Inspired to Help

Member Reiko Oshima explains how she was motivated by the charity leaders she encountered while volunteering with the Women’s Group.

When my son was about 4 or 5 years old, I set up a group with my neighbors in Kamakura to help refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. We had enough to feed and clothe our own children, so I thought we should help those children who were suffering.

One fundraiser we did four times a year was a kind of bazaar for children’s formal wear that children only wear once or twice [for special occasions]. The money we donated was used to build housing for families. We did that event for about 12 years.

When I joined the Women’s Group, I first helped with the various charity drives, and when the director of the charities committee left, she asked me to take over. I was very happy to do that.

At that time, the Women’s Group supported nine or 10 charities. When I took over, I decided to visit all the charities and talk with the founders, like Jean Le Beau at Sanyukai [homeless shelter] and Charles McJilton at Second Harvest Japan. I was so impressed and inspired by those organizations. They opened my eyes.

During my time volunteering with the Women’s Group, I was most impressed by the enthusiasm and sincerity of those charity leaders I met. I realized there were many enthusiastic people doing incredible work to make society better. But I found that many of the organizations were working in a very Japanese way—not too aggressive and not wanting to draw too much attention. I felt like they wanted to do good things hidden from view.

I thought we should raise more money for the organizations by drawing public attention to their work. For the first time, we invited one of these charity founders, Misao Hanazaki, to a charity ball to put her organization in the spotlight.

She inherited a huge amount of land from her father in Chiba Prefecture. She wanted to use this land for children and started from scratch. She took in [neglected] children and child refugees. She was soft and kind but had a strong mind. Everybody there [at Nonohana no Ie] seemed happy.

We received a lot of applications for funds, and we would first go and talk to the person in charge of those charities. We looked for leaders whose priority was the needs of their recipients. There were some organizations that only thought about their financial situation, not the people they were helping.

At that time, those people [helped by charities] were isolated in society. It was sad, and I thought we should do something. I believe people should be [treated equally]. Volunteering with charities is growing now and there is less discrimination.

Japanese society has changed, but Japanese people’s priority is still their own family. That’s the main reason why people don’t give money to charities. It’s also why so many wealthy senior citizens lose money in scams. They think they are sending money to their sons or grandsons.

How can we stop that and encourage them to donate to charities? That’s a solution I want to pursue.

As told to INTOUCH’s Nick Jones.

Image: Enrique Balducci