(If you have time to read everything before scrolling down to see the pictures I think you will get a lot more out of it)
April 28th, 2011
Well, I found the closest thing to boots I could find in my size in Tokyo; they are at least waterproof and sturdy. They will have to do. I have nothing else.
My check list:
- boots
- gloves
- masks for mouth-Ann got some super duper 5,000 yen ones from the Embassy.
- lots of socks
- rain coats and rain pants
- instant miso
- instant coffee
- sleeping bag and mat
- a little towel for the bath
- camera
- indoor slippers
- music-in case I can put on a concert of some sort for the evacuees
We leave tomorrow from the US Embassy at 9:00 am. We will meet Kenji and Shea there. Kenji is the auto mechanic at the Embassy and Shea's husband is in communications. Since Ann and Jim live near the Embassy she asked if I would like to sleep over the night before. I quickly said yes as their house is one of the best houses in all of Tokyo. Life is ironic, huh - staying in this gorgeous house the night before I head up to Tohoku (North East) Japan where hundreds of thousands of people are without a house. I mean the house I'm staying in is actually featured in books and magazines!
Ann Kambara sings in my choir. That's how we know each other. She is one of the most positive and fun people to be with that I know. I'm so glad she answered my facebook status of "Anyone out there interested in volunteering in Tohoku?" She responded with a big YES. I will tell you more about that later.
Ann and her husband Jim and I had dinner at Suji's-a popular expat restaurant near their house. Thanks for the dinner, by the way. Ann told me there that we will be staying in the same building as some of the evacuees. I hope I have the chance to talk to them. The organization "ALL HANDS" really wants its volunteers to communicate and to get to know the community around them. If a Japanese person wants to talk to us while we are working, we should stop and talk and not worry about the work we are doing. I am very impressed by this!
Our drive tomorrow should be about 8 hours. It's the first day of Golden Week and the traffic might be crazy. With all that's going on up north, however, I'm not sure what the traffic will be like.
I feel very lucky that I have this opportunity. Since it is Golden Week thousands of people have applied to volunteer. They have room for only 60-70. They really were looking for people who speak Japanese. I guess that is why we were chosen.
I think it's going to be an amazing adventure. I've never done anything like this in my life. We are going to the town of Ofunato which is over a 100 kilometers north of Sendai. It is in the prefecture of Iwate. "ALL HANDS" has projects in both Ofunato and a near by town called Rikuzentakata. Thousand of people were killed in these two towns. The tsunami devastated this area.
What is it going to be like there?
Will I be able to talk to the people?
What should I say to them?
Will they want us there?
Time to sleep. I feel very tired today-maybe a little stressed about tomorrow. I have so much going through my head right now-I hope I can fall asleep!
Ann and Jim's backyard taken from the second floor
my bed for the night
the view of Tokyo Tower taken from their roof
the living room where we sometimes have choir rehearsals
Ann stretching in the morning!
a beautiful spring morning in Tokyo
April 29th, 2011
We met Shae and Kenji at the US Embassy at 9 am. We were all very excited but anxious about the trip. We stuffed all our luggage in the back, took a couple pictures and headed out.
We are in Ofunato, Iwate, Japan. It took 12 hours to get here! Roads were very crowded with Golden Week traffic but we had a good time. Shae is lots of fun and easy to be with. Kenji was a wonderfully safe driver and a real sweetheart. Kenji drove the entire way.
We stopped at the only restaurant that we could find-a little Chinese place run by a very sweet woman. We were about an hour and a half from our destination.
We got a little lost after leaving the restaurant as there were two bridges out because of the earthquake. We stopped and asked several people but they couldn't tell us how to get to Ofunato. Finally, a woman working in Lawsons told us very detailed directions. I think that is part of her job now-directing people to the devastated coastline. She had it down and even had a map.
