On 30th September and 1st October, the Global Festa Japan 2006 was in held in Hibiya Park, Tokyo. Nearly 67,000 people came over the two days to meet with NGOs and other organizations concerned with development.

This years theme was "Food: from a development perspective," and the event was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, JICA, JBIC, and JANIC.

From its booth, JOICFP informed the public of its activities, focusing on 'African mothers and food." JOICFP showed that in project areas fish ponds are constructed to provide food, people are shown how to grow and use cassava, and some mothers are given coffee seedlings to support income generation.

At the JOICFP booth

JOICFP explained that some traditional beliefs associated with diet during pregnancy can have harmful effects on mothers and babies, and that pregnant women often have to perform hard physical work, such as fetching water from many kilometers away.

Many members of the public were shocked to realize the hard conditions that many mothers have to endure.

Wearing a heavy pregnancy simulator
and carrying two buckets of water,
these two men realize the hardships many women
in Africa face.

JOICFP also held a small workshop using the Pika-Pika story with drawings to illustrate how mothers are being helped in Africa, and showed photographs highlighting the daily lives of mothers in Africa.

Reading Pika-Pika to the public

In addition, members of the public were able to buy fair trade coffee, Tingatinga postcards, White Ribbon badges and T-shirts, and learned how collecting used stamps and prepaid cards can help save mothers' lives.