Suarabaya School raises funds for Japan

Wearing Kimonos, six Muhammadiyah 4 Elementary School students, on Tuesday held an event to raise money for tsunami disaster victims in Japan following the devastating earthquake which hit the country last week.

The six female students each with a Kimono in different colors, took a cardboard box on which was attached a white paper that read: Post Tsunami Japan, 2011, and went from one class to another to raise funds.

According to the head of the Muhammadiyah 4 Surabaya, Solihin Fanani, S. Ag, planned activities will be held through Friday as part of learning empathy.

"In addition to it we want to provide assistance in the form of funds, for victims of the tsunami disaster in Japan, we also invite the children to learn to have empathy for the suffering of others," said Solihin Fanani.

The tsunami disaster in Japan, added Solihin, that took thousands of lives was similar to the tsunami that struck Aceh had a few years ago. "Therefore, my children were invited to participate to give a little of their pocket money for the tsunami victims of Japan," he added.

"I think this kind of activity is good for educating children. They not only know about natural disasters as well as victim but they were also given knowledge of fellow people who suffer, "said Lilianti one of the parents.

By the end of the day 800,000 Indonesian Rupees had been collected. The fund-raising will continue until Friday.