Volunteering at Heart Tokushima

One of the JEARS team members spent some time at one of the JEARS shelters (remember, there are 3 in total).


Junko went to HEART TOKUSHIMA. Here is her blog where describes her time there. The blog is in Japanese, but there are some pictures too. She talks about the dogs who are so eager to go out for walks. All they want is the love and attention from the volunteers. She also talks about Maruko, who was rescued from the rubble after 11 days following the earthquake.


Here is Junko's blog - Junko's blog from Heart Tokushima


If you want to know more details, just ask!!


 Want to volunteer at JEARS? CLICK HERE.

I'm a volunteer...article

I have put this article online.

While it is great people are helping, there are still places lacking the love, help and respect they need in the north of Japan.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8971590-im-a-volunteer

- So, what did you do this Golden Week?

- Oh, I. Went to Tohoku to volunteer....and insert here the story of a beach clean up, cooking meals at evacuation centres, collecting rubble etc.

Volunteering is the new 'boom' it seems in Japan. And this is great, not just because the north needs all of our help right now, but because it will hopefully teach us all so much more about charities, donations, and the real meaning of helping a needy cause.

Having lived in Japan for five years and having worked with various organisations both here and abroad, (mostly helping animals in need), I noticed how different things were here in Japan.

While people here are very helpful and generous overall, it is slightly different when it comes to the bigger picture.

Of course there exists the big organisations like the Japanese Red Cross Society and even international NPOs, like World Hunger Relief, but only these big ones seem to get noticed.

Various countries have fun runs, mini marathons, all sorts of sponsored events, all to raise money for causes. Sadly, none of that really happens here.

I did a sponsored bike ride around the Yamanote line a couple of years ago in order to raise money for an organisation I support in Indonesia. This was shortly after the big earthquakes they had in Sumatra and the organisation had an office damaged and a boat missing too.

When I explained to people what it was I was doing and why, they were happy to help, but for many, it was the first time they had heard of something like this. You give money to someone you may not even know so well so they can send it to who? Crazy stuff.

But, this is what I know. Fundraising events are great for promoting awareness and getting people involved. Since the awful tragedies of March 11, people the world over have rallied around with all sorts of ways to raise money, send donations etc, including within Japan.

It has hit home hard how much some people need that bit of extra help and love that comes from an outside source. What does it matter if you don't know the person to whom you are sending new shoes to? What does it matter that you don't know who will enjoy the food you are sending up? The important factor here is that you are doing it and sending it with love, which is perfect for our friends in the north.

Being able to travel to the north to lend a hand is another grand gesture. So what if Golden Week is short, what is a day or two here or there? So many people are giving up their time and money to help.

This is amazing. The giving spirit that Japan is already well know for is now being shared to the wider community. People aren't so withdrawn anymore, we are all open to giving and receiving much more freely than before.

I don't doubt that this will continue. The want to share, to help, to give is boundless. We just need to be aware that all the people affected by March 11 are being helped.

The big organisations are sending all the volunteers to the areas you may hear about in the news, but Tohoku is big. So big in fact, that not everyone is getting the help they need.

Apparently, there were 300 000 volunteers in Tohoku this Golden Week, yet I was in Shichigahama and we were five. This was an area overlooked by the Government. house are just about intact, but damp. Access to shops is limited as is the water, the gas and provisions are scarce.

So, while it will always be a great thing to help and lend a hand, why not try to look for the small groups in need of assistance. Then your volunteering love will go to people not really sharing this current 'boom'.

Gambarre Tohoku. Let's keep the fighting spirit strong.

Golden Week - travelling up north

So, I had never even met my travelling partners before, but Yumi chan and I had sent a few volunteer related emails and somehow I didn't feel out of place asking to hitch a lift with them to Miyagi during the busy Golden Week holiday.

Yumi had her own little group going to help an area of the Miyagi prefecture that seem to have been cast aside by the Japanese Government. Her mission is to deliver food and essentials to these areas in Shichigahama, as no one is providing for them.

They had a van packed full to the brim with so many things, boxes of clothes, croissants, fruits, washing products, you name it, it was there, all the things we take for granted in our weekly shop.

Miraculously, these kind hearted people found the space for my lard arse in the back of the car along with my over packed bags with things for my own organisation.

We were all volunteers. These days, half of Japan are volunteers. It is the new boom. Everyone wants to help in so many ways.

The expressway was busy but we were not held up.

At the stop offs, I was amazed by the volume of cars, buses and people. I have travelled to and from Sendai by road so many times and have never seen it like this. Apparently, there were 300 000 volunteers heading to Tohoku this holiday!!! That is a lot of people!!!

The road, as usual now, was bumpy in Fukushima. The roads have been fixed but some of the damage shall never go away.

Yet, this being Japan, none of this affected us at all. We got to the Izumi Inter turn off at around 4am, so we were able to sleep for a few hours before heading to the JEARS apartment.

The team sleeping in the cramped van
1. YUMI, ring leader and general awesome lady!

2. KENGO, our ever persistent driver and strong helper.
3. RENA, Kengo's wife and another awesome lady!
4. MARIA, a trained hairdresser, coming up to chop, chop, chop
5. LEE, me!

Check out this link for Yumi's work...https://www.facebook.com/pages/DIRECT-HELP-for-victims-and-animals-REJECTED-from-shelters-in-JAPAN/185436641502603

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tohoku Expressway

Support for Miyagi, from the foreigners!!

