Compulsory Volunteering

One day at school my JTE approached me and let me know that in the afternoon the students would be doing volunteer activities.  They would go to the homes of elderly people and help clean.  They do this twice a year, but this was the first time I had been invited to go along. 

The group I tagged along with was washing windows, but I saw other groups with gardening tools and other cleaning supplies as well.  My JTE and I were supervising two groups of three students.  We followed the first group through the maze of little alleyways to a nice looking house.  In Japan the front area just inside your door (known as the genkan) is seen as public domain.  So we just opened the door and the kids took a step inside and called out to the woman who lived there.  They identified themselves as the volunteers from the junior high and waited for a response.  We could hear a TV, but no sound of movement.  So we waited and kept trying.  After a few minutes we finally heard someone moving about.  Since Japanese houses seem to be made of doors I’m not sure if she had stepped out and just returned or if she had been in the back of the house and hadn’t heard us. 

She greeted us cheerfully and we got right to work cleaning windows on the inside and outside.  The house was a very traditional Japanese house and it was really cool.  Both my JTE and I were marveling at it, probably because we both live in tiny apartments.  After a while my JTE and I stopped cleaning and told the woman that we had to go check on another group of students.  Our departure was delayed however when she revealed she was making us coffee.  We didn’t want to be rude, so we sat down and drank a little of the coffee before we skedaddled out of there.

We met the other group of students on our way to the house they were supposed to be at.  They had waited a very long time, and, besides a loudly barking dog, no one seemed to be home.  We went back to the house to check again, but still no one was there.  So we headed back to the first house and basically started looking for some windows that were dirty so the kids could wash them.  After they did at least a little work we headed back to the first house.

The wonderful elderly lady welcomed all of the kids and, since work was over, sat them all down in her living room.  It was cold, so we were all huddled under the wonderful warmth of the kotasu (a magical little heated table that makes winter so much more bearable) and she served us all snacks and drinks.  She was excited to talk with the students and kept bringing out food for everyone.  We found out that her daughter had done the English recitation contest when she was in junior high school and that she now lived in Tokyo. 

After a pretty long while we all packed up and headed back to school.  I commented to my JTE how nice it had been.  He told me that while the cleaning is the reason they go out, he feels that visiting with the older people is much more important.  He told me that every year it’s the same, a little time cleaning and then a lot of time sitting and talking.  He wasn’t sure if the students really appreciated the experience but I think that a good number of them did.  They all had big smiles and really listened when the woman shared her stories with us. 

In America I had some similar experiences with Girl Scouts and Sunday School, but I can’t remember doing volunteer work as a part of school.  The student council did some volunteer work, but it was optional.  The only required volunteering I can think of was, just before high school graduation, we went and helped put out flag in the cemetery for Memorial Day.  This is just another example of how Japanese schools teach things that I wouldn’t traditionally think of as school subjects like morals and values.  I’m glad the students seemed to enjoy their out of classroom lesson and I enjoyed taking part in it with them.