2024/10/24
We would like to introduce ANA Miyako Airport's initiative for the community with Miyakojima Hirara Children's Center.
Initiatives
ANA Miyako Airport has been thinking of ways to contribute to the community through the Miyakojima Hirara Children's Center with a strong interest in the current situation surrounding local children in Miyako Island since their first collaboration of donating discarded fireworks at airports to local children.
To start with, in order to deepen the understanding of the situation surrounding the children, Mr. Shinjo, the director of the Miyakojima Hirara Children's Center, gave a lecture on the themes of "self-trust and trust in others, economic poverty and cultural poverty, transformation of children's awareness, and the value of experience" and held a workshop for about 30 staff members, mainly from ANA Miyako Airport.
After the lecture and workshop, they planned and implemented a tour and work experience at Miyako Airport for children who are not usually familiar with airports to see and experience various jobs at airports so that they can feel more familiar with airports.
On the day of the event,10 children, mostly in the upper grades of elementary school, participated.They gathered in the office behind the customer counter, which is normally inaccessible, and went out to the runway to observe how an airplane lands and comes to a stop. The children then listened to explanations of pilot and ground handling jobs and deepened their understanding of each job.After that, the children experienced operating the forklift used to move containers, touched and observed special parts such as airplane tires used for maintenance, and finally experienced ground handling marshaling, giving them a closer look at the unique work of airports. The children who participated in the event told us that they found it interesting to learn about the difficulties and joys of these jobs through the experience.
At the end of the event, the Airport Director, Mr. Gushi donated books, "Secrets of Airlines," that explains airline operations in an easy-to-understand manner for children, to the Hirara Children's Center so that children can become more familiar with ANA in their daily lives.
The children were also given notebooks and stickers as souvenirs to remember their participation, and we saw many smiling faces.
Interviews with project members
We interviewed Ms. Natsumi Sugiura, who was in charge of this project.
Please tell us about your thoughts on this project
We had an opportunity to learn about "child poverty" in Miyako Island from Mr. Shinjo of the Miyakojima Hirara Children's Center, and we felt that this airport tour and work experience would not only contribute to the local community but also lead to human resource development. The theme of this year's tour was "Feel and enjoy with all five senses." We learned from Mr. Shinjo, that children these days have fewer opportunities to experience things, and we wanted to give them the opportunity to experience airplanes not only by looking at them, but also by feeling them with all five senses.
- Seeing: looking at the airplane from various angles (perspective, front, side), watching it work
- Listen: hear the sound of the engine, listen to the announcements, listen to the stories
- Smell: smell the engine, ground, and tires
- Touch: touch the tires, touch the machine, touch the marshaling paddles
- Taste: taste the ANA original blue gummies
I hope they grow up healthy by stimulating their senses through seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting delicious food.
Can you please give a message to the readers?
Not only the sea, known as Miyako blue, but also the mangoes, sugarcane and other agricultural products, and the islanders are very attractive. It is our responsibility to pass on the culture, traditions, and charm of this fascinating island to the next generation. We hope to build a better society and proudly promote Miyako Island to the world by valuing local ties, helping and supporting each other. For those of you who will visit Miyako Island, we hope that you will cherish the opportunity to experience the culture and traditions of Miyako Island, by visiting tourist spots, interacting with local people to build a deeper understanding and bond with them.
We value the awareness of each and every one of our employees and are committed to contributing to the community.
