一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

On November 15 (Sat), we held "Tomodachi Curry®" event at Ozashi Temporary Housing Complexes in Ishinomaki, Miyagi and had a great time with the residents.

Most of the people living there are fishery workers and work almost every day even on weekends. So, this time, we served "Tomodachi Curry®" from five o'clock in the evening.

We arrived at the event site just after lunch time and started preparation. It was a terribly windy day and the tent was knocked down causing some damage to the frame. Despite the accident, however, we managed to cook dinner as we planned. Once again, Mr Masayoshi Sugawara, the former mayor of Hiraizumi town, who never disappoints us, came all the way from Hiraizumi with his wife.

"Tomodachi Curry®" was ready at 4:30 pm and people started to gather at the event site, "Kodomo House" before five o'clock. It was a fun time with lively children. As it was very windy and freezing, everyone so much enjoyed the hot spiced tea after supper.

The apples Mr and Mrs Sugawara donated for the event were great for dessert after hot and spicy curry.

Through this event, we hope that we were able to help strengthen the bond among disaster victims even a little.

On October 26 (Sun), 2014, we cooked and served "Tomodachi Curry®" and spent some friendly time with the residents of Kaisei Temporary Housing Complexes, Ishinomaki, Miyagi.

On August 24^th, we held a curry event for 206 households living in the 9^th, 10^th and 13^th Kaisei Temporary Housing Complexes with co-operation of Mr Hiroaki Endo, the chairperson of the residents' association of these three housing complexes.

The event site was an open space in front of the meeting room of the 12th Housing Complex. Though it was foggy in the morning, while we were busy preparing food, the sky cleared up nicely.

Just like the previous event, all the preparation started early in the morning in the meeting room of the Complex where the event was held. We also asked the residents to come and help. As usual, the purpose was to boost the mood among the participants by exchanging friendly conversation during preparation. We did not serve our usual naan bread this time but cooked rice together with the residents so that they could feel more like part of the event team. As always, Mr Keishi Onodera of the Rotary Club of Iwate Senmaya kindly donated 24kg of chicken. We appreciate everyone's support.

Actual cooking was the job for young and powerful staff members of our Foundation.

As the spicy aroma of curry wafted, people came to see the pot. We started to serve "Tomodachi Curry®" at noon.

We had many plates of rice ready first, and put curry on top of rice before handing out a plate to the queued people. Mr Masayoshi Sugawara, the former town mayor of Hiraizumi and a wonderful supporter of the Foundation, came from Hiraizumi and gave us a hand. He put rice on all those plates and, his wife passed them to the curry pot keepers. The pair worked in perfect liaison and everything went nice and smooth.

Though the meeting room was considerably large, it was unfortunate that there were not enough tables for everyone to sit and eat at the same time. "Tomodachi Curry®" itself was very popular and some children even asked for another helping.

We enjoyed every moment with people living at Kaisei Temporary Housing Complexes from preparation early in the morning to clearing up after the meal. Through our "Tomodachi Curry®", we continue to interact with those who are forced to live in temporary houses. Mr Koyama is working hard as a facilitator for the 12th Housing Complex as they have no chairperson of the residents' association. The 12^th Housing Complex had had no community events so far, and he was very pleased with the success of the event. After tidying up, he offered tea to all the staff of the Foundation.

As ever, we wish the best of health and happiness for people at Kaisei Temporary Housing Complexes.

On October 24^th (Fri), 2014, we organised the 4^th Symposium on Self-Supporting Efforts with Ms. Mieko Osanai as a guest speaker. Taking advantage of the opportunity to meet the famous scriptwriter in person, we also held a breakfast gathering for people currently living at Former Senmaya Junior High School Emergency Temporary Housing Complex on the following day (October 25^th, Sat).

Though our volunteer activities are based in Senmaya district, Ichinoseki, we had never had a chance to organise an event at this Emergency Temporary Housing Complex so far. This time, however, we gained an acquaintance with Ms. Yuri Nagasawa, president of Senmaya Community Revitalisation Confederation, and with her kind cooperation, we were able to make one happen.

We served sandwiches and fruits for breakfast which Sakaiya Confectionary and Konkin Glossary shops of the local Senmaya shopping street kindly offered at specially reduced prices for the gathering. They sympathised with our efforts and helped us cheer those who are living at temporary houses. We are grateful for their co-operation.

Due to limitations of time on the part of Ms. Osanai, the breakfast gathering was rather short. However, many participants came to the venue earlier than the planned opening time and appeared to enjoy conversation in a relaxed atmosphere. We were pleased to have a lovely time and great conversation with everyone.

Though the Housing Complex is in Senmaya, it belongs to Kesennuma-City, Miyagi and the residents are also from Kesennuma. According to the participants, there are other temporary housings in the area where people from Kesennuma are living. However, personal exchanges seem to be non-existent.

Therefore, hoping to help them a little boost their self-support efforts, we are now planning "Tomodachi Curry®" event on December 6^th, to offer an opportunity for the residents of these temporary housings to interact with each other.

We wish the best of health and luck for the people at Former Senmaya Junior High School Emergency Temporary Housing Complexes.

We held the 4^th Symposium on Self-Supporting Efforts with Ms Mieko Osanai as a main speaker at Senmaya International Club.

