What a wonderful spring day we had at Baji Koen yesterday for our Easter egg hunt and picnic. The sun shone, we had 285 people come along and we raised over 150,000 yen for UNICEF for victims of the tsunami in Asia. A great success!!

We gratefully acknowlege the volunteers who donated their time and talents for the day: Michael sensei from Kids Paradise, whose magic and theatrics were fabulous; Angela and Laura from Happy Clowns, http://tanoshii-piero.com who made great balloon art for the kids; Jeff (the AFLAC duck voice) who was our MC and played guitar for our songs; Allison who untiringly painted the kids' faces while her husband Teppei held their sleeping baby Kye; and our husbands, Yoshiki and Tadasu who did not actually volunteer but dealt with the anxieties and complexities of running the big event with such determined wives!

We also appreciated the delicious hot cross buns specially baked for us by AKC of Backerei Brotheim in Tsurumaki, and the kind liaison of his wife, Tamami. 50% of the sale proceeds from the buns went to UNICEF.

Thankyou to everyone who attended for your kind donations, and special mention goes to Kikokushijo Academy http://www.kikokushijoacademy.com and Kids Paradise in Setagaya-ku for their generous support.

Our commitment to the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding, in particular in emergencies like the tsunami, was the driving force behind our organisation of this community event. We chose UNICEF as the beneficiary of our donations because UNICEF is one of the organisations working hardest to protect breastfeeding in emergencies, especially when aid donations often come in the form of large donations of tins of infant formula, a practice which seriously undermines breastfeeding and puts babies' lives and health at risk.
http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/files/Emergency_WHO_U_RC_IFRC_rev.DOC is a very informative document about these practices.
UNICEF has recently published a report about the progress of rebuilding communities affected by the tsunami after 90 days at http://www.unicef.org This report mentions the distribution of leaflets on safe health practices and the importance of breastfeeding in emergencies. In situations like the tsunami, breastfeeding may be the only safe method of feeding. Further information about supporting breastfeeding mothers and infant feeding in emergencies is available through http://www.ennonline.net/ife/index.html Information in Japanese is available at http://www.jalc-net.jp/hisai.html

Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the tsunamis in Asia, those who lost family, friends, homes and communities, and to all the people now working so hard to rebuild.

Thankyou to everyone for your wonderful support!
Iona (Blue Sky) http://www.blueskytokyo.com
Yuri (YG English)