Lets Make Origami

I recently read an article on the rebuilding updates in the northern part of Japan after the March 11 disaster.  The article shows a few sets of photos, and each set includes a shot of right after the disaster, another shot at the same location after 3 months, and finally the 3rd shot being 6 months after.  It's this article.  You can see how much progress people have made recovering each area over time.  There surely is a lot of progress.  But the photos prove that it takes time to come back from something of this magnitude.

If you are wondering how you could help, here is an exciting opportunity to help some orphans from the disaster, especially if you are an origami enthusiast like me.

Mr. Makoto Yamaguchi, one of the foremost origami creators, has a volunteer project called Origami Caravan, which started as several visits to evacuation centers with origami paper and books, in order to lift the spirits of the survivors.  Now the project has progressed to collecting donations for the orphanage in the affected area.  Origami Caravan came up with this idea of asking some renown origami artists to donate their original artworks, and auctioning off those items online so they can donate the profits from the auctions to the orphanage.  What a great idea!

You can read more about this project and bid on the items from the official site of Origami Caravan.  The auctions are happening on eBay as of right now (Nov. 5, 2011) and will go on at least for a few more days.  A new item comes on every day.  Participating artists include Makoto Yamaguchi, Tomoko Fuse, Michael LaFosse, Satoshi Kamiya, and many more.  This is a rare opportunity to bid on an original artwork of an origami artist that you always admired, for a very good cause!