Takidashi For Tsunami Victims In Ishinomaki

"We were each given an onigiri (riceball) and a piece of bun; 

that's our meal for the whole day. No water."

3/11 tsunami survivor

from Ishinomaki

"Takidashi" (炊き出し) literally means "food handout" by cooking and providing fresh food. The takidashi was held in a small residential area in Fudocho (不動町) in Ishinomaki, about ten-minute walk from the site the first group did the mud-digging job. Here, the local residents had returned home several days after the catastrophe struck and chose to remain there instead of fleeing to other areas.

One possible reason is because they have grown up and lived there since they were born and there is no other place that feel more homey than their own town. Another reason is that they just have no other places to leave for.

A colourful and beautiful sight in one the the neighbourhood of Fudocho in Ishinomaki; it was like a carnival.

The second group was put in-charge for the takidashi session. Exotic ASEAN food, mainly consisting of Thai cuisine, was prepared and served to the local residents. The food preparation was done through a wonderful team-work of the ASEAN volunteers, Thai students studying in Sendai and cooks from a local Thai restaurant and the Thai Royal Embassy. The Thai students in Sendai had started preparing the ingredients since the previous night and the food was flavoured by the head chef of the Thai Royal Embassy.

Food served includes Thai pan-fried noodles (pad thai), Thai green curry, tom yam-flavoured fried rice, marinated, skewered and grilled meat (satay), and hot Vietnamese coffees.

It certainly caught the local Japanese residents by surprise to see a group of foreigners in bright and colourful attire, filled with broad smiles to appear in their town.

Even though some of the ASEAN volunteers were still wearing their aprons, they still committed to their task of inviting the local folks to the takidashi event.

Miss Tanaka from the Nippon Foundation joined the ASEAN volunteers to invite the local residents to the takidashi as well.



The local folks received us very well and that motivated us even more as the day progressed.



Some of the ASEAN volunteers do not speak any Japanese at all, but the language barrier was not something that stopped them from building new friends.



The pamphlet distributed to the local residents to tell them about the ASEAN event.

There was another group of volunteers who went house-to-house to invite the local residents to the special ASEAN event. The personal invitation worked well, as the first residents came at around half-past-eleven and by one in the afternoon, a long queue had formed. More and more people turned up with a glimpse of hope, sunshine smile on their face and by two, more than 200 families had come for the takidashi. These encouraging sight assured the team that their volunteering effort and presence had certainly paid off.

While feasting on the wonderful food, the local folks were entertained with folk dances and songs in folk costumes by the ASEAN volunteers. They interacted with the local people with warmhearted smiles, helping everyone to feel at home. It was an unforgettable show by the performers who joined the ASEAN Youth Caravan.

ASEAN volunteers distributing goodies to the local folks.



The large number of local citizens that were present were beyond our earlier estimation. They were entertained by some performers from ASEAN countries. 
It was full of festivity.



Ingredients and spices all ready on the table, and it was show time for the chefs.
 

Amy (left) was among those who helped out at the kitchen and here, she was in the satay team, grilling satay for the local residents.

Chefs from a local Thai restaurant and also the Thai Royal Embassy was flown in to join the food preparation.



Dr. Surin joined the takidashi with the ASEAN volunteers, distributing food to the local folks.

This is the drinks booth, offering the local folks with hot Vietnamese coffee.



This is something very interesting - Thai green curry bun (with herbs and spices for health haha!). 



It was heart-warming to see these smiles coming from the local residents after a heart-wrecking tragedy that hit them three months ago.

Even the kids love the food very much. This little girl was being interviewed by a reporter from NHK while having her plate of pad thai.

The Caravan also gave away caps, t-shirts, flags, and other goodies from ASEAN well-wishers unable to take part in this event, to the residents who joined the takidashi. All the goodies were distributed and snapped up like hot cakes until there were none left. The earthquake and tsunami has changed the city and the nation as a whole. Surely, it's changed it emotionally, but it has also changed it physically.

As the Secretary General of ASEAN, H.E Surin Pitsuwan concludes "The Japanese Government is ensuring necessities for her citizens, we just want to show our friendship with a little of our culture and experience. Participants are willing and ready to do what is needed; they just want to be there in person, share personal experiences and spend quality time with the survivors and friends - as fellow Asians, as fellow humans".

Khemmanit Hamikorn, better known as "Pancake", a popular twenty-three-year-old Thai actress was among the artists who performed at the takidashi.

