No.042 Winter 2008

KIDS EARTH Report

NEWSKids’ Voice – Messages from children around the world – will be published
63 countries and 457 children drew pictures as a message to the future adults. This book is being published as a 20thanniversary for KEF. The first chapter is travel, the second chapter friends, the third chapter play, the fourth chapter
questions and the last chapter has no specific theme.
It will be on sale from early December in book stores in Japan. We will also sell it in on KEF website. (It will start delivery from mid December.)Issue: Bijyutu Shuppan Planning / supervised: Kids Earth FundArt Direction: Issen Okamoto (Okamoto Issen Graphic Design Company) Preface written by: Hiroshi Senjyu
Size: 225mm x 185mm Soft cover 240 pages (Full Color) Price; 2500yen (Without tax)
We are also holding an exhibition of Kids’ Voice – Messages from children around the world – at Tamagawa Takashimaya Shopping Center ground floor, at the ground Patio and displaying a few original pictures from the book. (InsideWhite Angel Project)

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan hosted a Charity Gala Party.
The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ICCJ) hosted the annual Gala dinner and concert 2008 on November 20that the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.
With the cooperation of International schools in Tokyo, 22 artworks of the children were put on auction and theproceeds were donated to the KEF.
The event was held as both children and adults enjoyed the evening.
We thank all of you who have made this event possible.

Takashimaya Shopping Center White Angel Project 2008
This year celebrates the 7th anniversary of the White Angel Project, which is a joint project with Takashimaya S. C. andKEF, sending a Christmas message of peace to the children around the world. White Angel Charity Gallery exhibits
children’s paintings, reports the results of the previous year’s charitable activities and sets up donation boxes.
There is also a Christmas tree that people can help decorate by making a donation for the ornaments. There are manyother Christmas events, so please come and enjoy them.
Date: November 12 (Thur.) to December 25 (Thur.)
Venue: Tamagawa Takashimaya Shopping Center, Ground Floor, Grand Patio
3-17-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku
Access: Tokyu Denentoshi Line or Tokyu Ooimachi Line at Futagotamagawa Station West Exit (toward Route246) 2-minute walk.

Mujirushi Ryohin Charity Sales
Since October, Mujirushi Ryohin (Muji) has been offering cute KEF bags withfive designs drawn by children from around the world. Everyone loves thesebags; children use them as school bags, women use them as shopping bags,
and so forth. Now we are taking three of those cute designs and making themavailable to you as jigsaw puzzles. These designs will warm everyone’s heart,and the large pieces are safe for kids to play with.
Besides the jigsaw puzzles, Muji also is offering other charity Christmas gifts
which include bath goods, felt ornaments, cotton t-shirts for men and women.
Muji will donate all the proceeds received from the sales of these charity products to support children all over the world. When you are thinking about Christmas gifts for your family and friends, please consider Muji’s charity productswith the KEF tag. Also, please visit KEF Exhibition held by Muji Shinjuku after
Muji Yurakucho.

“Kodomo no e” Jigsaw Puzzle:
each 525 yen (tax included)

Felt ornaments: 1 set with 3 items(Tree, Snowman, and Sock)
Large set 368 yen (tax included)
Small set 263 yen (tax included)

Charity Auction!
On December 14th, Auger Auction will hold a charity auction at Bunkamura Gallery in Shibuya. There will be numerous wonderful items for auction provided bymany famous guests. This auction is supported by countless generous people, and all the money collected from it will be donated to KEF. Please bring your family
and friends to join us for this event.
Event details Date: December 14, 2008 Time: 4:45 pm – Venue: Bunkamura Gallery, Shibuya Address: Dogenzaka 2-24-1, Shibuya Ku, Tokyo 150-8507
We will also hold a preview exhibition for this auction. December 11-13 from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm December 14 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm*The auctioneer will set initial bidding prices for all the items before the auction.
*No auction fee will be incurred.
*In principal, the items will be delivered to the buyer at the site immediately after receiving cash payments from the buyer.
Please visit http://www.augur.jp for more information.

