（"Hiroba" is a Japanese word meaning "square," a place where people gather.）
Our Mission: Sing in Unity. Live in Peace.
-Bring peace to the soul of Japanese young people through singing
-Bring peace to the world by donating a portion of our profit to charity activities.
Background & What we do:
In Japan today, many young people were brought up without a sense of community. In consequence, many live by themselves in the huge city of Tokyo with no one to turn to, or even to talk to after work. “Depression” is becoming a social phenomena, which indicates that many struggle to find confidence in themselves, hope in their lives, or love with other people.
Symbolized by Karaoke, singing is one of the most popular means of communication in Japan. However, unlike the old days when there were plenty of singing opportunities such as festivals or any kind of group work including agriculture and fishery, today dark small rooms of Karaoke bars are only places left for ordinary (non-professional) people to sing.
Our mission is to provide a “spiritual home” for those people where they can gather and SING, SING, SING! Sometimes we go out to perform at concerts. We believe that singing out loud with many other people can bring peace to their soul. Moreover, many people say they are moved by encouraging messages in the Gospel Music.
We also use our activities as a way to raise money for international cooperation projects. With a portion of our profit, we support vocational centers in Sri Lanka and a scholarship project for Lao children.
Nana
Charity Gospel Marathon
Founder: Nana Gentle
(Gospel Singer and Gospel Choir Director)
“through singing Gospel, many participants witness
positive changes in their perspective on life”
Nana joined a choir at an African-American church in an American Base in?Tokyo at the age of 19, where she was
inspired by the power of the human voices and encouraging messages in the songs. In the same year, she started her own gospel group "Fafa Gospel House," singing at various concerts and events with 40 members who followed her. At the same time she learned Gospel music by working as a translator of an African-American gospel singer for 2 years.
In 2005, Nana was the first to create "Gospel Choir Course" at Japanese public high school. Over 100 high school students in Kanagawa prefecture enjoyed singing gospel music under her direction.
Her policy has always been to help poorer people in the world with money she raises by singing and teaching Gospel music. Her past activities include: scholarships to 10 children in Laos, financial support to 20 students in Togo and funding to an orphanage in Nepal. She believes that charity activities are able to involve “mass,” only if it is something fun to participate. Besides, not only having fun, through singing Gospel many participants witness positive changes in their perspective on life (though the majority of them have never had an opportunity to read the Bible).
Her unique approach has been featured by Mainichi Shinbun (nationwide newspaper), DIME(manazine), BBC World(radio), and many other media.
Partner NGO: TECHJAPAN
TECHJAPAN is an organization led by Suvendrini Kakuchi, a Sri Lankan journalist. Its main project is to create sewing centers for poor families in northern part of Sri Lanka. The area is devastated by the civil war that has been lasting for 20 years; the tsunami in December 2004 gave further damage. Many women lost their husband and have been struggling to survive. The objective of the sewing center is to teach sewing skills to such women and help them find a way to feed their family.
Partner NGO: MINSAI CENTER
Minsai Center is known for a scholarship project "Darunee Scholarship." For 20 years, they send scholarships to elementary and middle school students in rural areas in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Many ex-students, now in their twenties and thirties, witness that the scholarship changed their lives. 20th aniversary event was held in Tokyo in November, 2007, with such ex-students invited all the way from Thailand.
NGO Gospel-Hiroba has raised USD 9,000 to open a vocational center in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, through success of a charity event called Charity Gospel Marathon 2008. In Trincomalee, many poor families suffer from lack of job opportunities; the civil war and Tsunami in 2004 has brought even severer condition.
The event was held under the leadership of Nana Gentle, founder of NGO Gospel-Hiroba. The concept of the event is to “raise funding by having 200 people singing.” 3 renowned Japanese gospel singers including Nana herself taught songs to 200 participants and sang together. Participants paid the entrance fee of JPY4,900 (USD50) and had fun singing with the 3 professional singers as well as 200 other people.
The center will be opened in September this year, in cooperation with an International NGO called NGO TECHJAPAN..
A participant said “It is a wonderful idea that enjoying singing can mean contributing the world at the same time. I love singing and it was a great fun. I cannot wait next one”
Charity Gospel Marathon 2008 "We are the world"
Charity Gospel Marathon2008 "We're Blessed"
GOSPEL SQUARE -started in June 2008
NGO Gospel-Hiroba opened a gospel studio called “Gospel Square” in Shibuya in June 2008. The concept of the studio is to provide a “spiritual home” especially for young people, where they can gather and sing. A portion of the membership fee will become scholarships for Lao children. We received over 150 sing-ups for membership before its opening day of 10th June.