Aceh survivors performed the Saman dance known as the dance of "a thousand hands" for their Japanese counterparts to show the resilience of human spirit.

All smiles from the Acehnese, who had gone through the same thing more than six years ago and now, they were there to offer support to the people in Ishinomaki.

Legong dance by Riskina Juwita, whom we call her Kiki, from Indonesia.

A marvelous performance of the saung-gauk by Su Zai Zar.

Twenty-one-year-old Indonesian pop and movie star Derby and Padi's singer and bassist got everyone tapping and swaying with their songs.



Annisa performing a duet with Dr. Surin, singing songs like "Bengawan Solo" and "Sukiyaki". 



Adelina from the ASEAN Secretariat, joined in the fun too during the Loi Krathong dance.

Other performances included a string performance on the saung-gauk, the Myanmar harp by Su Zar Zar, a musicology student from Myanmar, some great oldies by Ronnel, a visually-impaired Baba colleague from the Philippines, and also a special music - "Move Towards Hope" (希望に向かって) written and composed by the Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN, Mr Bagas Hapsoro, which was performed in a group comprised mainly of the staff from the ASEAN Secretariat.

The people of Ishinomaki have gone through the worst. They have had earthquake, followed by fire, then radiation and snow. However, their strength and gentle hearts have gave them great courage to stand up against the calamity. Our journey to Ishinomaki have brought deep sadness but at the same time, it was a great honour to bring the message to Japanese all over the country that the ASEAN people care about them in helping them to build an even more resilient and better Japan.

Chatting with one of the local residents, who is a professional ice-hockey player. He kept thanking us for making such a wonderful event to cheer them up 
 and those words really meant a lot to us.



She is from Acheh, a survivor from the Sumatra tsunami while the grandma is also a tsunami survivor. They do not speak the same language; the Acehnese
doesn't speak a single Japanese word while the Japanese do not understand any other language but her mother tongue, yet they communicated though their hearts.

Many friendships were made from this Caravan amidst great warmth. The ASEAN volunteers came from ten different countries. The languages we speak are different, however somehow, we just able to connect with each others even though we just met less than a day ago.

More importantly however, this Caravan has provided a wonderful platform to build a bridge among the youths of ASEAN and our Japanese friends. It was also a real-life experience about engagement, about the role of civil society, about the common travails of survivors, and about volunteerism.

One of the local folks writing up the lyrics of the song "Kitaguni-no haru" (北国の春) on a cardboard before we sang it together.

Amidst the performances on the stage, one okasan appeared with her precious harmonica that holds a sentimental value to her, playing the traditional Japanese song - "Kitaguni-no haru".

Her name was Sato Kazuko, a nurse. She played her harmonica to dedicate it specially for the volunteers who have come all the way to Ishinomaki to help in whatever ways they have done. She was touched by our deeds and she hoped that we would enjoy her songs as well.

A few of us took some time to talk to her friends and we were treated to a heart-warming story from her. She shared with us her first-hand experience when the tsunami struck the town on March 11. She was out on the street when the quake came and when the wave came rushing towards the town, she got the shock of her life. She ran for safety with another few people and fortunately, they managed to hop onto a bus that took them towards a nearby hill. They stayed there, right up on that hill for the next two weeks with other local residents who were fortunate to escape from the horrifying waves.

There is a shrine on top of the hill, and it was there that most of the residents held on. At the same time, it was at in the cemetery on the hill behind the temple that temporary graves were set up to bury more than 200 people who died from the tsunami.

Sato-san continued with her story while taking some bites on the satay. That was their first taste of meat since the disaster.

It was an eye-opener to us when we listened to her heart-wrecking stories. It personally made me feel that I have nothing else to complain in this life, 
compared to these people who have gone through worse times.

"For the first three days, we had nothing to eat but only bananas," Sato-san continued her story, with a simple smile.

Then, on the third day, they got something other than the yellow fruit. Oranges came on the third day, and followed by bread and buns from Yamazakipan. However, drinking water was still very limited and they share one bottle of mineral water with a few people. For the first two weeks, Ishinomaki was totally wrecked. Although they had rice, it was almost impossible to cook them as they were without electricity or gas. Clean water was nowhere to be found too, as most of the water sources have been contaminated by the tsunami waves. Water only came more than three weeks after the disaster struck. Electricity came much later, towards the end of May, more than one-and-a-half month after the wave destroyed their town.