We got to the main volunteer base a little after 10 pm. We were supposed to stay at the other center but they have a curfew of 10 so we were too late. They are putting the four of us in the big meeting room to sleep. Jess, one the leaders seems very organized. She showed us around the building. The buidling ALL HANDS is using seems to be a construction firm. It doesn't look like it was damaged but for some reason they gave it to us to use as the main base. It's in the area called Sakari. Thus, it's the Sakari base. It's just a couple blocks from the railroad station. I'm sure the railroad tracks are destroyed and the station is not being used right now.
We saw absolutely no damage coming in tonight. It's obvious the earthquake didn't cause any problems. I'm having a hard time believing that such devastation is so close to where we are right now.
There is a big white board in the meeting room where all the jobs for the volunteers are posted. We signed up for our jobs. Ann and I are going to work at a ryokan and Shae and Kenji are going to work at a cardboard box warehouse. As we were settling in we had a nice talk with Chris, one of the volunteers. He gave us some tips.
All for now. Good night. (Hope no one of my group snores!)
packing the car at the US Embassy
the gang-Kenji Hashimoto, Shae, Ann and myself
are we ready?
Kenji, our fearless driver
our good luck sign
at the Chinese restaurant before we got lost
at the Sakari base-just a ten minute walk from the devastation
April 30th, 2011
On the bus ready to go to the site. It's 8:15 am the starting time. There are 7 of us- Jason, Kim, Marcello, Ann, myself and a couple more. I don't remember their names. We are going to be tearing down ceilings and dry wall today at a ryokan.
Was up at 5 am this morning. Took a walk through the devastated area of Ofunato. Leaving the Sakari base there is no damage at all. There is a new Chinese restaurant two buildings down that is in perfect shape. After about a three minutes walk I started seeing some debris by the side of the road. Then in another five minutes or so it is complete devastation. The tsunami goes to a point and then recedes of course so there will be a very obvious line. I'm speechless by the things I am seeing. It's very early so I'm the only one around. I don't want to be dramatic but I got the feeling that I was the only person remaining on the earth. There was debris as far as my eyes could see. Some warehouses remain, there are buildings that are still there but obviously will have to be torn down. I look out toward the bay. (I can't see the water but I can tell the bay is not too far away from where I was.) The mountains behind it are beautiful. The sun is just coming out from behind the clouds. If I cover the land with my hand and just look at the mountains, the sky and the sun, you would think nothing happened. The bay is to my left and there is a hill to my right. Looking toward the hill, life is normal. Where the tsunami didn't reach, everything is absolutely perfect-every delicate flower untouched. I decided to walk up the hill a bit to have a look at the devastation from above. The people who live on the hill may be perfectly safe but now when they look out their window...
45 minutes or so have passed as I walk around in disbelief. Still haven't seen anyone. The farther I walk toward the bay the worse it gets. I am reminded of those famous pictures of Hiroshima after the bomb. In the picture are 4 or 5 people walking along the road with total destruction around them. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I think those people were having the same feelings I was. Human beings never expect to be amongst such havoc. It was a movie set. My mind couldn't really accept it.
Finally two people passed me coming from the other direction. I'm not sure who they were but they were looking around in disbelief just like I was. We looked at each other and we all said ohaiyo gozaimasu (good morning) as if we were in some beautiful park in Kyoto or just greeting your neighbor on the way to work. It made me feel really strange. We just didn't know what to say.
There are canals throughout this area. One canal was rather beautiful. Maybe it had already been cleared of all the debris or maybe it just ended up like that-I'm not sure. Other canals were completely full of everything you can imagine. Cars, big pieces of lumber, chairs, refrigerators, futons and the list goes on and on. Anything that a person would have in their house was there. I even came across Santa Claus writing a letter. Big boats a long ways from any water, a piano, clothes hanging in the branches. It has been six weeks since March 11th but the cleaning has just begun. They can make piles and piles of debris but no one knows when a truck will come to haul it away or even where they will be throwing all this away.
