By Mr. Kentaro Kikuchi,
Volunteer of Seibo Japan,
Yokohama Salesian Junior and Senior High School Past Pupil

Yokohama, Japan, 5 October 2023 -- As a Volunteer staff member of NPO Seibo, I would like to share one of our activities for our long-term goal, "School Lunch for Every Hungry Child", by selling coffee at the cultural festival of my alma mater, Salesian Junior and Senior High School in Yokohama Japan.

Before I begin, let me tell you why our organization was able to sell coffee at the Salesian school. I and a few of my classmates were part of a small volunteer group during our time at the school. We wanted to raise money for charity through coffee sales, and that was when we came across a NPO Seibo. The activities we started with Seibo have been passed on to younger students, and donations are still being made to support school lunches in Malawi, Africa. At this year's festival, many people bought coffee and we were able to collect donations equivalent to about 8,000 school lunches in Malawi.

One of the educational policies of Salesian Junior and Senior High School is "Assistenza," the spirit of Don Giovanni Bosco, which is to walk together with young people. I am still a university student, so I am still a young person in terms of age, but visiting my alma mater as a staff member of an NPO and working with the students on charity activities made me feel the importance of this spirit once again.

By having not only teachers and Salesian priest and brothers, but also Alumni and outside NPOs walk alongside and support the young people, we can provide them with a richer social experience and focus their attention on those in need, especially those in society who are on the border between children and adults. In the future, I hope to visit not only my alma mater but also more high schools and universities to engage with young people in the spirit of assistenza and to show them the importance of charity and social business through coffee sales.

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