Disaster Recovery Volunteer Project

June Greetings!

 It is hard to believe that it has been more than eight years since the devastating earthquake and tsunami along the Tohoku Coastline in Japan. You have helped us assure people in Tohoku that they have not been forgotten as they continue to overcome daily challenges in rebuilding their lives.

 As you know, recovery and rebuilding take many years. People are still living in what was originally intended to be temporary housing and there are still significant housing, infrastructure, labor and other shortages in the region.  In addition, with the passage of time and the occurrence of devastating natural disasters in other parts of Japan, the number of volunteers going to and the amount of charitable donations being made for Tohoku continue to drop.

 Labor shortages throughout Japan continue to make it very hard for local farmers in Tohoku to run their farms and in turn to further rebuild their lives. Many of the local farms are family run with one, two or three family members doing all the work themselves.  Growing rice, vegetables and fruit sufficient enough to earn a modest livelihood and to repay the significant debts they incurred after the earthquake and tsunami is very labor intensive and the local farmers cannot do all the work by themselves.  They need the continued support of volunteers.

 The local farmers always ask us to convey to everyone who supports our volunteer activities in Tohoku just how much they appreciate all the support.  What Hands On Tokyo volunteers are able to accomplish in a single day would take the local farmers and their families many days to complete.

 Since our last report, we have been busy meeting with Tokyo Area children’s homes to plan and organize overnight trips this summer and fall to bring children and their caregivers to Miyagi Prefecture by bus to volunteer, gain greater confidence, and learn about disaster preparedness.  So far we have four such volunteer trips planned.  We also are organizing a weekend to bring a group of adult volunteers to Tohoku in the fall.

 Earlier this month we took a group of 18 elementary, middle and senior high school age children and their caregivers from a group home to Tohoku for two days of volunteering.  They helped Saito-san and his wife in Yamamoto-Cho (Miyagi Prefecture) pull weeds from a potato patch. They have eaten potatoes but they have never seen how potatoes grow and didn’t know that potato plants have pretty purple flowers.  The second day the children also prepared and enjoyed a BBQ — with fresh onions that some of the children harvested with Mrs. Saito.

 These volunteer trips are very impactful on the children and their caregivers.  For the children who are the beneficiaries of volunteer activities at their children’s home, these volunteer trips are an opportunity to experience volunteering themselves, to gain new experiences and life skills, and to gain further self confidence. The children greatly appreciate the opportunity and are still benefiting from all that they learned and experienced. Many want to volunteer again and they have encouraged others in their group home and at their schools to volunteer in the future. 

 With your generous support, we have been able to bring an ever increasing number of children and their caregivers to Tohoku for volunteering.  In 2016, we brought 24 volunteers from one Tokyo Area children’s home to Tohoku.  In 2017, we brought 77 children and their caregivers from nine children’s homes to Tohoku.  And last year (in 2018), we brought 90 children and their caregivers from nine children’s homes to Tohoku.  This year we are striving to offer this volunteering experience to even more children and their caregivers.  Thank you very much for making all this possible!

 The children also received natural disaster awareness and preparedness training.  Before returning to Tokyo, we took the children and their caregivers to an elementary school near Sendai which was an evacuation center during the tsunami and is now a museum.  The children, teachers and local residents on the roof of the school survived the tsunami which tragically washed away the entire surrounding community. The children and their caregivers said how impactful this training was and how it will improve their own natural disaster preparedness.

 There is still so much to be done and there are still many people in need of encouragement and support in Tohoku.  With your generous support, we will continue to organize volunteer trips to help farmers and others in Tohoku as they continue to work hard to further rebuild their lives.

 Thank you very much in advance for your continued generosity, for touching the hearts and souls of so many people in Tohoku and for helping provide these life changing volunteer opportunities to so many children living in children’s homes in the Greater Tokyo Area. 

 Slowly but steadily the road to recovery is being paved.