The annual report of the 2007 fiscal year
The 2007 ordinary general meeting has held at the KEF office on November 10th. We would like to inform you that all of following bills had been approved.
The First bill: An activity report and settlement of accounts of 2007 The second bill: An activity plan and budget of 2008
(The income and expenditure settlement of accounts of 2007 [2007.09.01-2008.08.31]
1.Income
Membership fees / 2,963,081 Donations / 72,044,634 Others / 15,297 Total / 75,023,012
2.ExpenditureHome project / 30,038,086 Exhibitions / 11,086,376 Publicity / 6,055,691 Support events / 12,475,035 Operation & management / 16,261,978
Total / 75,917,166■ NEW MEMBER

There are KIDS EARTH FUND’s new members since September 1, 2008 until October 31, 2008. (alphabetical order)(Individual Membership)

Ms. Akiko Morimasa Mr. Fumiaki Nakatani Ms. Hiroko Nakama Ms. Kumi Naruse Mr. Makoto Yamamura
Mr. Masaichi Miki Ms. Reiko Shimizu Mr. Takao Iwama Ms. Takeshi Nobehara Mr. Yoichi Kimura
Ms. Yoriko Ogata Mr. Yoshikazu Miyamoto Ms. Yukari Sakai 2anonymous(Corporate Membership)

TOKYO ART Co.,LTD PRONTO Corporation Right-on

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 2
E - 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 /ペガサス / Pegasus
コバー・クラッセ / Kober Klasse
ドイツ / Germany
男 / Boy©子供地球基金/ KIDS EARTH FUND

Special KIDS EARTH HOME Project
Topic Reconstruction of the ﬁrst KIDS EARTH HOME in Croatia

KIDS EARTH
CAR Project
Jikei Hospital -Signs of Autumn-“Exhibition of Paintings by Children” at MIMARA Museum

The new KIDS EARTH HOME (KEH) wascompleted in the city of Gvozd that is twohours away from the capital city Zagreb.
The area still has a serious problem of a
70% unemployment rate. On the other
hand Zagreb and Dubrovnik are getting
wealthy because of the tourist business.
After the declaration of independence in
1991, the conflict escalated between
Croatia and the federation of Yugoslavia.
There were also a number of victims inthis area.
KIDS EARTH FUND (KEF) has done advocacy work under a combined effort ofNGO, shortly after the end of conflict.
Now, it has been 13 years after the end ofthe conflict. Although children who cometo KEH have no experience of the conflict, they have several issues such as
domestic violence due to the low unemployment rate, no interest in education,and widespread drug, cigarette and alcohol use.
Compared with the environment of 13years ago, advocacy works done byforeign organizations has been
decreased and few activities remain.
KEH opened on September 6th, and isincluding the city mayor and volunteer
workers attended and children started toread a poem.
For the opening
p a r t y, t h e c i t yrented tables andchairs; volunteers
sent in stew; roast
goat and cake andplayed the guitar.
Children enjoyed
the party so much.
Children who
prepared the party
and cleaned upheartily said, “This is our home,” showing
the door they painted and flowers andtrees which they planted. They also
talked about what they wanted to do at
KEH for the future.
The KEF Croatian branch has opened
officially this year.
We will continue to do advocacy work forchildren, creating spiritually rich countries
and peace.

The exhibition was held at the MIRAMA
museum in the capital city Zagreb.
This exhibition celebrated the 20th anniversary of KEF, opening the Croatianbranch and reconstruction of the KEH.
The MIMARA museum is the most
famous and oldest building in Zagreb.
The Japanese ambassador Mr. Tetsuhisa
Shirakawa, director of the MIMARA
museum, Mr. Tugomir Luksic, representative of KEF Ms. Harumi Torii, and representative of KEF Croatian branch Ms.
Maja Tur niski attended the opening
ceremony on September 8th. Thec e re m o n y s t a r t e d w i t h t h e m u s i c a lperformance of classical instruments ofCroatia.
Tapestries by children from all over theworld and paintings by Japanese, Indiana n d o t h e r c o u n t r i e s ’ c h i l d re n w e redisplayed at the beautiful museum.
So many people stopped to look at thosecolorful paintings.
Many people enjoyed the exhibition
during the 2 weeks it was held and we
could let them know messages from children from all over the world.

Yummy autumn!

Column DEAR KIDS, DEAR THE EARTH vol.22

Auditor, Certified Tax Accountant: Kazumi Shimizu

About two and a half years ago, I had the opportunity to meet the founder of KIDS EARTH FUND. That was thefirst time for me to learn about KEF and its amazing worldwide activities. When my oldest son was in kindergarten over ten years ago, he had a cold which developed into infant rheumatism. He was constantly in and out of
the hospital and he had to spend winters in a school for handicapped children attached to a children’s hospitaland return to a local elementary school in springs. This condition continued for several years throughout hischildhood.
The hospital was full of children like my son, and there were children who were hospitalized for a long time withrecurring illnesses. Probably, even if they wished, they could not return home. Also they often had to take a lot
medicine unwillingly. It seemed to me that the only option in their hospital life was to live with fear and stress.
During such difficult times, drawing pictures in art workshops could console the children and make them seehope for the future and reduce the stress in their lives.
Whenever I travel in Asia, children around 6 or 7 immediately come up to me trying to sell things. Seeing theirsparkling but serious eyes, I sometimes think it maybe a misunderstanding to believe that children in poverty
are unhappy and pathetic, as all they know is poor life.
Nevertheless, in reality their parents have a very hard life filled with fear and anxiety about their children'sfuture. They cannot provide enough education for their children nor get away from poverty. The sad reality isthat children cannot choose their parents and have to accept their life. I feel that we all need to reach out tothese children because it is society that raises children, and it is children that grow up and contribute to society
in return. It is true that supporting children requires a lot of funding, and it is sad that individual awareness andunderstanding for charitable support of volunteer organizations is still low in Japan. Unless your own child issent to the hospital or a close friend’s family is somehow underprivileged, it is difficult to understand thesituation.
Advertising this harsh reality, and asking for support from those who had such experiences first could be one
option to increase our supporters.

