一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

On April 18^th, with the purpose to provide an opportunity for the evacuees in Senmaya district to get to know each other, we organised a "Tomodachi Curry®" event and a cherry blossom viewing party in the front garden of Senmaya Branch Office of Ichinoseki City Council, with a co-operation from Senmaya Community Revitalisation Confederation.

It was a warm, refreshingly sunny day and cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Mr and Mrs Sugawara and other council staff members helped us prepare curry. Originally, we expected that it would be 50 or so people at the most who would join us at the party because there was another sakura viewing event at the temporary housing complex in Senmaya. However, it turned out that nearly 100 guests came to our event, possibly lured by the fantastic weather.

On April 12^th (Sun), we cooked and served "Tomodachi Curry ®" and spent some friendly time with the residents of Nikkori Sunpark Temporary Housing Complex, which is located in Jusanhama, Kitakami, Ishinomaki, Miyagi. Approximately 300 people (150 households) are currently living at the complex.

It had been severe icy weather till the day before the event but it was sunny and warm on the big day. Lively children crammed around and watched us cooking curry with great interest. They timidly started to give us a hand and eventually everyone joined in the cooking.

We started the preparation in the meeting room of the complex early in the morning with help from a group of residents. As usual, with the purpose to break the ice among the participants by friendly conversation during preparation, Taher requested them to join us. 10kg of chicken was offered for free by Mr Keishi Onodera, a member of the Rotary Club of Senmaya, Iwate.

Mr Asawaka, managing director of Maruki Medical Systems Inc. and Mr Kodera, a former staff of the company, joined the curry cooking. They brought tasty sweets, which we enjoyed immensely.

We prepared naan bread instead of rice to serve with curry upon the request from the guests. They also loved the spiced tea we made after meal. As ever, 20 litres of fresh milk to make tea was generously donated by Mr Nobuaki Sudo from Senmaya, Ichinoseki.

After lunch, one of the residents sang some songs playing guitar and we truly had a good time.