Wave of reinforcements. After a long drive and spending the night in Sendai, some old and new faces arrived at the dojo: previous team workers Yasusuke and Marcus, along with Scott, Chiaki, Tomoki, and Joanne.
Arriving in the affected area of Ishinomaki we were greeted by the rest of the caravan from Kobe: the Seelens, Matt S., Liz, Nancy, Barbara, Anson, and Paul
First stop was a house near the tunnel exit that has become available to the team. It is newer and as a bonus there is an adjoining guest house. After doing some brief cleanup, the family that lived there decided to abandon the house, move away, and tear it down. Chad is negotiating rental arrangements, and we’re hoping they might change their mind about tearing it down. (The problem is, there’s a powerful impulse to separate from all the troubled spirits of those who died so shockingly. By leveling the houses, hauling off the cars, moving away.) Anyway, the house has water and mud damage and broken windows, and smells like (well, let’s just say it’s a blessing that I don’t smell so well.) But if we had someone staying there, it would give us a human presence in the community, signal our commitment, and cement relationships.
We saw other people outside their houses, so Chad, Jennifer and Charlie fanned out to see what we might be able to do to help. Several asked if we could clean out the storm drain gutters (the 18-inch-deep concrete trenches under removable concrete slabs) along the street. So we got 4 wheelbarrows, 13 square nose shovels, and about a hundred fifty plastic mesh sandbags off the 1 ton truck. And Chad starts trying to read the directions for putting together the pressure washer.
For three hours we mucked out black mud, old rags, what may at one time have been fish, and broken pieces of decorative block walls. The sandbags were so wet and sloppy, we felt like we were throwing bags of quivering black jelly onto the pile in the vacant lot. The trouble was, once cleaned there was no outflow for the remaining nasty water, so we couldn’t do much with the pressure washer. Meanwhile one vehicle of team members was hitting all the grocery stores that were open, buying every chicken breast in Ishinomaki.
We cleaned up and drove over to a hinanjo (evac center) at a school where the team had served a barbecue during Golden Week. (Based on past experience we had been avoiding the evacuation centers because they had always said they didn’t need anything, but a Mr. Suzuki had invited us to do something special for this particular hinanjo then, and now come back and do it again) So 5 barbecue grill, 500 brat hot dogs and buns, 75 lbs of chicken, 200 bags of chips, 500 cookies, and 200 canned drinks later, we had served over a hundred people, with many taking extra food home with them.
Afterward we talked, passed out toys and hula hoops, and played circle volleyball with the kids, and we found out that guess what Chad AND Charlie AND Collin could all do? Juggle. So they taught a couple guys how.
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