On the day that we hear the French president will visit...(stomachs churn across Japan!), I find this lovely, heartwarming article....

(also to note, The French, despite having evacuated 3/4 of their people living here, are helping out with the nuclear disaster, just so you know before you go off on one conpletely! )

JET program English teachers in Miyagi say they won't leave

by K.K. Kyodo News on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 11:55

By Junko Horiuchi

SENDAI, March 29, Kyodo

Many foreign teachers have decided to stay in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the areas worst hit by the catastrophic March 11 earthquake and tsunami, despite adversities wrought by the disaster and worried families back home urging their immediate return amid radiation fears.

For some, a strong sense of attachment to their adopted communities outweighs the difficulties.

''It is overwhelming, mentally and physically to stay here but I want to stay,'' said Katherine Sheu, 25, from Los Angeles, who has taught English at five elementary and junior high schools in the devastated city of Ishinomaki for the past three years.

There were around 70 assistant English language teachers in Miyagi Prefecture under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, sponsored by the central and local governments, and a third of them have decided to stay there. Sheu is one of them.

''I wouldn't cut off relations for no reason. I know I am just one person from a foreign country but if I just left, for me it would be like escaping. I believe me being here contributes, giving them hope and cheerfulness,'' she said.

When the quake and ensuing tsunami hit Ishinomaki on March 11, she was having lunch with her colleagues at the Hebita Junior High School, which eventually was turned into an evacuation center. Since then, she has been busy helping out evacuees by distributing relief goods to them together with her fellow teachers.

''I love it here. I have many connections with my students, the teachers and the neighbors. I wouldn't just leave,'' Sheu said.

Having developed a keen interest in Japan while studying for a semester at a college in Sapporo, Sheu had been touched by the way her neighbors in Ishinomaki welcomed her.

At a time when she was sick, they had checked on her and come to her aid.

''Just the way people cared about me and worried about me made me feel good. It changed everything.'' Some gave her strawberries and tomatoes from their farms. ''You will never get that in Los Angeles.''

The destruction from the earthquake and ensuing tsunami was felt most severely in coastal cities of northeastern Japan.

The disaster also resulted in the death of an American teacher Taylor Anderson, 24, in Ishinomaki. Gas and electricity are still cut and stores are out of supplies

Despite the harsh conditions, the English teachers have reassured their families back home, calmly telling them that they are safe despite the radiation fears.

''I call my parents every day, otherwise they will go crazy. They want me to come home and always tell me the nuclear stuff got worse. When Japanese people start to panic, I think I will panic,'' Sheu said.

At the evacuation center where she does volunteer work, her students are also there helping the evacuees. As their teacher, Sheu tries to give them courage.

''The students try to talk to me in English and it makes the atmosphere lighter and helps people relax a little bit and laugh. It makes a big difference in this situation,'' Sheu said.

Observing the tidiness and the diligence of the quake-affected people, she is convinced that Miyagi will recover from the earthquake.

''Japan is very efficient and people collaborate to work together. The recovery should be really fast. People aren't robbing the stores and breaking into houses and stealing money and food. We are all in pain and thinking we've got to get through this together.''

Edward Clemons, 25, from Chicago, is another English teacher who has fallen in love with Miyagi while taking part in the JET program, which was launched in 1987 to improve Japanese students' foreign language skills and to promote intercultural exchanges.

He is in his second year of teaching conversational classes for adults and school students in Kesennuma, another Miyagi city severely damaged by the disaster.

''Even though I heard about the radiation I didn't think it was a problem,'' Clemons said. ''I wanted to stay till things calmed down and I also wanted to help out. I would feel really bad if I left.''

''I was actually enjoying the time spending time with the teachers by talking and bonding, doing all kinds of work like giving out water. I didn't want to leave. Even though my parents were worried, I knew I was okay.''

When he was studying at Konan University in Kobe, Clemons did not know where Kesennuma or Miyagi were, but he has since developed a strong bond with his adopted community.

''They would invite me to so many events. I carried the omikoshi shrine twice and participated in the traditional dance,'' at the local festivals, he said. ''I did so many things with the local community.''

Canadian Daniel Villeneuve, a Miyagi prefectural advisor for the assistant language teachers, said, ''Everyone is so strongly tied to their community that even though things are this bad, nobody wants to leave. For the JET program, the main goal is grassroots internationalization in communities and we are seeing them,'' following the quake.

However, the organizers of the JET program worry that it may be affected due to the scale of the quake and the tsunami, as well as radiation leaks at a quake-crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, south of Miyagi.

''I want more JETs to come and interact with the locals in the future but due to the current situation, I cannot welcome them open-handedly,'' said Kazuyuki Hoshi, assistant director at the international affairs section at the Miyagi prefectural government. ''I hope life gets back to normal as soon as possible.

==Kyodo

JET English teacher in disaster area

SENDAI, Japan - American Edward Clemons, 25, assistant language teacher under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, speaks in an interview at the Miyagi prefectural office in Sendai on March 28, 2011. (Kyodo) Kyodo

JET English teacher in disaster area

SENDAI, Japan - American Katherine Sheu, 25, assistant language teacher under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, speaks during an interview at the Miyagi prefectural office in Sendai on March 28, 2011. (Kyodo) Kyodo

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