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| With the JAL Group’s Wings of Love program, students from children’s homes across Japan are invited for a three-day trip to Tokyo. The program started in 1988, and to date about 1,900 children have participated. For the program’s 20th anniversary this spring, 29 elementary school pupils from six regions of Japan came to Tokyo. Originally devised by our employees, Wings of Love is funded by staff contributions and run by volunteers among our staff. The JAL Group manages the overall project, offers support and provides free air tickets. |
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The Importance of Friends |
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Our original intention with Wings of Love was simply for the children to enjoy themselves through such activities as visiting theme parks. Later, we decided it would be better to develop the program to offer lasting benefit to the children as opposed to simply letting them have fun for three days. To this end, in 2004 we began putting children from different homes into small groups so that they could go sightseeing together in Tokyo and make new friends. Volunteer JAL staff accompanied the children and looked after them as they got to know each other. The theme of Wings of Love 2007 (March 25–27, 2007) was “Making New Friends from Faraway.” |
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Wings of Love 2007 Main Events |
Day 1
• Welcome Party
The children were split into groups for games and quizzes and to get to know each other. For the second half of the party, the children enjoyed traditional comic storytelling and paper-silhouette-cutting performances.
Day 2
• Tokyo Adventure Trail
The students followed an adventure trail around Tokyo using clue cards provided by staff. They split into six groups and explored two Tokyo sightseeing spots. |
• Making Souvenir Scrapbooks
The children filled scrapbooks with photos from group activities, pamphlets and souvenirs from sightseeing spots.
Day 3
• Haneda Tour
The students took part in a study tour of the maintenance facilities at Haneda Airport. |
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Keeping in Contact with Children’s Homes |
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To begin with, when we invited children to take part in the Wings of Love program, we chose participants from several different children’s homes in each selected JAL region. More recently, however, regional offices have selected a single institution from their area and invited all the Grade 6 students from the children’s home as a group. In this way, the children are less nervous about taking part in the activities since they already live together, and they can later share their memories of the program as friends. When we choose the areas, we give priority to regions further away from Tokyo. It is also a prerequisite that JAL staff from that area visit the children’s home throughout the year and build a relationship of trust with the institution. In the Hiroshima and Nagasaki regions, for example, our staff took part in Christmas parties at the children’s homes and helped strengthen the ties between the institutions and the JAL Group. |
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Learning More about Children’s Homes |
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| In running this program, we are well aware of the need to further our understanding of both the children we invite and the homes where they live. Since the 2005 Wings of Love program, we have held preparatory training sessions for volunteers before each year’s activities. The annual training typically involves inviting staff from the children’s homes and hearing from them about the children’s daily lives and how best to interact with them. In recent years, an increasing number of children have been admitted to such institutions because of child abuse. The training sessions are an opportunity for participants to learn about the background and scale of such social problems. |
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Information Gathering and Rigorous Preparation |
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Every January, two employees from the JAL Group are selected to have responsibility for running the Wings of Love program office. They spend around three months in the Public Relations Division at our headquarters, where they learn about the ideas behind the program, its aims and how to plan safe and practical activities for the children.
The program also provides support to children with special health needs. Prior to the activities, the program’s office contacts children’s homes to collect information on any special health needs and informs volunteers as necessary. Lastly, during the program itself, nursing staff are available to provide help and advice on health issues.
Every year, it is necessary for us to rethink the contents of the Wings of Love program to keep pace with social changes. Our aim is not just to provide a fun time for the children: we are continually working to create a program that will both be useful in the children’s futures and a source of personal growth for employees who volunteer to take part. |
I learned about the Wings of Love program through our company newsletter and decided to participate as a volunteer. During the program, staff from different sections of the JAL Group spent three days together with a group of children. It was an extremely rewarding experience to work together as a team playing games, taking part in quizzes and having fun through new challenges. I think the adult participants learned a lot from meeting the children and hearing their thoughts.
Rika Suwa
Cabin attendant,
Hokkaido Air System |
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| Volunteer Work to Meet Changing Times |
Many of the children participating in the program have never been on a plane or visited Tokyo. To provide them with a variety of new experiences, we have in recent years been accepting invitations from the JAL Hiroshima Office to take part in the Wings of Love program.
We believe that the children can broaden their horizons through activities they wouldn’t normally experience and by making friends with children from institutions outside the prefecture. Of the children who have taken part in the program so far, many have become more talkative and lively as a result. Many of our younger children tell us how they’re looking forward to taking part.
Tetsuo Kamikuri
Director, Hiroshima Shinsei Gakuen (social welfare nonprofit organization)
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