fri.)RISE GALLERY

Tue 5/12 - Sat 5/16
At Japan Heritage Centre“Exhibition of Children All Over the World”

Toho University Omori Medical
Center ~Insects in Nature~

After Golden Week, the weather was fine everyday as if summer would come very soon. OnMay 15th, when the city was full of green, an art
workshop was held at Toho University Medical
Center. The theme of the workshop was“Insects” which children like a lot.
Before we started the workshop, we saw thepicture of insects, such as honeybees and snails,painted by children in Russia, Korea and Slovakia, as examples. The children were talking toeach other, “Are there lots of different kinds ofbugs overseas?” and “Do the children there likethose bugs, like we do?” Nine children who are 4years old and up, got together and painted
pictures on one canvas.
The children seemed to enjoy choosing colors
and painting pictures. Ladybugs, butterflies,
some insects we have never seen before and allsorts of insects were painted on the canvas.
They also painted flowers, mountains and so onaround those insects. The white blank canvas
turned into a world of colorful “Insects.” They
named the very energetic picture “Insects inNature.”Children under 4 years old painted picturesindividually on big drawing paper and enjoyedusing various colors. Some children gave otherchildren the paint and brushes they used, “Hereyou are!” The room was filled with children’slaughter, and the workshop was quite successful.