一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

Rentai Tohoku Seinan Staff, Tahir here.

At the request of the Kesennuma Social Services Committee, we assisted in the Recovery Festival which was held on the 25th of November at Oshima, Kessennuma City.

Oshima is an island situated about 25 minutes by ferry from Kessennuma. This festival was for residents from three temporary housing estates: Oshima Junior High School Ground, Oshima Holiday Village (recreation ground) and Shinodaira Ground. It was very lively.

At this festival, we, together with friends who came from Nagoya, provided hot chai to the participants.

In July this year we held tea gatherings at the community hall of each of these three housing estates in order to help solve the problem of lack of communication among residents. In addition, at these gatherings, the residents enjoyed folding origami that was provided by members of the social services committee. As a result of these previous events, we felt the participants were in a very relaxed mood in general.

Although we didn't offer any curry at this event, we had a very fruitful day, and left feeling that we had contributed something.

Rentai Tohoku Seinan Staff, Tahir here.

We held a curry event on Saturday the 27th of October in the No. 2 Okubo temporary housing estate in Hirota-cho, Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture. The event was held in collaboration with Ms Keiko Hirano who visited to give a voluntary talk as part of the support for disaster recovery.

Before lunch Ms Hirano gave a small talk in a community hall, and while everyone was busy listening to her we began made preparations for the curry.

This was the second time for us to hold an event at this temporary housing estate, the first one being held on the 7th of July. Mr K (not one of our staff but one of the residents of the housing estate) who was in charge of the cooking at the previous event also took part from the morning this time, and preparations went very smoothly. Since the talk was being held in the community hall, we had to do our preparation work outdoors. We had a lively time thanks to the many active children around us.

The chief priest in Fujisawa-cho who always takes an active part in our events, brought three friends and his sister and they were a great help. He took the initiative to help us wash the large cooking pot which is always a difficult job for us.

The talk ended at 12:45 and it was time to begin lunch. Since the weather was nice, those who couldn't fit inside the community hall sat down at the table provided outside and enjoyed a picnic atmosphere. Since some participants mentioned at the previous event that they were expecting a spicier experience, this time we made a curry with a more authentic spice level and everyone liked it.

We were very honored that we were able to hold this event with the help of many people, especially the Chairman of the Residents Association. I feel that everyone's smiles gave us a lot of positive energy.

Rentai Tohoku Seinan Staff, Tahir here.

On Sunday 21^st of October, we held a curry event at the Goemongahara Baseball field housing estate in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture.

The baseball field housing estate, tennis court housing estate and athletic field housing estate together make the largest temporary housing area in Kesennuma. At the request of the Kesennuma Social Service Committee, we provided support to revitalize communication between the residents. The photograph above (left) shows the scenery of Kesennuma from the summit of Mt Murone, which is 895m above sea level.

Having received tomatoes, green peppers and fresh pumpkins from the farmers of Senmaya who always regard us as one of them, we had a go at making pumpkin soup for the first time along with the usual curry. Since it was such a nice day we carried out our preparations outdoors, with the help of the Coordinator of the Temporary Housing Association. All pariticpants were very energetic and though Tahir was nearly overwhelmed, they were very efficient and the preparations were completed in no time.

In addition to the pumpkins we were given fresh milk from the dairy farmers and we used a large amount of this milk in the pumpkin soup. This gave the soup a very rich taste and it was very popular with mothers in the housing estate.

We planned how to distribute the food together with the social services committee and a representative from our Foundation. At 12:00 we began serving the pumpkin soup and curry. We set up two eating areas, both inside and outside the community hall so people were able to enjoy their food in either place.

Since the weather was fine, some residents joined us early in the day and they enjoyed themselves by conversing with each other or watching our preparations and talking to us while waiting for the meal to be ready. Some people came outside as early as 10:00 but they were willing to wait nearly two hours for the food to be prepared.

Our main aim is not simply to have residents eat curry, but to help them come out and interact with each other and enjoy themselves. We therefore felt very privileged to have been able to assist in this way. Because we wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the curry we kept it mild, however some residents told us that they expected a much spicier curry and were surprised at its mildness. We are therefore planning for our next event, to raise the spice level closer to the real thing!

We have already begun preparing for cold weather by fitting the car with snow tyres before winter arrives. We would like to continue our activities without being deterred by the cold weather.

Rentai Tohoku Seinan Seinan Staff, Tahir here.

On Sunday the 23^rd of September we held a curry event together with three volunteers from Nagasaki and Sendai at the temporary housing estate at the old site of Shinjo Primary School in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture.

As usual, residents participated in preparing the curry (children were a great help too) and we spent an enjoyable time both within and outside the community hall eating curry and listing to the helpers from Nagasaki and Sendai.

The milk that we used to make chai was fresh milk we got from the farmers in Senmayacho, where we called in on the way to the venue. Everyone enjoyed the chai very much.

About 50 people participated in this event and we were able to get to know them. We would like to continue activities to help revitalize the people of this region.

Rentai Tohoku Seinan Seinan Staff, Tahir here.

On Sunday the 26^th of August we helped hold a Kishimen Noodle Party, which was organized by teachers from the primary school attached to the Sugiyama Jogakuen University in Nagoya.

This housing estate is located on the border of Iwate and Miyagi prefectures and is in a very inconvenient location. We previously held a curry event here to help revitalize communication among residents, however, this time the teachers of the primary school attached to the Sugiyama Jogakuen University organized the Kishimen Noodle Party and we helped them. The teachers asked their students to organize fundraising in order to provide the kishimen, uirou and chai. During past fundraising events carried out in this primary school, students had just put money into a designated box and nobody knew how these donations were being used. This time, we heard that they improved their procedures and made it clear how the funds were being used and what kind of support was given.

1. The money to be donated should not simply come from parents but children themselves should donate money that they would have otherwise used for themselves (for example juice money).
2. Children should write a message to go with their donation.
3. Teachers should tell the children about the lunches that were provided as a result of their donations.

This time we were preparing kishimen, not Pakistani curry, so preparations were completed in a short time. Residents, teachers from Nagoya, and Rentai Tohoku Seinan Staff really enjoyed the kishimen while chatting together like one big family. For dessert we had the Nagoya specialty "uirou" and Tahir made his famous chai. We heard some people saying that it was a bit too sweet, however this provided a very good opportunity to talk about the cultures and customs of different areas and countries.

As a response to the messages the residents received from the primary school children, the residents also prepared their messages for the teachers to take back to their students. This was a first trial of this type for the primary school and they expressed a wish to continue similar activities in the future and we would like to continue providing support.