Nilar, 6, training at the Sedona Courts

THEY are an odd lot – a serene Japanese couple in their fifties and an assemblage of young Myanmar kids in athletic wear. They all tumble out of a white Toyota complete with tennis rackets, baskets of fuzzy green balls and worn out sneakers in the Sedona parking lot. The sight is an odd one, but heart-warming.

Their story began 10 years ago with the earthquake in Kobe, Japan. Jimbo Yuko was a successful business man in a trading company, who lost everything in that disaster. Penniless and distraught, Mr Yuko began to question the things that were really important to him. The earthquake had demonstrated to him how trivial and fleeting material possessions were. The only concrete things in life are relationships and the love between people, he realised.

Listening to his wife, who had cultivated a growing interest in South East Asian countries, Mr Yuko agreed to pack up and come to Myanmar. After a few years of shuffling back and forth between Japan and Myanmar – Mr Yuko and his wife started the Ko Ko Ro Volunteer Group in December 1998. It focused on improving education, water sanitation and hospital facilities in Myanmar, and cultural exchange between the two countries.

The whole crew hits the tennis courts

“In Japanese, Ko Ko Ro means “heart”. We want our charity acts to come from the heart,” Mr Yuko explained. Taken from a Buddhist precept, their motto is “How to be good is more important than how to do good”. Translated directly from scripture, it may not be the most elegant or catchy phrase but it reflects the sincerity with which the organisation approaches its charity work.

But Ko Ko Ro is not like other NGOs. Instead, the organisation works on a much more basic level. The couple have adopted seven orphans, raised them as their own, and have trained them up to become the junior tennis champs of Myanmar.

While working on a water sanitation project in the dry zones of Mandalay, Mr Yuko and his wife visited some orphanages.

“We thought that teaching them sports would build their confidence and let them have a good chance at life.” he explained.

So, after gaining permission from the Ministry of Sports in February 1999, Ko Ko Ro built two tennis courts in Mandalay, and started to give free tennis lessons to orphans.

So how did they choose which children to include in the training program?
“I threw a ball at each child and observed their reactions and how they caught the ball. It tells a lot about their potential,” Mr Yuko explained with a little chuckle.

With that the junior-champs-to-be were selected. By May 2002 they were winning championships. At the Under 12 Junior Tournament for Boys that year, Aung Kyaw Naing was the overall champion with Zin Bo runner-up and Aung Ko Oo placing fifth.

Not satisfied with just providing tennis lessons, Mr Yuko and his wife also decided to welcome the children into their home through adoption. The number of children in the household now totals seven.

Even though they already had grown children of their own living in Japan, the benevolent couple agreed to take up the responsibility of providing schooling, tennis training, and all the other things needed to raise kids.

The triumphs on the tennis court continued in 2002 with the children either winning or placing in the top three at the All Myanmar Tennis Junior Championship. Zin Mar Htwe, one of the youngest additions to the program, at the age of nine was runner-up in the Under 12 Girls Tournament. (A year later, she took out the title at the same tournament.)

In 2003, Mr Yuko and his family team packed up their bags and flew to Japan to attend the Kyoto Summer Circuit Junior Tennis Tournament, a series of matches held in July and August. Zin Bo took out the Muko-jima Tournament, while Aung Kyaw Naing came in third. They were the only Myanmar children in the whole competition.

The Myanmar Government awarded three of the children, Zin Mar Htwe, Zin Bo, and Aung Kyaw Naing passports that have 10 years validity. They now travel annually to participate in the Kyoto tennis tournament, along with others in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Manila. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, they all reply promptly, “A tennis champion”.

What difference does it make if you hand out a large sum of money to an orphanage? Perhaps cleaner toilets, an extra set of clothes or a new coat of paint for the building. But these kids have a chance at a lifestyle they could not even have dreamed of while still in the orphanage. They have travelled to other countries and experienced what it is like to try hard and be rewarded. One man has truly made a difference.

When asked what they thought of Mr Yuko, even the joker of the group Aung Kyaw Naing, stopped making jests and became serious. “Mr Yuko is like my father. I am grateful to him,” he said.