Playground of Hope is always happy to be introduced to new locations in need of play! We were first introduced to Iitoyo Elementary School in Soma City, Fukushima by the principal of our 2015 project at Komagamine Elementarcy School in the neighboring city of Shinchimachi, Fukushima. Just a few days before our scheduled build and […]
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The Mashikimachi daycare building was destroyed in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. The daycare reopened in a prefabricated building near the Mashikimachi Sogo Kaikukan and will be located there for the next 1.5 years. Local official and staff requested that we help develop the schools play area. They needed a fence around the school building as
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Together with our amazing sponsors from NPO Nadia and IVG, Playground of Hope along with the children from Koyama Home children’s facility in Chiba worked to install the first play set in Ogatsucho, a small fishing village in Ishinomaki devastated by the 3.11 tsunami. Not only we were able to connect with a beautiful town
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In August 2016, four months after the Kumamoto earthquake, there were still over 400 people living in an evacuation center set up in the local Mashikimachi gymnasium. The local YMCA created an indoor play space for the 70 children living in the gymnasium. There were books and small toys that had been donated. It seemed
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Takata Hoikusho was completely destroyed by the 3/11 tsunami and the lives of the families and caregivers were forever changed. It took nearly 4 years to rebuild the school which is now, yet another step forward, a very real part of the rebuilding process that continues to this day. And will continue for years to
During the 3/11 disaster, the Ushiami Hoikusho building was damaged beyond repair. As such, Higashi Matsushima City had to rebuild the building. Instead of rebuilding it at the same location, the school was moved more inland, and it was finished and opened in April 2016. A few months after the school reopened, Playground of Hope
Like so many of the daycares that we have worked with in Fukushima, the initial weeks after the disaster were extremely trying on parents and caregivers of the young students. Their dedication to the children’s safety and well-being was simply heroic. It is such an honor for us to be able to keep supporting these
The town of Matsushima decided to tear down an old, derelict pool and in its place build a new children’s center for local kids and families to enjoy. One of the local officials working on this project had participated in a Playground of Hope build in Tohoku. Although Matsushima town had not been damaged as
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On 3.11, the grounds of Nakazato Elementary School was filled with water from the tsunami and the gym quickly became filled with evacuees from the city of Ishinomaki. Despite this, the local community and children worked hard to hold their sports festival that year. Many children from other elementary schools in area also transferred to
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