Over an hour had passed and I thought I should get back to the Sakari base. I turned around and headed back. I went up the hill a little bit where there was a main road. I wanted to walk home a different way. Of course that road wasn't touched so I could get my perfect can of latte with cinnamon from a vending machine. (yes Jonathan I found your favorite coffee!) I was shocked when I put my money in and the jidohanbaiki (vending machine) actually worked. Why wouldn't it work?-it was above the tsunami. Got back to the base and Ann and Shae and Kenji were relaxing and talking. They saw me as I walked into the room and all I wanted to do was hug them and cry.
the start of my early morning walk
three minutes into my walk I started seeing debris
a couple minutes later a smashed car
you can see the tsunami water line on this building
then worse damage
it didn't look like much cleaning effort had been made here
some photo albums that were neatly placed by the edge of the
road-maybe no one to claim them
there were letters and X's and V's painted on to the buildings
"x" meant no bodies were found and "v" meant there were bodies.
taken from up the hill out towards the bay
complete destruction
trying to take a picture of myself
boys day is coming this is a koinobori ( a carp) I was hoping
it wasn't put there for a boy they lost
a canal
a rather clean canal
you can see what a beautiful area it is
the two gentlemen I greeted with a happy "ohiyo gozaimasu"
so much debris, you can't see the water in this canal
another attempt at getting me in the picture
someone told me later that these trees had green branches
all the way down-you can see how high the tsunami rose!
somebody's futon
there was a lumber factory nearby
a little beauty in all the ugliness
I told you I found Santa writing a letter!
estimated tsunami inundation area
another angle of that huge log
"hang in there, Iwate"
"let's all work as one..."
(still April 30th, 2011)
An amazing day. I mostly did ceiling work-which means tearing down the ceiling. I used a sledge hammer and smashed holes in the dry wall. I then could get most of it down with my hands after I had made the holes. I then had to get all the wood cross bars down as well. That was much harder. I had to pound each cross bar where ever there was a nail. Each cross bar had three places with nails. I had to swing the sledge hammer 5 or 6 times to loosen it . I felt like I was building my shoulders for Tohoku.
This work was being done in a ryokan. Ann came with me on this project. Ann kept herself busy pounding out walls and dumping all my mess that I and everyone else was making. We were on the second floor so we just dumped everything from the balconies. We yelled every time to make sure no one was down there. We are gutting the entire building as most of the building was under water. They think they can save the building. I really hope they can save it.
From the second floor of the ryokan you could see how horrific the area was. A house right next to us was leaning over into a canal. There used to be a pachinko parlor right next door. The only thing left was the parking lot and lots of pachinko coins all over the place. On the other side of the leaning house was the steal frame of a Lawson's convenience store. A public phone was still standing in front of the store. It looked like I could have made a call from it. I took a picture of the store to show the people who work at the Lawson store near my apartment in Tokyo.
The owners and relatives of the ryokan worked with us all day. It was a Saturday so they weren't at school or at work. They were sweet, sweet, sweet. They always announced when the breaks were and they had baked a cake for us and offered us drinks. I was so touched.
note: I can't tell you how many times I had to walk away from what was happening so I could shed a tear. It might be a sad story someone was telling me or just someone offering me a piece of cake. The little, touching things were often more moving then the horrific stories of the tsunami.
One of the Japanese young ladies told me about her friend:
"One of my friends was killed by the tsunami. Somehow the mother
survived. They were both in the water. My friend's mother was
holding on to her daughter but the force of the water was too
strong. She couldn't hold on and my friend was swept away. But
at least her mother is okay!"
She told me this story in a rather light, pleasant voice with a little smile on her face. I just looked at her and didn't know what to say but the tears rolled down my face. She gave me a gentle touch. I asked her how many people died in Ofunato and she said 600 but there are still many more than that missing!
the first morning before we boarded the buses-this was our only morning
at the center as we moved to the other center that night
Kenji is taking a picture and Ann and Shae are behind him
getting out of the van in front of the ryokan our site for the day
the ryokan behind us-I worked in the building on the right
others worked in the one on the left. there was a house between
the two buidling.
