About Us:

I'm Seiko Akayama, the principal of Kyushu technical education college in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto.

On July 4th, 2020, torrential rains hit southern Kyushu. Hitoyoshi city has recently experienced severe flooding and our school is next to the river. As a result, our school has sustained irreparable flooding damage when our first floor was completely flooded. 

Many cell phone towers in the area were also hit, therefore we have lost our way to contact those connected to the school. As of today July 6th, we are still confirming safety of our students and faculty.

My house has also been destroyed, and my family currently no longer lives there. We are trying hard to restore our school and my house as well, but we are suffering from the shortage of relief supplies and funds at this moment. 

COVID-19 has already delayed the start of our school year, but we fear this tragedy will be a further set-back. 

We are shocked that this disaster took place on top of COVID-19 and has taken away our students’ opportunity to further their education. We feel blessed to have survived this disaster, but the mental, physical, and financial stress has taken its toll. 

Our desire is to reopen the school for them as soon as possible. Therefore, we are hoping to ask for your help through this crowdfunding project.  

What we hope to accomplish through this project:

We hope to restore our school by the end of this month in order to reopen it on 8/1.

Normally, August is summer vacation season, but we will rearrange the class schedule due to COVID-19 and this flooding damage.  

We had conducted online classes during the state of emergency period. However, the school’s infrastructure was destroyed and the internet connection is unstable, so we’ve decided to put the priority on the restoration of our school.

■ How your donations will be used

We will purchase the following:

・daily use items such as water, food, bedding, and furniture

・steam cleaners and cleaning supplies to remove mud and debris

・textbooks and other lesson materials

・sanitizing items for our whole school for COVID-19

■ Our projected schedule for this project:

Beginning of July: Cleaning and removing mud and debris inside school 

Middle of July: Purchasing replacement textbooks and lesson materials

End of July: Sanitizing our school against COVID-19

■ Rewards (updates to follow):

We are planning to send thank you letters from our students and gifts such as LINE stamps or digital gifts that are related to what they study and work on here at school.

Unfortunately, we don’t have time to think about the minute details at this moment, but we will be sure to send rewards to each of you who supports us.  

In conclusion:

Younger generations, like our students, are the motivation for the restoration from this disaster in Hitoyoshi city. We believe that their success in the future is paramount to the restoration of our city. We put our hope in the success of our youth.

We will continue to work hard on this big restoration project with our students so that one day the year of 2020 will be remembered as a time of trials overcome-not of defeat. It is our hope that the events of 2020 will only serve to make our students stronger and more compassionate in the future.  

We are truly thankful for your support.