Bighearted Young Citizens

Last year, US President Barack Obama extolled the “extraordinary impact” volunteers have on society. Four young Members explain why they volunteer.

Elliott Hikaru Henry stood at the front of a sweltering classroom in the impoverished Banan district of Cambodia. The students, whose ages were difficult to determine due to a lifetime of malnourishment, clambered on top of their worn desks, eager to participate.

The 18-year-old spent 10 days last summer teaching English with the Tassel charity group and hopes to return to Cambodia this year.

“The last day we left the village, we said our goodbyes and there were these students who ran after our van,”says the Club Member. “The van kept going faster and faster, but the kids kept running. That definitely told me it was all worth it.”

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 26 percent of young people ages 16 to 19 volunteer, compared with 19 percent for ages 20 to 24. Teens who volunteer are more likely to perform well academically and enjoy positive psychological and occupational well-being. Volunteering is also associated with the development of a greater respect for others and an understanding of citizenship.

Ava Hall
Ava Hall clung to the bed of the dusty pickup truck as it wound its way through the rugged mountains west of the ancient Thai city of Chiang Mai. The vehicle eventually arrived in a tiny, remote village.

Hall, a sophomore at the American School in Japan (ASIJ), spent four days in the village last November. Volunteering with the organization Abot Kamay, she helped build a playground and coordinated a clothing drive to distribute garments to elementary school children. Some children from far-flung parts of the country, with no access to modern appliances like TV, lived at the school.

“We literally set up our tents inside the school,” says Hall, who turns 16 this month, who is also on the ASIJ cheerleading squad. “We used their restroom and their water. The cook made us excellent Thai food.” Hall and her classmates mixed cement and dug post holes to construct four pieces of playground equipment. They taught the local children songs and games and, in turn, Hall learned the Southeast Asian sport of sepak takraw.

“We got to know them so well and I want to keep going back,” says Hall. “Seeing how much we impacted them was really special.”

Hall’s first volunteering experience was at the Franciscan Chapel Center in Tokyo, when, as a fourth-grader, she made onigiri rice balls for the city’s homeless.

In eighth grade, she joined the Global Issues Network club and traveled to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, where she visited a trash mountain and the shacks of the people who sift through the garbage every day in search of sellable materials.

“A lot of the times, high schoolers are labeled as, ‘Oh, they just care about parties and having fun and they only worry about college,’” says Hall. “A lot of kids don’t even have the opportunity to worry about college.

With volunteering, I want to be able to do as much as I can to help, and to shine light on the rest of the world that doesn’t have those opportunities that we have.”

Elliott Hikaru Henry
Last year, Elliott Henry organized a small band of Boy Scouts to renovate the patio outside the St Mary’s International School library. The group painted furniture and planted flowers to match the school colors.

“Boy Scouts is a great organization because it teaches leadership through volunteer activities,” says Henry, 18, a senior at St Mary’s.

A member of the Club-sponsored Troop 51, Henry earned his Eagle Scout badge in November after completing the St Mary’s project, which represented the community service part of the program. It wasn’t his first volunteering experience, though.

From the age of 13, he spent his family visits to Kansas City volunteering at a local animal shelter, where he helped out with tasks like walking dogs and cleaning. “I would have a lot of free time, so I did some research on volunteer programs and this shelter came up,” he explains.

Through school, Henry became aware of Tassel, an organization that coordinates video English lessons for children in developing areas. He leads lessons for high school students in Cambodia, and spent 10 days last summer teaching them at their school.

“After every class, we give a lot of high fives as they leave for lunch,” says Henry. “And this kid, after every class, he would come up and hug me.”

Henry’s charitable efforts don’t end there. He recently founded the Japan Companion Animal Relief Exchange (J-Care), an online animal welfare group, which has garnered more than 20,000 followers in both Japan and the United States.

“Of the time I have aside from school work and friends and family, I want to devote the time that I have to useful things because, frankly, why am I alive? Why am I here?” says Henry. “The volunteer work fills that void for me. It’s just who I am.”

Serena Ijuin
Serena Ijuin had never had a haircut in her life. Finally, at the age of 9, she let a pair of scissors near her flowing, brown hair that hung to her waist.

She chopped off 55 centimeters of her hair and donated it to Wigs for Kids, an organization that makes hairpieces for cancer-stricken children or those with other medical issues.

“I donated because it makes me feel good to help other children that are not as lucky as I am,” says the Otsuma Junior High School student.

Two years later, Ijuin, now 13, donated a few more centimeters of hair to a similar organization, Locks of Love.

“It is difficult for children who don’t have hair to go outside and play with other children,” she says. “I had the chance to complete a report for my school about my hair donation. Other students were surprised by what I did, but they all said it was a good thing. My parents were very proud of me.”

Volunteering is in her family. Ijuin twice traveled with her family to Tohoku to help clean up tsunami- ravaged communities. They also gave their time to community projects during a vacation in Cambodia.

In addition, Ijuin sings at hospitals with her school friends and helps with various charity fundraisers. “I feel that I am a lucky person to be healthy and have a good life,” she says. “I would like to be able to share my happiness with other people who may not be as happy.”

Jennifer Higa
At the urging of her mother, then seventh-grader Jennifer Higa and her best friend cleaned out the shed at a home for disadvantaged children in Meguro.

At the time, though, the senior at the American School in Japan (ASIJ) questioned how the task would benefit the kids.

“But a couple of years later, I went back and I saw that they used the shed,” Higa says. “They stored all of their things in there, and I think it was not only a way to help, but it showed them that there are people who care.”

The project was organized through Hands On Tokyo. Higa is currently president of the organization’s teen board. In addition to helping the children at the home, Higa, 18, exercises with children with intellectual disabilities as part of Hands On Tokyo’s motor development program.

She has also traveled to Tohoku more times than she can count to provide disaster relief, including serving coffee at a pop-up café, singing karaoke with senior citizens and rebuilding a greenhouse for a bell pepper farmer.

“Seeing a disaster hit Tohoku is very touching and it has been devastating,” says Higa. “I thought, ‘I only live a couple hours from there. I should go and help. It’s the least I can do.’”

As president of the teen board, she says she wants to encourage more students from Tokyo’s international schools to volunteer.

“As a member of the Japan and Tokyo community, I feel there are so many things that we could do,” says Higa.

“I think ever since I started I have had a real connection with volunteering. We are helping others, but it’s also very gratifying.”

Words: Nick Narigon
Photo: Yuuki Ide