First Visit to Orphanage

Yesterday, Emre and Taiki, members of the YFF Leadership, had the opportunity to participate in a weekly event hosted by @youmewenpo for an orphanage in Tokyo!

Hear about Emre Caglar's (Our Founder) thoughts below:

Yesterday, we had the wonderful opportunity to attend one of YouMeWeNPO’s weekly events at an orphanage in Tokyo.

Honestly, before the event, I personally was worried about a few things, one being my expectation of seeing children who are shy and reluctant to talk to us volunteers, who were complete strangers.

As volunteers, we were all in one room waiting for the kids to arrive. It was the first kid who completely caught me off guard, as he flew into the room bursting with energy. And then, a second later, I heard shouting getting louder and louder until a group of kids came in with so much energy into the room.

Contrary to my expectations, these kids immediately came up to us with so many questions like “Who are you?” and “Where are you from?” excited to learn so much about us and who we are.

During this session with the kids, something that really stood out to me was the factor of “emotional love.” As soon as the kids came into the room full of energy and smiles, I already knew people who work with these kids are doing an amazing job.

However, what caught me off guard was my thinking process when one of the kids went to hug a more experienced volunteer. Having worked at two international schools, what we are told in school is to refrain from getting too close to the kids, as some kids are really clingy, which may cause parents to misunderstand and become defensive. But then it hit me, these children don’t have their parents to give them the emotional support and love they truly need. So who’s responsible for providing them with such an important point for child development? Talking to a more experienced volunteer after the event, he said that finding a true balance is what’s especially difficult when you support kids who are in such circumstances.

Now, there’s an underlying issue to be solved and impacted. How do we support these kids and make sure they develop into great people ready to take on the world?

This is OUR responsibility.