After a few weeks, when things has gotten slightly better, they resumed their daily routine like taking shower. However, they didn't have the luxury to have warm shower. Instead, they walked to the nearby river with their bottles of shampoos and bathed there. However, it was just limited to washing their hair, as the situation was still very bad and they had other more important things to think about.

One thing she stressed out however, is about her precious harmonica. A few days after the tsunami came, while still seeking shelter on the hill behind their neighbourhood, she pledged to the rescue workers to allow her to return to her house because she had something important to retrieve; it was her harmonica.  When she got back to her house, everything was in a big mess. However, she safely found the wooden box where she kept her harmonica and it didn't suffer any damages. Now, that harmonica has turned into one of her most precious belongings, as playing it reminds her of her friends who lost their lives in the tsunami.

After several attempts, we finally got the chance to have a picture taken with Dr. Surin.



Pancake was among our targets too and we also managed a photo with her haha!



One of the obaasan (the middle one in red) insisted that I pose with the "peace" sign haha! So cute of her-lah!



Amy distributed some souvenirs of keychains to the local folks, which caught them by surprised. "What? Is this really for us? Thanks very much!" said on of the obaasan. 
However, Amy encountered a funny incident when one resident asked for two pairs of keychains when she was handing them out haha!

That obaasan in red, told me that seeing the Indonesians' performances and also hearing to the language had made her miss her daughter very much, who is married to an Indonesian. Another local resident, Kazumi Sato, a 34-year-old mother of three who lives in a heavily damaged house in Ishinomaki, said she appreciated the food served by the ASEAN Caravan, adding her children had only been offered bread and milk at schools until recently. "We are glad as we ate something unique today. The event is like a festival and my kids enjoyed it," she said.

I was told that the local folks we encountered on the day, especially at the takidashi, found the ASEAN Caravan members to be different from other groups who came. Even as we served the food and gave away the caps and the t-shirts, there was merriment and laughter, song and dance.

Amy and I left some messages on the banner to lift the spirits of the local folks.



Ten years from now, I guess these kids will still remember this wonderful event.

After more than twelve weeks after the disaster, these survivors have returned to their homes and live in a more feasible way compared to the times when they were in the evacuation centres. However, to those who has lost their homes, or had their homes partially destroyed by the tsunami, they are still seeking shelters in the evacuation centres.

The singing, dancing and eating continued until three in the evening. Over the half-day journey, we witnessed stories of human chemistry and spontaneity. Heart-warming to say the least. Who said that the Japanese people are reserved? Certainly not in Ishinomaki! The volunteering activity ended with the waving goodbyes from the local people as the bus leave the place.

These people have lost many, some even their loved ones, yet they have heart as wide as ocean. They had welcome us, the volunteers, with big warm smiles and openness, and that indeed was a blessing and warmed us with great satisfaction.

Quoting from Dr. Jean F. Freymond, President of Network for Governance, Entrepreneurship & Development, catastrophes do provoke people to react in a way which underline their humanity, and thus they do contribute to change the world. All those invaluable parts of humanity - compassion, kindness, sympathy, solidarity, was clearly portrayed through this ASEAN Caravan.

~ to be continued ~

Related entry: Part 1: ASEAN Youth Caravan of Goodwill
Related entry: Part 2: Dorokaki At Meiyukan Of Ishinomaki
Related entry: Part 4: Thank-You Party For The ASEAN Caravaners
Related entry: Part 5: A Short Trip To Matsushima

Dorokaki At Meiyukan Of Ishinomaki

"Only the genuine human bond can sooth us and strengthen 
our will to start anew. The ultimate loss cannot be redeemed, 
but the bond of humanity can help absorb the pain and grief."

Dr. Surin Pitsuwan
ASEAN Secretary General

The day started early for everyone as we left Sendai for Ishinomaki at half-past seven in the morning. There would be three main events through the day - dorokaki (mud-digging) and takidashi (cooking and providing fresh food) in the day time, and the program would be wrapped up with a thank-you party at the hotel we stayed in the evening.

The Caravan members were mainly divided into two groups - the younger and more robust ones volunteered for the physically demanding job of shoveling and removing mud and debris from one of the evacuation centres, while the second group was tasked to prepare ASEAN food and serve the 150 to 300 residents expected to turn up for the colourful event. Some of the Caravan members would also perform dances and songs for the local residents.