Ann pounding down the walls-what a woman!
tearing down the ceiling
the owner's relative talking with Ann
she's the one who told me the story about her friend
the three wonderful ladies we worked with-they were so so so kind
and grateful for what we were doing!
taking a break
Zed from Taiwan-he was traveling the world and he happened to be
in Japan when the earthquake hit-he knew he had to stay and help out.
Kim is a wonderful woman from Gifu, where she teaches English. She
kept saying that she could do this for the rest of her life. I told her she should!
wonderful, flirtatious Marcello who everyone fell in love with
from Brazil studying in Osaka on a scholarship
lunch time- Marcello, Kim, Ann, Jason (our leader) and Zed
LAWSONS CONVENIENCE STORE
the ryokan
walking to a nearby temple to use their restrooms
a piano!!-we met another crew nearby
the temple with the restrooms-on higher ground so in perfect shape
the toilets were as high tech as you can get! Nothing like a bidet
after tearing down a ceiling!
the house between the ryokan buidlings-it's leaning into the canal
the view from the 2nd floor
the leaning house
the view of the ryokan taken from the parking lot of the pachinko
Ann taking a video from the second floor
I hope I can put her video on this blog later
Marcello hard at work
one of the many wonderful meals at Sakari base
a Japanese woman who lives down the street
volunteered to cook for everyone every night!
relaxing after our first hard day of work-Ann and I were tired but
nothing compared to Shae and Kenji who worked in a cardboard
warehouse-can you imagine carrying out wet, smelly cardboard
boxes all day long! YUCK!
our meal
Sweet, sweet Ann
Ann and Kenji
We loved him so much-such a dear sensitive man
Kenji Hashimoto
boy, do I look like my dad in that hat! (that's a good thing, Dad!)
note: The power of nature: Looking at the devastation and havoc of Ofuano, you would think that 10 atomic bombs had hit the area. Imagine a huge wave of water with refrigerators, microwaves, cars crashing into things...
- cars so smashed up you can't tell they are cars
- boats on top of building
- huge boats turned upside down.
- two trucks perfectly placed on the roof of a building
May 1st, 2011
Slept from 11 pm to 4 am. I was thrilled I could sleep that much. There was snoring in our new room at the other center. Got up around 5 am and went downstairs where there were some people watching TV. The center we stayed at was called Fukushi Sato Center which is a rehabilitation center for physically and mentally handicapped people. They opened it to 70 evacuees and the ALL HANDS volunteers. I was always up early so I watched TV and had nice talks with several people who were always there early in the morning. One sweet woman in her 70's told me this:
"My son works as a hairdresser in Tokyo. He couldn't
get a hold of me after the tsunami so he was very
worried. He then saw me interviewed on TV and knew
I was alright! After that he came to visit me. It was a
big reunion of many families in Tohoku after the disaster.
Maybe this tragedy will bring us all together!"
Today Ann and I worked in Rikuzentakata, a town about 25 minutes from Ofunato. We worked at a high school. The building is okay so our job is to clean out all the debris and save anything that we feel is salvageable.
The trip on the bus to Rikuzentakata was horrific. What happened in Ofunato didn't compare to what we saw on the way to this devastated town! The destruction just went on and on. From Ofunato we took a road that was rather high up and we could see the devastation from above. We then went down the other side of the hill toward the water and it was complete destruction for twenty minutes. It was silent on the bus except for some cameras clicking.
The school we worked at was rather new looking. I found out later it had just been renovated. The first floor was a mess. Caked mud on all the floors. Desks and chairs just thrown everywhere. Volunteers before us had cleaned the gymnasium. You can see the before and after shots on the ALL HANDS homepage. They did an amazing job!
In the morning I washed dishes. There were lots of nice dishes, pottery etc. that could be saved. In the afternoon I did debris removal. The inner courtyard of the school was a total mess. Debris piled up 2-3 meters high. You will see a before and after shot of the court yard. We carried the big clumsy things by hand and other things by wheel barrow (neko-in Japanese) I learned lots of new vocabulary this trip! Again, I was exhausted by the end of the day! Our leaders always told us to rest when you need to.
