This month’s Back to Nature program was a Kikori program in Takao. As usual, the campers were split into teams, and after deciding on team names and headcounts, they immediately went into the forest for the activity. The task for them this time was to prepare the forest for future logging by cutting vines wrapped around trees and cutting trees that had already fallen down. As usual, the LITs had the task of supporting all of the activities. They had a few front-of-the-stage tasks, such as showing examples of headcount and reflection. They also had a variety of behind-the-scenes work, such as managing the lunch. Their tasks included carrying lunch boxes up the hill, distributing, and cleaning up. They also joined the campers during the activities to support the team. Since it was a familiar place and there were many repeating campers, the activities went very smoothly on both days.

In this program, the activity location was far from the parking lot, so they had to ask for help from other staff to carry the lunches for the participants. Since there are only 3 members in this year’s LIT program, there will be more situations where they need to ask the help from other staff. Managing their tasks and getting assistance from other staff, and the communication required to manage not just their team but everyone involved, will be very important in the coming programs. This year’s members are familiar with most of the places and tasks, however, working with new people creates new challenges. We are looking forward to seeing how they will manage this new situation and what they will learn from it.