AIC Japan, founded in 1999, has built over the years several successful partnerships with the Daughters of Charity in other Asian countries. Current partners include the Louisa Children’s Home in Bengaluru, India, and the Rosalie Rendu Development Center in Parañaque, the Philippines, which are both coordinated by sisters of the Daughters of Charity. The following article presents some of AIC Japan’s recent activities with these partners around access to water and improving mental health, as well as the gardening project it is currently developing in Kobe, Japan.

Helping fight water shortage in Bengaluru, India

Volunteers in Kobe have been supporting the Daughters of Charity in India since 2012, first by providing educational support to the “Vincent Nivas” centre in a remote village of Aurangabad, Maharashtra, in the western peninsular region of India. Since June 2024, they have also begun to support the Daughters of Charity’s “Louisa Children’s Home” in Bengaluru, which offers housing, food, and educational opportunities for children from slums, especially those who are orphans or have suffered neglect.

In January 2024, one of the sisters shared with AIC Japan’s volunteers news that there was a water shortage in the region, making the price of water soar. To address this situation, the sisters were thinking about digging a well at their Provincial House, where the Children’s Home is located. To respond to the sisters’ difficulties, AIC Japan’s volunteers decided to raise funds for the construction of the well. Access to water is a basic need, and having a well would allow the sisters to pursue their activities in better conditions.

Construction of the well began, with Japanese volunteers co-financing part of its significant costs. The process was not without its difficulties: the proximity of the well to a road meant that special machinery was needed, and its location in an urban area entailed numerous permits. Throughout the construction process, Japanese volunteers’ and the Indian sisters’ faith reassured them and helped them move forward together.

The well was completed about a year after AIC Japan became involved, and now provides water for the 50 people living in the sisters’ Provincial House, including the children of the Louisa Children’s Home and sisters in training. The volunteers’ next goal is to offer educational support to the children raised by the sisters, so that they can face the future “their hearts full of hope”.

Improving mental health in Parañaque, the Philippines

Another key partnership for AIC Japan is the one they have with the Rosalie Rendu Development Center (RRDC) in the Philippines. This is a community-based social welfare agency which supports the people and communities surrounding the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity in Parañaque. AIC Japan’s support for children of the RRDC began in 1999, the same year as AIC Japan was founded.

Over the years, the partnership between RRDC and AIC Japan has allowed many students to complete high school and advance to higher education. At the latest graduation in April 2025 for instance, nine students were able to graduate high school after being supported by AIC Japan for a period of three to 11 years. Some of the recent graduates’ dreams for the future: studying marine transportation, tourism management or accounting, becoming a teacher, and finding employment to support their siblings. (Source: AIC-Japan Kobe Newsletter)

In addition to educational assistance, AIC Japan’s volunteers would like to develop wider cooperation with the RRDC, namely on teenagers’ mental health. Depression among teenagers is increasing in the Philippines. Sisters and mental health specialists work together to support teenagers dealing with feelings of depression, as well as those confronted with issues such as sexual abuse and drug use. AIC Japan’s volunteers feel that they can learn a lot about this field from their Filippino partners. One of their first activities on this topic has been to share experiences of overcoming ordeals. Japanese volunteers would like to deepen this type of cooperation with RRDC in the future.

From left: AIC Japan’s vegetable garden in Kobe, produce donated to a soup kitchen and products sold in the community.

Creating a sense of community through gardening in Kobe, Japan

One of AIC Japan’s activities back home is gardening. Their project “A grain of wheat – Cultivating vegetables, friendly to people and nature” in Kobe, is a way for volunteers to meet new people, for example children and their parents who come lend them a hand in the garden. This project also allows volunteers to raise funds for the association, by selling the harvest from the field and processed products at church bazaars and in the community. This income helps support the volunteers’ partnerships with the Daughters of Charity in India and the Philippines. In the future, Japanese volunteers would like to work with more children in difficult situations to give them hope and help them feel they are never alone.

Source: https://www.aic-international.org/