I was very impressed how hard all the volunteers worked. Some of them wouldn't even take a break. They would quickly eat lunch and then get back to work. I think we all had the feeling that we were there for such a short time and wanted to do as much as we possibly could. I had the same feeling but I couldn't quite keep up with all the volunteers in their 20's.
Up the street from the school was a little ma and pa store. They let us use their restroom and their water which we needed to clean all the furniture of the school. ALL HANDS of course pays for the water. And we all bought a lot of things at their little store. I had an amazing talk with the lady who worked there. I asked her about the tsunami and what she was doing:
"I was working in this store when the earthquake hit. It was
strong but not that bad. Soon after the earthquake hit people
started yelling 'tsunami, tsunami'. I quickly ran up the hill
which is right behind this store. I watched many houses being
swept away. I lost 11 friends (?) relatives (?) in the tsunami"
Tohoku (NE Japan) has a very strong dialect. There are times I don't understand. This was one of them. I'm not sure if she lost relatives or friends or both. She was the only one I talked to that was angry and very sad telling me this story. In fact, she was in tears as she told me about her experience.
note: People seemed very willing to tell their stories. Japanese tend to keep things to themselves. They don't want to bother other people with their troubles. Even in a disaster like this I believe they will remain quite polite with each other. Japanese are not huggers, they won't cry with each other. This is a huge concern! Many people have taken their own lives and the experts are very concerned that this will continue. Even members of the Japanese military have taken their own lives. They had the stress of looking for bodies. So, when an outsider asks about their experience they are ready to talk.
As we were working today a group of nurses from Tokyo dropped by. Later I learned they were mental health nurses. They worked with us cleaning desks and tables for a couple of hours. it was very nice of them.
note: The people, non-Japanese and Japanese who have stopped their lives to volunteer in Tohoku are some of the best people in the world. I have never met so many caring and loving people at one time in my entire life. I have been so touched by this experience. It's easy to feel negative about the world these days-so much corruption and hatred. I'm glad this experience is helping me put away some of the negative feelings.
Finished work at 4:20 pm. Got back to the center at 5:00. Had dinner and the daily meeting. New volunteers introduce themselves, each leader of each site reports what they did. We talk about any issues or problems people had or noticed. It is very very professional. Most of the leaders (some of which are volunteers themselves) and the full time staff are in their 20's. Our leader Brett at the school is 18!!!
After dinner Kenji drove us to a hot spring!! Had a great bath and relaxed there for 45 minutes or so. This became a nightly thing to do. It was a WONDERFUL way to end the day. The Saga jets were always there as well so we had some fun talks with them. On night I ran into Yasmin,(Andy's friend) and her partner. Yasmin told me that she had seen my Facebook notes about going to volunteer with ALL HANDS and decided she wanted to do that as well. I felt proud that I had a little influence in getting someone there to work. FACEBOOK is amazing.
The hot spring was very crowded with the Japanese military (jietai). They were very sweet, sometimes acting like junior high boys. They were so shy about talking with me even though they really wanted to. One guy finally got the courage to say hello to me. He really wanted to speak English but couldn't get much beyond, hello. Once I started speaking Japanese he was so relieved. We thanked each other for coming to Tohoku to volunteer.
We were given one more room to sleep in tonight at the Fukushi Center. The non-snorers quickly ran to the room to claim a space. Ann, Kenji Shae and I were among them. We all had a wonderful night's sleep. Kenji is actually bothered even more than me when it comes to snoring! (Jonathan-I know that is hard for you to believe!)
on our way to Rikuzentakata- the Japanese military hard at work
My first sobering bus ride to the new site in Rikuzentakata:
dropping off two volunteers at another site.
