Ruiqi Wang: Niconico Totato (volunteering for hospitalized children)

Before I came to this program, I am not that in volunteer activities because I think personal class can learn more about Japanese culture. However, I knew I was wrong when I actually started volunteering at the first time in KCJS program as an English assistant for a junior high school English activity. I haven’t decided to do volunteer for my CIP at that time. Then, considering the fact that I live very far from school and really need to do something have flexible time schedule, I chose Niconico tomato for my CIP, which is basically a volunteer association for children in hospital. When I started to do this weekly, I knew I finally find something that fit my schedule and very meaningful.

The basic job for Niconico tomato is to help children in hospital to have lives as normal as usual healthy children. Besides the treatments they have to take during the most time of their time, Noconico tomato offers them a chance to have a library and play room, even school. Elder children can read books freely and even have classes in hospital and for younger children, they can get a chance to learn some little hand crafts every week with professional teachers. My work is to do some regular work like pasting labels on a monthly magazine of Niconico tomato and doing decorations for children’s profile album. Speaking of this album, I really learn a lot from it. The profile album is different for each child recording their life before hospital, in hospital and after hospital. When I read the album, I am impressed by the vitality shown from the pictures of their smile. Even though they are in hospital and some of them have serious disease, it can’t take away the right of a child to learn, to play, to laugh. Looking at their smiles, I feel I am doing something for them and it is really meaningful for me.

There are also something happened in-between volunteers. I learned that you have to be very humble to someone who are elder than you or working longer than you and use careful language to them, but this doesn’t mean that there is a distance between. They were all very kind to me and helped me a lot, not only in my working but also in my Japanese. Because the speed of their conversations in usual speed, I have to listen really carefully to understand them. This is an absolutely good chance to practice listening and speaking. I really appreciate this experience as a volunteer in hospital for children.

6 thoughts on “Ruiqi Wang: Niconico Totato (volunteering for hospitalized children)

  1. That sounds so amazing, Satobi! I know you were looking into doing a manga class at first, but I’m glad that you were able to enjoy your time at NicoNico Totato. I’ve never volunteered at a children’s hospital before, but it sounds like it was a really rewarding experience for you and them. I haven’t had too much experience with keigo at my volunteer sites as everyone but my bosses speak to me in plain です・ます, but I understand how difficult it can be to catch what people are saying to you when they speak very quickly.

    During your time at NicoNico, did you ever get to interact with the children, or do you mostly just work on the albums? Also, what is the album like? My mom used to make me scrapbooks throughout my life during special or difficult times when I could use a smile, and if what you’re doing is anything like the scrapbooks I received from her I can only just imagine how happy those kids are going to be.

    • There is a time table for every month telling you what activities there will be every day. There is a corner named Children’s game time, at where I had a chance to play with children. I enjoy the most of my time with children but sometimes it is a hard time for me to see children with all kinds of pipes and cannot say a word sitting in front of me. Maybe it is another factor makes this volunteering so meaningful for me. The album is like the record of their daily lives in hospital with pictures and explanations.

  2. So amazing that you were able to have such a meaningful experience through your CIP. I think you’re so right in that there is so much more you can learn from experience than you ever can in a class–what do you think you learned most through volunteering that you hadn’t been exposed to before from Japanese class?

    • The most I learned is the way people interact with each other during working time. Maybe because I am international student, they will slow down the talking speed. However, the most time they are talking in normal speed and I have to get used to that, which is a good lesson for lessening practice.

  3. Wow, thank you for sharing your experiences! I really wanted to volunteer at a hospital but decided not to. You shared your experience with communicating with elders but how was it with the kids? Did you ever feel that the fact that your were a foreigner ever made a difference in the hospital environment? Also, you mentioned that your CIP helped with your Japanese but were the conversations even more difficult to understand because of medical jargon at all or was it much more simplified because of the nature of the hospital (it meant for children and all)?

    • Because people cannot tell wether I am Japanese or not by my appearance, I didn’t feel I am a foreigner in that environment. Especially I will only use very simple words and sentences to children, sometimes they even didn’t notice I am not Japanese. You don’t need to know any medical jargon to do this job because its very simple and has nothing to do with medical science.

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