A member of the Faculty of Education who participated in the "Disaster Prevention Children's Cafeteria" volunteer program in July 20244We interviewed Mayu Tomitsuru, a second-year student!
What made you decide to volunteer at the Disaster Prevention Children's Cafeteria?
I received information about the Children's Cafeteria from the Student Affairs Office and my seminar teacher.4Since I had time in the 1st grade, I thought, "I like working with children, so I'll give it a try.!" That's what got me thinking.
What did you do at the Disaster Prevention Children's Cafeteria?
With the recent earthquake on the Noto Peninsula, we started talking about how we need to start receiving disaster prevention education from elementary school age onwards so that people can feel that disasters are something close to them.
So, we tried to create a time for everyone to learn about disaster prevention through picture-story shows while eating meals made with emergency rations and talking about disaster prevention together, so that everyone, from children to adults, could learn about disaster prevention while having fun.
There is a type of rice called instant rice, which is perfect for emergency food as you can make hot rice by adding hot water, and we thought we could combine it with beef sukiyaki ingredients to make a beef bowl-like dish and serve it as a children's cafeteria.
![[Resize] Children's Dining Hall.JPG](https://www.kuins.ac.jp/news/assets/2899da9457add25685703aa3e84034d0051bb5ee.JPG)
Having participated, are there any memorable moments such as fun or happy moments?
First of all, I was happy that so many people came!
After the disaster prevention education was over, we also had time to prepare toys and play with the children.
It was great that even some of the children who were difficult to talk to at first were able to become friends through play.
It was also nice that so many people from the Amagasaki area came, which confirmed once again that this is a university that is loved by the local community!
Was there anything difficult during your activities?
During disaster prevention education, some people had a hard time understanding the material and looked blank, wondering "what are we doing?", so we all worked together to find ways to improve it so that they would pay attention to what we were doing, and we made improvements through trial and error.
Also, since so many people came, it was surprisingly difficult to prepare things like instant rice.
Do you feel that you have grown as a result of volunteering?
By carrying out disaster prevention education ourselves, it was a learning experience for me and I was able to reaffirm how important it is. I also thought that in the future, when I work in the field of education interacting with children, I would like to convey to them that "in Japan, disasters happen close to home," and that this is how we can protect the safety of children.
What would you say to other students who are undecided about whether to participate in volunteer work?
If you have the time, please volunteer!
If you don't take action yourself, it's just going to be boring.4Since it will be a year-long experience, if you want to make the most of your university life, I think it would be a good idea to take the initiative and get involved in volunteer work, etc., and seize the opportunities to gain experience!
Please come and join us as a volunteer!
Thank you, Tomitsuru-san, for your cooperation!
A video of the interview is posted on the official "Yurubo" Instagram.
Please check it out at the URL below!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGznfnMyZgN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