arriving at the school
Ann taking her video and Andrea in the background
Rikuzentakata high school
the time the tsunami hit
taken from the shokuinshitsu (the teacher's room)
Jo was in charge of getting all the broken glass out of the windows
the courtyard of the school-I assume the students escaped by the staircase
one of the rooms on the first floor
a classroom
old pictures of the school hanging above the blackboard
the perfectly fine 2nd floor
a very heavy doll-we think it was used for girls to practice
takingcare of a baby
the school
the tsumani line
tried to get a picture of both the 1st floor and the
2nd floor.
one of the two gyms-the volunteers before us cleaned all the
caked mud out of both gyms
it looks great doesn't it!!!!
the neighborhood around the school-this is directly across the street
The bus ride back to the Sakari base:
one beach on the way to the school that wasn't totally destroyed
an upside down house
our new room at the Fukushi Center
the Saga Prefecture group-they drove 24 hours to get there
on the way they did a hot dogs and hugs party for some evacuees
Jack (2nd from the right) is wearing the hot dogs and hugs
t-shirt they had made
Marcello
Marcello again- this time thinking deeply!
May 2nd, 2011
Up at 5:00 am. Kenji was up, Ann was up. Had a little breakfast. Talked quietly with Terry from Canada. A little later Mark , the international director of ALL HANDS joined us. A super nice guy. Finally at 7:45 we were off. Ann and I went to the school again in Rikuzentakata. Today the devastation on the way seemed worse. I think the reason is because it was a beautiful, sunny day. The sea was emerald green. I noticed the big rocks jetting out from the sea with green mountains in the background. But as your eyes focus closer you notice there is basically no coastline, no beaches. This area was a very popular place for Japanese tourists to surf, be on the beach, go swimming. I'm afraid that won't be happening again for a long time. The beauty of the place really contrasted with the disaster.
I did debris removal all day today. Everyone worked like crazy as usual. Today I took a small walk up the hill behind the ma and pa store. There were some beautiful sakura trees up there and wanted to enjoy them. I didn't realize that the entire area under the sakura trees was new temporary housing. There was a guard there directing traffic in an out of the place. I naturally struck up a conversation with him. I asked him about his experience and he told his story for 15 minutes:
"There had been an earthquake one week before the
March 11th earthquake. It was about the same
magnitude. After the first earthquake there were
tsunami warnings. It didn't turn out to be much.
Then one week later there was the next earthquake.
Again, tsunami warnings but this time people really
took it casually. very few people believed it. I heard
on the radio that Ofunato had a huge tsunami-only
then did I take it seriously. But it was too late for many
people. They couldn't make it to higher ground.
1,800 people died. 1,000 are still missing."
This man in his 60's told this story in a very animated way. This is the summary of what he said. I wish I could have recorded it. He was jumping all over the place, sometimes spitting as he talked. He said he doesn't call it a tsunami anymore. He calls it a "WATER BOMB".
Finished the day. It was sunny very windy all day. Got back to the base around 5. We ate. One big pot of rice didn't cook so 2/3 of the people had to wait to eat until after the meeting. It was a long meeting tonight. Lots of discussion about being respectful to the community. Don't throw things too wildly into the debris piles. People could be walking by and take it the wrong way.
More pictures of the scenery on the way to the school site:
Many of the volunteers, including me after seeing this scenery day after day were starting to get used to it. Our landmarks were upside down houses, the huge debris pile, the upside down boat. Oh, there's the once beautiful, now destroyed Japanese home. That means we are almost to the site. It was strange getting used to such horrible things. We didn't want to get used to it. May 3rd, 2011
This is the before shot of the inner courtyard of the school.
The after shot is coming later.
Jack and Lionel from Saga working their tails off. I always called them show offs.
more debris....never ending debris....
Marcello with even more debris...
Sonya, Linda's friend who I think I had met before worked like crazy as well.
she is going to come back with her son later in in June. I was very impressed with her.
one of the many interesting things we found
more dishes to wash
Ann and I
Two of the Saga boys with Kenji in front of the ma and pa store
back at the base having our long meeting-meetings were always translated
the translators were brilliant
I swear you have to be good looking to work for ALL HANDS!
one of the leaders who ADORED hard, dirty work!