Prominent scriptwriter, Ms Osanai was born in Tsurumi district in Yokohama, Kanagawa. Her debut is "The Leftover Happiness", one of the episodes of NHK TV drama series "TV Reserved Seat" broadcasted on February 2, 1962. Her later drama series including "San-nen B-gumi Kimpachi Sensei (Mr Kimpachi of Class B, Year 3)" and "Gosan (Miscalculation)" Series ("Oya to Ko no Gosan (Family Miscalculation)", "Hubo no Gosan (Parents' Miscalculation)" etc.) are based on her philosophy on education and child raising and, eventually made her a well-known figure in the educational circle. It was interesting for us audience to know the story of "Kimpachi Sensei" was not fictional but based on her own experiences. In fact, she made her thoughts and opinions voiced by the protagonist, Mr Kimpachi.

n August 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait causing the outbreak of the Gulf War, Ms Osanai and other 6 volunteers went to Jordan and helped with the relief efforts at a refugee camp. This led them to form JIRAC (Japan International Relief Action Committee). During the speech, she went into detail about her experiences in Kurdish refugee relief at the border of Iran and Iraq in 1991, and support activities she joined with university students for Cambodian repatriated refugees at the border of Cambodia and Thailand from 1992 to 1993.

After the relief efforts in Cambodia were completed, Ms Osanai realised the need for building schools for children, and established "the School Building Committee for Cambodian Children" as a part of JIRAC on September 15th, 1993. The committee was reorganised as a membership-based organisation and renamed to "JHP School Building Committee" in April 1997. The number of schools they built has reached as many as 317.

However, she questioned the meaning of only constructing school buildings, and attempted to provide general educational programmes. Unfortunately, the attempt was denied by the Cambodian government except her involvement in music and art education. As part of her efforts, she sends musical instruments such as melodicas and treadle organs to Cambodia, fosters musical teachers and hosts musical contests. Also she assists art teachers to develop their skills, organises touring exhibitions and provides educational materials for art classes.

She also dispatches young Japanese volunteers including university students to Cambodia with an aim to promote global civic education. Those who participated in the project will learn some wisdom of living which they may not have a chance to encounter while studying in Japan, such as woodworking. Through accomplishing hard work together, young people will be able to acquire true friendship and she strongly enhances the importance of such activities. One of the students who experienced the volunteer work decided to become a journalist after graduation and is now a photographer at NHK. Another has quitted NHK and joined BBC. These people are now role models for student volunteers. She emphasised that the volunteer activities with students also enable her to learn a lot of things and create a large social circle.

● Through the Symposium

"This is the first time for me to visit Senmaya, but feel oddly familiar as the landscape of the area somehow resembles that of Cambodia", said Ms Osanai at the beginning of the Symposium. She, whose zodiac sign is the horse, felt a sense of affinity with people in Senmaya, a town known for the folk story that the famous medieval worrier, Minamoto Yoshitsune's horse, Tayuguro, was born in the area.

At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Ms Osanai and other volunteer members who worked with her in Cambodia rushed over to Tohoku with 1,000 packets of pot noodles donated by an actor, Mr Tsunehiko Watase, who was then in Kyoto.

The board chairperson, Mr Yasuhiko Sata, made a speech paying respect to her tremendous efforts for the past 25 years to collect a huge amount of funds to construct numerous schools. Her projects received empathy from many people and the donation reached some 2 billion yen in total. Though Rentai Tohoku Seinan has been providing assistance to the victims' self-supporting efforts, Mr Sata also expressed his wish to contribute to the revitalisation of depopulated villages in Tohoku region. He mischievously suggested Ms Osanai to write a drama set in Senmaya to cheer up the townsfolks.

At the dinner party after the Symposium, the participants were free to talk with the guest speaker and enjoyed the rare moment. Ms Osanai emphasised that young people should not be stuck in the room studying only but connect with people through volunteer activities. "By such experiences, they will be able to mature as a person", said the scriptwriter.

On October 12^th(Sun), we served "Tomodachi Curry®" at the harvest festival held at "Fureai Kizuna Suiden Gambatta(Rice Paddies Gambatta for Strong Community Bonding)" and shared the delightful time in harvesting our own food together

Council houses for employment-boosting in Tokuda district are now used as temporary houses for those affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in Kesennuma and Minamisanriku. In June this year, the residents in these temporary houses and local people got together and planted the Gambatta rice paddies and here came the time to gather crops. This year is the 4^th year for locals and evacuees to harvest rice together.

Introduced by Mr Hiroshi Senda, the chairperson of the Fujisawa-Town Neighbourhood Community Association, we provided Tomodachi Curry® at the harvest festival last year as well. This year, we were requested to serve curry for about 100 people. It was very generous of the event organiser to provide us chicken and vegetables for the curry.

At the event site, thanks to the people of Fujisawa Town who helped us making curry, the meals were ready nice and quick. The pot keeper was Mr Masayoshi Sugawara, the former town mayor of Hiraizumi Town, who came all the way from Hiraizumi with his wife to give us a hand.

After finishing the harvest, about 100 people gathered at the event site and started to have lunch. Apart from our Tomodachi Curry®, many local people brought home-prepared food and we all had a great time.

This was the second time for us to join the festival. Before the meal, we were given an opportunity to introduce our activities as Rentai Tohoku Seinan. Hopefully we could let people know more about what activities we are being engaged in the disaster affected areas, especially why we serve Tomodachi Curry®. Through this event, we hope that we were able to help strengthening friendship between disaster victims and local people in some way.