On the previous nights, we were each distributed with a pair of light blue t-shirt with the ASEAN emblem smartly printed in front, caps and ASEAN flags. Members who were going to do the mud-digging were issued with heavy-duty rubber gloves and boots, face towels, and protective dusk masks to ensure the highest standards of hygiene and safety were observed.

Team Malaysia with our extra-large size Jalur Gemilang. Even the Singaporeans lost to our kiasu-ness haha!

The journey from Sendai to Ishinomaki took us approximately two hours. Just like the previous morning, everyone was in high spirit and enthusiastic, with a clear sense of purpose and dedication. It is amazing that despite the fact that all of us met up with each other just less than twenty-four hours earlier, we were already clicking as a dedicated unit. Any potential language barrier was dissolved, and the members of the Caravan converged as one.

We didn't know what to expect in a couple of hours' time. Will the scale of destruction as bad as Natori we saw on the previous day? Are there still houses standing in the town? There were many uncertainties that came around our minds. One thing for sure however, we told ourselves that however bad the condition is, we would give our everything to help out the local residents in Ishinomaki, in whatever ways we can, physically and mentally.

Sweet smiles on everyone's faces as we headed to Ishinomaki.

A signboard by the road that reads "Ganbaro Tohoku! Ganbaro Miyagi!"

As we reached the outskirts of Ishinomaki - the area closest to the epicentre of the earthquake, the view changed dramatically.

Ishinomaki is one of the city that most seriously affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Tsunami waves as high as 10 meters traveled more than 600 meters inland, washing away houses and anything that came along its way. It left more than 3,000 people dead with more than 2,700 more still missing. The earthquake shifted the city southeast and downward and the city sunk nearly 1.2 meters at certain areas.

Ishinomaki City Civic Centre.

However, the magnitude of the destruction was not as bad as what we saw in Natori a day earlier. Here in Ishinomaki, there are still life, hopes, smiles and joy. I am not so sure about other tsunami-ravaged areas, but deep in my heart, I hope these important elements still exist in those areas as well. They certainly need these elements to stand up again, stronger than before.

I was placed in the first group with another forty people or so of us for the mud-digging and clearing the debris task at Ishinomaki City Labours' Leisure Center (石巻勤労者余暇活用センター) called Meiyu-kan (明友館), which has been designed as one of the evacuation centres in the city.

Upon arrival, we were immediately divided into four groups and I was placed in the second group. As you can see, there were reporters and cameras 
at every angles to cover this momentous event.

Picking up our gears such as protective helmets, dust masks, and goggles before being assigned to our working site.

Shovels and long-handled brushes were provided at the site too.

We were joined by some part of the sixth group of Gakubo, which is a abbreviation of "gaku" from the word "gakusei" (student) and "bo" from the word "borantia" (volunteer). Gakubo is a voluntary group under the Nippon Foundation, which mainly consists of Japanese and international students who are studying all around Japan and volunteer to help in Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture or Tono city (遠野市) in Iwate prefecture.

Our attention was to clear the mud and debris around the vicinity of the evacuation centre, to provide a better environment for the residents currently seeking shelters on the first floor of the building. There were no divisions between male and females, teenagers or adults. Everyone just clicked together as one dedicated unit.

Young volunteers of ASEAN showing that manpower is more effective where heavy machines can’t enter.



I requested a reporter to take this shot for me *hehe* He actually asked me to position myself properly to get the right angle lol!

Before we began our work, we were given a short briefing by one of the on-site staffs from the Nippon Foundation on what were we supposed to do. Basically, we had to shovel the mud around the building and carry them in wheelbarrows out into an open space next to the building, where we would pile them up. At the same time, we were reminded to separate the glass and steel materials from the rest of the debris while we shoveled the mud away.

It is hard to describe the sludge and to do its foul stench any justice. But imagine the ancient black seabed of decomposing plant and animal remains set free from the ocean and then mixed with all that washed up in the waves of the tsunami - oil, dead fish, rotting food and vegetation, sewage - and then factor in twelve weeks of festering. Nasty stuff.

The place was covered with heavy black sludge and it really takes up your energy very quickly. There was one time when we tried to remove a tatami mat; it was so damned heavy that we needed about five to six guys to lift it away.

Poor Minnie Mouse laying in between the piles of tsunami debris.

We may not have any blood relationship, however the Japanese culture was part of the formation of each one of us, 
even if we are thousands and thousands of miles away.

Sometimes, we would encounter photos and family photo albums in the middle of the mud.

