The Acacia Festival The Acacia Festival
Street Hockey
When: Saturday, June 7th 1:00pm- 5:00pm
Where: The parking lot behind Kosaka Station, or the Chominkan in case of rain
Tournament Format: Round-robin
Participating teams: Foreigner Team
Fathers Team
Youth team
CIR Mark Smith has assembled a team comprising members from 3 different prefectures to participate in the local hockey tournament. In the end, we had a great day of hockey. Halfway through the day, we had to move the event to the Chominkan to escape from the rain. Mark's foreigner team cleaned-house, taking home the championship. The foreigner team leisurely cooled off with the beers they earned as winners. The second place fathers team went home with an air of dignity; and the third place youth team defiantly declared "I'll be back". Many thanks to the players and to everyone who helped with the event.
When: Sunday June 8th 10:00 - 13:00
Where: Kokusai Hiroba
Efforts to give Vaccines to the children
of the world have become one of the International Association's
yearly Community Assistance projects. This year we held a flea
market to raise money for vaccines. All profits were donated to
the Japanese Chapter of the Global Programme for Vaccines and
Immunization, an organization that gives vaccines to children
throughout the world.
However, can we really make a difference? Looking at the prices
of our items, we felt a little uncertain that we would raise any
money, but soon we were amazed to see that we could raise 38,207
Yen, which was officially donated to the Japanese Chapter of the
Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunization. If you consider
that we managed to recycle and reuse some old items, doing our
small part for the environment, and that we also managed to give
some assistance, you could say that we killed two birds with one
stone.
Grassroots Trade Fair
The Grassroots Trade Fair isn't about donations of money or items, but a chance to purchase items made by people in developing countries. This was the first time KIS organized such an event. This years products were: Postcards from Zimbabwe; handcrafted mahogany woodwork from Kenya; Handmade "grass-paper" envelopes from the Philippines; Linden tree leaf cards from India; foot scrubbers from Bangladesh; Tea from Sri Lanka; and, Coffee and cloth dolls from Nepal. This event was held at the Kokusai hiroba, so it was a little separated from the rest of the Festival. As a result, we didn't have too many people stopping by, which was unfortunate; all the items were quite splendid,.
International Children's Playtime
When: Monday June 8th 11:00 - 12:00
Where: Kokusai Hiroba
- English games with the children: British Bulldog, Jacks
Mark was able to gather up quite a crowd of children for playtime. In the beginning, Mark demonstrated the game, and explained the rules several times, and the excitement gradually grew among the children. The children had a chance to meet some new friends, and everyone seemed to have had a good time.
Flea Market