Photo by Ramona Bajema. All Rights Reserved.
As AmeriCares continues recovery efforts
throughout Japan, Ella Gudwin, VP of Emergency Response, gives a firsthand
account of the transformative work of AmeriCares partner and grantee Peace
Boat, whose cleanup crews have restored hope amid the once wrecked business
district of the small coastal town of Ishinomaki.
“The
painstaking work of volunteers has transformed the streets of Ishinomaki, sparking hope for a new beginning.”
In Japan, I saw first-hand
a monumental accomplishment. Narrow downtown streets once clogged with
mountains of sludge, debris, gnarled wood and broken glass, vehicles and
stranded boats are now clear and clean. Obstacles and refuse have all been
painstakingly hauled away by thousands of volunteers from across Japan
coordinated through the Ishinomaki Disaster Recovery Assistance Council. AmeriCares partner and grantee, Peace Boat helped lead this massive
cleanup. By clearing the way to the front doors of homes and businesses, they
have also cleared the way to futures which seemed impossible in the dark days after
the disaster.
Mr. Inoue knows these streets well. He is the third generation owner of the
Sarukoya Music Store in downtown Ishinomaki. His family has run the shop for 90 years.
The tsunami waters tore everything from the store's shelves and thrust grand
pianos through windows. He found a car balanced precariously on top of one of his
fine pianos, crushed flat from the car's weight. With almost a foot of mud covering
the floor, his inventory lost, no possibility of insurance coverage, and the business
community around him in chaos, Mr. Inoue was ready to board up the windows and
walk away. Indeed he felt lucky that he and his family had escaped unharmed. In
his town, 5,870 people are dead or missing.
When Peace Boat offered to help salvage his shop, Mr. Inoue accepted with a
degree of skepticism. But, after a week of removing mud when Mr. Inoue could see his floor and became hopeful. Peace Boat kept sending volunteer teams on one
and two week rotations.
We arrived in mid-June to find the fifth team bent over buckets with bristle
brushes in hand. Hiro, a biology student, had traveled more than 1,000 miles to
help after responding to a newspaper advertisement which called for volunteers.
He and five friends stayed in a tent pitched on the local university campus.
This accommodation was a step up from some of the other sludge teams. At
another site volunteers gamely slept on the floor of an old factory so they
could be near the damaged houses of survivors on which they worked. Prior to
their assignment, all of the volunteers attended an orientation, so everyone
knew what they had signed up for.
Hiro and his friends were
scrubbing musical instruments cases, gingerly removing mud with toothbrushes.
While chatting with the volunteer team, I saw Mr. Inoue inside the store amid a
few painters and electricians. He welcomed me as I entered, and told us his
story.
Photo by Ramona Bajema. All Rights Reserved.
"Where there is no hope, create
it."
Mr. Inoue explained that he is working vigorously to re-open his business by mid-August,
in time for Obon, an important Buddhist festival in which families gather
together to commemorate their ancestors. Everywhere we went, relief workers, government
officials, families and businesses alike worked on projects with Obon as the
completion date. And in the backdrop lie complex feelings of how to cope with
grief alongside the desire for renewal.
Mr. Inoue has undertaken a special project to restore one
particular grand piano, the only one among 30 lost that remained standing
upright in the mud. Mr. Inoue replaced
the legs and gutted the inside, and will restring the refinished frame. He told us that a famous jazz singer has
pledged to play this piano on September 11, marking the six month anniversary of the
disaster, at a benefit concert to raise funds for survivors. And although Mr.
Inoue worries that the sound quality will be imperfect, I am certain the
intense emotion of the performance will mute any imperfections. As he lifted
the drop cloth to show us the piano, Mr. Inoue beamed with such joy, I could almost
hear its music.
Mr. Inoue’s dream of celebrating the Sarukoya Music Store’s 100th
anniversary and passing the store down
his eldest son is a reality once again. He told us, "Without Peace Boat
and the work of the volunteers, we might not stand again. We are very
grateful."
AmeriCares helped to launch this Herculean effort with a $30,000 seed grant to
Peace Boat. The funds specifically supported Peace Boat's volunteer
coordinators who identify the streets, businesses and survivors' homes to be cleared; and who train and orient hundreds of volunteers
monthly. Since April, Peace Boat has helped shop owners reopen their
stores, survivors reclaim their houses, and city officials revive community spaces.
At AmeriCares 25th anniversary gala, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Weisel stated,
"Where there is no hope, create it." In Ishinomaki, I have witnessed
that call to action in action; shovel by shovel, hand in glove,
creating hope where there was none.
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