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Volunteers build baseball field for children in Iwate city

10 Comments

Residents of Ofunato City in Iwate Prefecture, which was hit hard by the March 11 disaster, have completed building a baseball field for local children who were relocated to temporary housing units.

According to Sports Nippon, volunteers cleared debris from a chestnut grove, whose owner provided the space free of charge, to make room for the baseball field. Following completion of the field on Sunday afternoon, a traditional prayer ceremony was held, calling for the safety and well-being of the children.

Resident volunteers provided all of the money and labor required for building the field, which is complete with lighting and bleacher seats.

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10 Comments
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"Build it and they will come"

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

That is a really nice bit of news. Nice going!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

a traditional prayer ceremony was held, calling for the safety and well-being of the children.

8 months too late. Good luck kids but prayers do nothing 'cept line the pockets of the actors who dupe the devout.

-5 ( +1 / -5 )

Nice of them to do that. Good for them!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Is this the diamond in Masaaki-cho? (No articles I find give the neighborhood or name the owner of the land.)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

sudman: 8 months too late. Good luck kids but prayers do nothing 'cept line the pockets of the actors who dupe the devout.

I agree, building the ground was a very nice gesture, and I am really glad the children have somewhere to play and have fun. But don't waste time praying for safety... Praying does nothing other than make the person(s) praying feel better. (it's all in the mind). Praying has ZERO affect in what happens in the real world. If you want the children to be safe, educate and better train the people who are put in place to teach and/or look after them.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Readers, please do not mock those people who pray.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nice to know that the area is getting rebuilt, but we must remeber those who lost their lives for the scars will remain with those who survived and lost loved ones.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It's amazing how some people on here live their lives in such negativity. This is a positive article, about citizens doing something nice to help out those effected by disaster. I think this is great that a community banded together to help out children. Wonderful job!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This is the ball diamond in Massaki-cho. (I spelled it wrong above). There seems to be a bit of problem with the translation. The diamond is for all the children in the area, not just the ones in temporary houses. The owner of the land has donated it for this use, after all the pre-existing ball diamonds in the area were re-purposed for temporary housing communities.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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