Masa- loved by all-one of the volunteers from the area
May 3rd ,2011 (After work)
Just leaving the site, As we turned the corner the old couple at the store smiled and waved good bye. Another tear jerker! So sweet, so sad, so ....
I cleaned tables and doors all day today-rather exhausted. Lots of bending down and scrubbing. I became quite the expert cleaning them. I'm not sure what they will do without me!
Today we took yet another road back to Sakari base. We saw even worse things. Mark, the international director reminded me that we are seeing about 3% of all the damage along the coastline. That means there is 97% more of this! WOW.
Got back to the base. Had dinner cooked by William from Australia who lives in Tokyo. Pasta. Tonight's meeting was very emotional. First of all the wonderful French woman whose name I can't remember gave a very moving good bye speech. I never worked with her but everyone who did said she did the work of 10 people.
I haven't mentioned yet that there was a group of Japanese from Habitat for Humanity. They worked with us at the school. They were wonderful-really enjoyed them. The coolest Japanese are all in Tohoku! Jonathan you would have been amazed. They were leaving the next day so they said their good byes. They gave a couple speeches and read the lyrics of a song by a local artist.
We then had a visit from the man from Ofunato who made all this possible. The town was not keen on having us there at first and this man convinced the town of having us. He was a dear dear man. So humble and so grateful. Yet another tear jerker!! He told us that ALL HANDS has made a wonderful reputation for itself and is confident we will get many more projects.
note: You would think after a disaster like this one that a country would welcome any help they could get. NOT TRUE. China absolutely refused to allow ALL HANDS to help them. They finally had to leave. Japan was hesitant in the beginning as well. The government of Japan said they could handle everything. Well, maybe they can but how wonderful to have people from around the world coming together becoming friends with the local people and making the world a better place. What a wonderful thing that is happening here!
Went to the hot spring again. David from Louisiana who lives in Chiba joined us. Nice guy.
the models-oh I mean the ALL HANDS leaders
my leader at the school was 18 year old Brett who is in the middle.
wonderful Alan from Malaysia. He came to Japan just to
work for ALL HANDS. He is going back to raise more money
and then coming to Japan again!!
waiting for the morning bus-this is in front of Sakari base
back at the school-student entrance
the view from the student entrance
in front of the school-debris on a little shed
remember the before shot above? Well here is the after shot!!!!!
please go back and take a look
yes, we actually got this car moved but hand! I was not invloved
I take none of the credit!
this is what I did all day
see how clean I got them-the dirty ones are on the right side
Ann cleaning a chair
he's from Morioka-never did learn his name-he came with his friend Aichan.
this is Yu. He works in Roppongi-has lived most of his life
overseas-he is friends with one of my graduates
every day at 2:46, the time of the earthquake, we gathered in
gym and had a minute of silence. I was so moved by this.
This is a custom of Habitat to do this so we all joined them.
I climbed the stairs in the back of the school-the hill of course
is in perfect condition.
but look beyond the hill and...
looking out towards the bay
you can see exactly how high the tsunami got
Kyla from Canada but plans to stay in Japan the rest of her life.
more pictures of the school neighborhood:
Yu acting normal
every day we passed this gorgeous house with three putting
greens in their yard. It was not touched by the tsunami.
They are on a hill looking down at the bay. Now they see debris
and destruction as far as they can see. It was such a striking contrast
every time we passed by here. Later Mark told me he met with
the owners of this house to see if they could use it as a base! I'm afraid
they said no to that. It never hurts to ask.
May 4th, 2011
Today I signed up to make breakfast for the 70 evacuees at the Fukushi center. I was a little tired and I thought that would be a nice break and besides I really wanted to meet more the evacuees. We wanted to make pancakes for them but we couldn't find any mix. We made eggs, bacon, miso soup, rice bananas and milk. It was not a very exciting meal but they were appreciative. What we didn't know was they would all come at the same time. I told the egg fryers to fry the eggs as people came so they could have a hot egg. Well, we had one egg ready when they all came. I had to tell them to wait a minute while we got more pans and fried like crazy. They didn't have to wait too long and they all got hot eggs. After breakfast I said good bye to all the Habitat students. Then I had an hour to relax. The distribution center in our building opened. The evacuees can get clothes, toys etc. The kids were so happy.
