Fukuda Family, Japan (FVP Story 2021.)
Teru Fukuda is Japanese, but lives in Colombia. His father is currently in Japan taking care of his grandmother. This summer Teru visited his grandmother and got to spend precious time with his father. During his visit, father and son participated in a volunteer project together.
They folded origami displays for an elderly home. Teru isn’t great at folding, neither is his father, who is getting older. But Teru did his best to aid his father as they folded their display together.
Teru reflected, “This time, I used to make origami for people in the home for the elderly, but because I made it for someone, although I did not fold it properly, I made it with all my heart. I hope that even one person will be pleased through this project. Volunteers have the image of doing something big, but I found that they can do simple things like this origami. Thank you for the good experience.”
A volunteer who joined the project, was deeply impressed by Teru’s heart of filial piety. Teru responded to his father’s needs, carefully explaining steps the best he could, pausing to help fold his father’s paper if he needed.
Perhaps the simple service of folding origami has another gain -- a chance for Teru to openly express his filial piety to his father as they volunteered together.
As Teru’s Family Volunteer for Peace story shows, service not only benefits those who receive, families who volunteer together gain treasures beyond words.