On October 17th KIDS EARTH CAR drove
from Ebisu, Tokyo to Miyagi Children’s
Hospital in Sendai, Miyagi.
The art workshop was done in threewards at the same time with the donating
activity in the hospital, and many childrenand volunteers in the hospital participated.
For most of the infant participants, it was
the first time to paint by hand. They drewa line and a circle on a canvas hesitatingly at first, but gradually became atease and began to draw with bold colors.
There were few smiles at first, but finallythey drew big pictures with pleasantvoices. Three works which children madeare exhibited in the hospital and seem tohave become one of the sources of thespirit of children.

As the air got crisp and cold, and leaves
started turning red and yellow, we could
feel the tingle of autumn more deeply
every day. The children of Jikei Hospital
painted pictures to express “Signs ofAutumn” in October. Prior to this event, a
pre-art workshop was held with volunteers. Colored leaves, chestnuts anddragonflies were made with coloredpaper.
At the art workshop, the children placedthese things on drawing paper and thenpainted their own “autumn.” Each painting was as original as the signs ofautumn in the open air.

wanted to use and began to paint withthe paint brushes provided. However…
the children soon found so much pleasure using paint expressing themselvesthat they put paints all over their bodies,and started to express what was felt forthe moment by using their whole bodies.
From the completed work, we felt theenergy of the children and their limitlessstrength. KEF will keep energetically
hosting activities that lead to smiles formany children both internationally as wellas domestically.

Hmm….
What was theme?

Painting with hands isreallyKanagawa Children’s Medical
Center -Christmas-

It was drawn in a vivid color.

Futaba Gakuen -Halloween-

Fallen leaves are so pretty.

the precious space for children to play
freely in this area.
We researched many places since lastyear, and decided to buy this land with asmall old house with a roof. We had
repaired the property with nearby volunteers and children.
Before the opening, children planted a lotof flowers and trees and many artworks
by children of SHISEI-GAKUEN were
decorated on the white-repainted wall.
At the opening party, almost 100 people

Miyagi Children’s Hospital-Let’s draw freely!-

On October 25th, the first art workshop
was held at Futaba Gakuen. The theme
was Halloween. At first we introduced thechildren to paintings from around thew o r l d w h i c h f e a t u re d t h e t h e m e o fHalloween. Children connected withother children in unknown countries
through the paintings. They then decided
the size of canvas, which was provided
by Turner Color Works co., ltd., theyExhibition●Tokyo・Setagaya-ku
Wed, 11/12−Thu 12/25
Tamagawa Takashimaya S・C●Tokyo・Shinjuku-ku●Tokyo・Chiyoda-ku
Tue, 9/23 ‒ Mon, 10/27
Mujirush-Rhohin YurakuchoAELIER MUJI
●Nagoya・Nakamura-ku
Tue, 7/1−
Toyota Tsusho Corporation

Thu, 11/13−Thu, 12/25
MUJI Shinjuku ATELIER

Drawing Christmas is very fun!

Although it was a little bit early, we held
an art workshop with a theme of Christmas. Following a child who took an initiative to draw a Christmas tree, other children drew snowmen and wreaths, and inno time the white canvas was covered incolorful pictures of Christmas, and the
happy picture, which made us excited
just looking at it, was completed. At theend the children said to the nurse, "Wewant this picture to be displayed in theward during the Christmas party." Thework of children would make the Christmas party more exciting and it would fill
the party with smiles. When the picture
was moved to another room after theworkshop ended, that children’s eyes allfollowed it as if they regretted the temporary separation. It was a memorablescene.

●Tokyo・Meguro-ku
Sat, 11/1 - Fri. 12/12
Tokyo Metropolitan Museumof Photography●Tokyo・Setagaya-ku
Sat, 11/22−End of Dec.
Nissan Tamagawa Hospital●Tokyo・Taito-ku
Sat, 1/10−Fri, 3/8
Gallery Arcangeli

I am looking forward to the party!