On July 2, AmeriCares Japan team
members Ramona Bajema and Kyoko Sakurai, traveled to Iwate Prefecture to meet
with partner Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO).
AmeriCares recently awarded NICCO a $60,000 grant to support a psychosocial
program serving women, children, and elderly survivors designed by a
psychiatrist specializing in trauma care.
Below is Ramona’s detailed account
of the challenges for survivors and their crucial need for ongoing recovery
programs.
“In this remote area, family and
local ties run very deep and friendships span decades.”
During
our 90 minute drive, the landscape slowly changed from the stunning natural
beauty of rivers, mountains and flower gardens to utter destruction.
At our
destination in Rikuzentakata, we met our contact, Mr. Higashida, at a hilltop school
now serving multiple functions: the grounds serve as a site for temporary homes,
defense force equipment and the Japanese Red Cross headquarters, and the
gymnasium provides shelter for evacuees.
Inside
the building, volunteers work with small children. Normal school activities
have recently resumed and the hallways are lined with children’s handmade posters
expressing hope for a brighter future. The computer room has been transformed into a busy
headquarters for government and NGO teams.
Photo by Ramona Bajema; All Rights Reserved.
After a
quick tour, we went back to the disaster zone with our driver, Mr. Suzuki,
whose family home was destroyed. While they are grateful to be out of the
shelter, and in a temporary home, Mr. Suzuki and his family were saddened to be
separated from their friends and community. In this remote area, where local
ties run deep and friendships span decades, separation from neighbors is a
common and traumatic plight for survivors. It contributes to their sense of
isolation and further loss of community.
We drove
to meet Mr. Kanno, a volunteer from a sanitation company, who was busy working
to eradicate the serious health risks caused by large numbers of dead fish from
local factories along with the rats, flies, and mosquitoes they attract. We saw
fish rotting in the debris and factory floors covered in maggots. Mr. Kanno explained
the serious concern about disease, especially during the hot, humid summer
months. Throughout the disaster zones, teams have been hired to spray
pesticides. To minimize the risk of chemical toxicity, Mr. Kanno is working to
identify agents with the lowest risks to the soil and water system as well as
the townspeople.
Next, we
traveled to Mobira, a former campsite located high up in the mountains that is
now home to 50 new temporary shelters. The site is lovely, but poses logistical
problems, since nobody owns a car and access to shopping and other commerce is
nearly impossible. Moreover, a gathering place for eating, entertainment and children’s
activities has not yet been built. Our team has been working to encourage planners
to include locations in temporary housing sites where the families can gather
together and re-establish some sense of community.
At the
Moriba site, we visited with a group of about 15 elderly men and women who sat
at low tables learning how to make charms out of seashells, kimono cloth, and
tiny bells. The group seemed happily engaged in the craft-making, led by a
NICCO volunteer who specializes in art. The is deceptively simple activity is
part of NICCO’s “Heart Care”, a well
organized program of occupational therapy funded by AmeriCares. The program
helps survivors resolve trauma and rebuild social-ties in subtle and culturally
appropriate ways. Group therapy and
counseling so commonly available in the US to help people cope with depression
and anxiety are not typically used here in the Tohoku region. This provides an
alternative.
Photo by Ramona Bajema; All Rights Reserved.
Dr.
Tebayashi, a Transcultural Mental Health Advisor from Taisho University in Tokyo,
was also a participant. This jovial, kind-hearted man welcomed Kyoko and I and
encouraged us to join the group. Dr. Tebayashi explained to the group that I
was from the US working with AmeriCares. Every expressed deep gratitude, and said
Americans were the “first to arrive” in the area to distribute goods.
“This surviving tree had become the symbol of
the town.”
On the
way back to the school, we stopped for one last glimpse of tsunami zone in
Ichinoseki.. Mountains of debris towered overhead, smashed cars were piled on
top of each other, and mud stretched as far as the eye could see. However in
the distance, one solitary tree towered over the landscape. This surviving tree
has become the symbol of hope for this town facing the daunting task of
reconstruction.
In an
undamaged part of Ichinoseki, we noticed a shop with a poster of that tree on
the wall. We enquired about where we could purchase one for our office, and learned
there were none in the area for sale. Then, to our surprise, the shop keeper took
down his copy to give to us, apologizing for the pin holes. When we left, we
noticed the mural of that very tree painted on the shop’s outside wall, with
the rallying cry repeated across the Tohoku region - Ganbatte! “Let’s Go!”