And also negative films buried under the mud. The question is, how would you handle it?

On the destruction site, everything seems to touch our heart deeply. As I digged and put the mud away, I encountered so many little things, all dirty in the middle of the mud. However, these things are not trash or rubble; once these were someone's precious possessions which made up a huge part of their lives. It was so heartbreaking to see those private items and lost memories that laid in between the mud.

From the several hours clearing up the area, I came across just about everything you can think of - name tags, electrical bills, textbooks, thumb drives, VCDs, plates, name cards, keyboards, mouse, photo frames, gaming cards, report cards, cans, soft toys, mugs, pens, tumblers, etc.

During our breaks, we took time to snap some group photos as well. Smile is such an important element that we made sure 
we showed it all the time when we were in Ishinomaki.

Part of the Gakubo volunteers who worked at the same site with us.

Every fifteen to twenty minutes, we will take a five-minute break to recharge ourselves with liquid, some rest and sometimes, toilet breaks behind the bushes as there are no proper toilets around the area haha! We also took this short time to chat with other volunteers from all around the world such as Canada, United States, and Brazil. I have to say it's a hard work, heavy and exhausting. However, when you do it with a group of people, all working as a group, all sweating and working their asses off, it didn't seem that heavy at all.
 
None of us in the group knew each other prior to volunteering, but we clearly have a common purpose for being here and really clicked as a team from the beginning. It makes working together a lot of fun and a great pleasure.

This was how the place looked like before we started digging away.

Several hours later, we managed to make the place look much better.

Dr Surin Pitsuwan, the ASEAN General Secretary, Mr Sasakawa Yohei, chairman of the Nippon Foundation and Pancake, 
a Thai famous actor came to visit the site in late afternoon.

Dr Surin scooping out the remaining debris into the wheelbarrow.

This is the current condition on the ground floor of the Meiyu-kan. The water level that crashed into this area is still visible 
from the watermark lines on the while wall that measures about 1.5-meters high.



This is how the first floor of the evacuation centre in Meiyukan looks like.



Life still continue as normal, although they are living with limited resources.



We did not go up there to visit these kids and residents currently staying here, as the group will be too huge and it will disturb them.



The local residents lining up for the food distribution in front of the Meiyu-kan.

While I was sitting down, taking a rest, I suddenly felt a mild quake; just a short one for about a few seconds. I almost panicked, but I made sure I kept myself calm. The pole standing just a few meters from me swayed a little and the sound was quite scary. The locals who were lining up for food didn't seem to be affected by that tremor. I am sure they are immune to the shakes already by now.

The town people who walked passed the area we where working were all in good spirits and obviously very appreciative of our clean-up effort. They seemed particularly surprised and grateful that foreigners are here, as do our Japanese volunteer colleagues, who regularly thank us for being here.

One of the grandma who waved at us after we had completed our work.

According to Mr Yoshikawa who was one of the leader of this voluntary work, it is very rare to see those people who are still seeking shelters at the evacuation centre to wave at the people outside with a smile. They usually prefer to stay inside and avoid from coming out. However, probably the well-done job by the young people like us had touched the heart of that grandma.

These heart-warming words just cannot describe how much we felt our simple deeds were appreciated. Personally, even if we managed to place a smile on just one person from our actions, it is really an amazing thing. At the same time, it was not through monetary-gains, but it was from our sincere heart to volunteer that we got our energy to do something for these people.

With Boon Hwee from Ang Moh Kio, Ly from Phonm Penh and Azizul from KL.

Thanet from Bangkok and Worawit from Phuket.

With Ly, Azizul and Ariffin from Brunei in front of the Nippon Foundation banner at Meiyu-kan.

Another group photo with Dr Surin after a long tiring but incredibly fulfilling day.

Sowing the seeds of hope all around the world.

The role we, as volunteers, play here was to clear the parts of town that are still standing in mud and rubbish so people can get back to work and return their lives to some semblance of normality. Yes, the city is sure to slowly set off on a long road of recovery. However, little by little, step by step, if we give our hands and start doing something together, though little it might be, we can make a huge difference; we can make this world a better place, for everyone.

~ to be continued ~ 

Related entry: Part 1: ASEAN Youth Caravan of Goodwill
Related entry: Part 3: Takidashi For Tsunami Victims In Ishinomaki
Related entry: Part 4: Thank-You Party For The ASEAN Caravaners
Related entry: Part 5: A Short Trip To Matsushima