Seiryou high school in the heart of Kumamoto city on the southern island of Kyushu Japan, is a special school, as explained to me by inviting teacher Kuroak Tomoko her english was a challenge to understand, and when i asked how the school was special she told me that the students have phobia’s, this maybe partly true as i could believe anything here in Japan but speaking to the school’s in house councilor the students suffer from mild mental health problems and cannot attend mainstream education.
The school is a modern design with lots of open spaces and is completely different concept and feel than the conventional japanese schools, you still remove your shoes when you enter the school but the feeling is more relaxed students don’t need to wear uniform and they can choose what classes they want to do, they have access to computer gaming and cartoon magazines, at lunch the students ate packed lunches and could eat anywhere on the premises, this is so different from the Soyo high school where they make a ceremony and thanks for the meal and work together to serve and put away the food area.
I set up my vehicle for the outside demonstration by setting up as i was about to make camp putting up my tent and awning arranging the kitchen area too. I then set up my lap top with the help of two secretarial staff who giggled and smiled all the time. I was early and had time to sit with Kuroak to have a coffee while we waited for Daniel the schools English teacher and translator.
The class that i was giving my presentation to started at 11.30 am and we were inside for 35 minutes, Daniel was really good at translating my English to Japanese for the students so we were able to communicate with them really well about how their lives were different to the streetKids around the world, and their own problems had left them. The students find my mascot cartoon Rat “Dylan” funny and interesting and call him “Gaviee” which is cute!
I explained that not many people like rats or streetkids so they have something in common and they told me they loved them both.
We all left the classroom for the car park where i demonstrated how i live on the road and the importance of access to clean water a roof over your head and safety, they could see that i lived in a very basic way and loved the tent which folds open like a fan and is waterproof even with Japanese monsoon rain, the shower seems to be the main attraction to anyone that has looked at my car, they say “and it has a shower” it is a great asset to the car and i can have a shower anywhere, even in a car park with my swimming trunks on i can wash. I pulled out the winch line about 40 ft and got the students to pull on the line like tug of war, i tried this first at Soyo school and they loved it so much i tried it again and sure enough the students were pulling and they really want to pull the car along but they can’t get enough traction against the electric winch it is lots of fun.
It was time to call it a day and the pupils dispersed a few stayed for a group photo but the group was far more reserved and shy compared to the Junior school children, Daniel assured me that they did enjoy it.
Daniel myself and Kuroak had coffee inside with cake and we talked about the work i had done in England with Nacro and the Princes Trust as an assistant volunteer and in Scotland with young people in care, they then presented streetKids International UK with 8000 Yen gift donation from the school i was surprised and not expecting to be given this they were so kind and wished me all the luck with my travels and work with streetKids International.
Many Thanks to the students at Seiryou high school for inviting me and all the teachers and staff. Tim Dennis