Paper Cranes for Japan

The tragedy in Japan is no longer new to us. Unfortunately, it happened. Fortunately, we are here and we can help.

Couple of days ago, just browsing around, I found out about a great project: Paper cranes for Japan. I couldn't sleep at night. I was thinking over and over how I could motivate my students to give a helping hand. My country is not a very rich one and people's mentality is rather to be given than to give. Then a good idea came.

I put 5 questions on a piece of paper and I told my students I have a short questionnaire for them: 5 questions with Yes / No  answers. They are:
1. Have you heard about the tragedy in Japan?
2. Did it affect you in any way?
3. Do you think they need help?
4. Are you willing to help?
5. Do you know how to help?

Then I asked them to count how many "Yes" they have and if they had at least 3. Then, I asked them if they answered "Yes" at question no. 4 and no. 5. If they'd like to help - I gave them the solution. This was the starting point for the main presentation of the project. I am sure that I was able to motivate them and arise their interest.

We started folding our paper cranes last week. We are still doing it. There are more than 200 students willing to help and we already have about 400 cranes. Next Wednesday our cranes will fly to the USA. I am so pleased we can help and my students are willing to help too - they can finally understand what the final aim of volunteering is.

I will come back soon with news and pictures. In the meantime, just spread the word and start folding cranes for Japan.

 

Update: We managed to fold 1,500 paper cranes and on April, 13 we mailed them to Students Rebuild. We are more than happy that we could give a helping hand to all those people in need.