At 10:30 am the 7 of us who made breakfast was driven to the Sakari base by Mark, the director. He drove us to the school site. He took us the long way so we could see more of the area. He showed us things like two trucks on top of a building etc.
When we arrived at the school at around 11:45 a Japanese man came by in a car and told us that they were having a BBQ party up on the hill at the elementary school. They were inviting the locals and all the volunteers in the area. We went right up. It was a group from Saitama and Tokyo who came to Tohoku to do this. There were lots of people having a really great time. I talked with some Senior 1 students. I asked them if they have started school. One girl answered, "No, our school was swept away. We haven't had our opening school ceremony yet."
Then I asked if everyone in their school was okay. A big pause. Finally one girl gave me a thumbs up but didn't say a thing. I'm not sure what that meant but it didn't seem good.
Today it decided to rain in Rikuzentakata. My shoes were doing pretty well until then. Suddenly everything was mud. We had been lucky up to that point. The rain did let up and we could get back to work.
Then the biggest tear jerker of all...
Work finished and we were getting all the tools together. A small van pulls into the school and a man jumps out to see if we had a little time before we had to go back. I said we had 15 minutes. Then he said he would like to make COTTON CANDY for us!!!! He was there with his wife and daughter. COTTON CANDY amongst all that debris. It was the most wonderful gesture. A brilliant idea to share such happy, festive food with people of that area. They were traveling all over Tohoku asking people if they would like some Cotton Candy!!! Wow. He took out his machine and got busy. We all got some! I gave them a big hug. They are from Azabujuban- where my school is. It's a small world.
evacuees saying good bye to the habitat kids.
beautiful flowers in front of the Fukushi center
the habitat group
a little boy getting a new toy
our drive with Mark
two trucks on top of a building
a boat in someones front yard
the BBQ up on the hill at the elementary school
"good luck Tohoku"
passing out clothes to the evacuees
"kizuna" - connecting hearts
Yu playing with some kids
kids enjoying a coke
me and the Sr. 1 students who lost their school
our cotton candy treat!
Aichan enjoying her cotton candy
Kyla with her cotton candy
one last look at the devastation before going home the next day...
Kyl's $10 ALL HANDS Fundraising Project
We have very few experiences in our lives that really change us. I just had one of those. I have never seen so much destruction and so much sadness. Yes, the people of Ofunato and Rikuzentakata often told their stories with smiles on their faces but I know they are suffering. We need to help these people in any little way we can.
As you read in my blog, I was very impressed by ALL HANDS. I know they want to help get peoples' lives back to normal as quickly as possible. But it won't be quick this time. It may take a decade and it will take a lot of money.
In the meantime we can lessen their pain by shoveling out muck, gutting homes, restaurants and ryokans and getting some peoples' lives back to some state of normalcy. ALL HANDS would like to stay in Japan for a long time. There is so much work to do!
My passion for this organization and the love I received from the people of Tohoku has motivated me to do a little fundraising project. I have set up a fundraising project through my name. I set this up through the ALL HANDS website. My goal is to raise $20,000! If you are interested I would like people to donate $10.
You can go directly to my fundraising page at http://bit.ly/jFWXZW (sorry, you have to cut and past)
If you would like to send this message to your friends on your email account, that would be greatly appreciated! If you have a facebook account and would like to put it as your status-wonderful! Anyway you can spread the word.
Let's see if we can make $20,000 for a great cause!
Thank you so much.
I hope you were moved by my experience in NE Japan.
To those who received my message on Facebook:
(I forgot you can't do fundraising type things on Facebook. After sending my message to 20 or so friends I was stopped. Woops. If you got a message don't try to send the message to everyone on your list.)
Kyl Timmer
The next day arriving at Ann's house.
