On Saturday July 9th, 2016, we hosted an event for children at Otomo Town, Rikuzentakata City, Iwate. Mr. Yuichi Murakami,
a resident of Otomo Town, helped us make arrangements for the event, from planning, finding both the venue and the boat, and food preparation.
Mr. Murakami has been a great supporter to our activities since the establishment of our Foundation.
Although our initial plan was to have a barbecue at the harbor, due to incessant rain which continued from early morning,
we were forced to change our venue and set up a makeshift rain hood under the eaves of a building.
There was another mishap and we discovered that some of the barbecue tools including charcoal plates were left behind when we packed.
Luckily, someone found a few pieces of galvanized sheets to use as substitutes of the missing charcoal plates.
Some women got together to prepare food indoors and the Foundation's members who were outdoor-savvy built a fire outside.
The preparation went smoothly and we waited for the arrival of the invited children.
The event was originally planned to provide children living at an institution with an opportunity to experience fishery.
Although there were some obstacles to materialize our plan, Mr. Kinno, who were sympathetic to our idea, took the trouble to
convey our thoughts to the institution and convinced the management.
At ten o'clock, 19 children and 6 staff members from the institution arrived at Otomo Harbour and the event started.
Kids were all excited seeing ocean-fresh scallops landed from Mr. Murakami's fishing boat, Tenryu Maru.
The volunteer members watching them were also full of expectation-- perhaps we could eat some barbecued scallops?
Ignoring the adults who were contemplating only about food, the children divided into two groups.
One group went for fishing and the other got on the boat.
The Foundation member who loved fishing as a hobby put baits on hooks for children.
He was probably more enjoying himself than anyone else.
As the capacity of the boat was limited for safety reasons, it was dozen or so children who enjoyed the 40-minute cruise.
During the cruise, Mr. Murakami, the captain, skilfully disassembled sea squirts, washed them with seawater and let the children taste some marine delicacy.
On land, Mr. Murakami was a gentle, fatherly figure who smiled all the time but once getting on the boat, he transformed into a cool man of the sea with a stern look.
The children who got on the boat enjoyed the cruise greatly and exchanged high-fives with Mr. Sata, the board chairman of the Foundation, as they left the boat.
The excited children, dragging exhausted Taher, walked the short distance from the harbor to the barbecue site where they discovered scallops,
oysters and meat all ready for barbecue. (The great amount of scallops they saw at the harbor all arrived for barbecue.)
The staff member who cooked pan-fried noodles was also an outdoor enthusiast and he looked far happier than his usual self clad in a business suit. Mr. Sugawara,
the former mayor of Hiraizumi Town happily barbecued scallops and oysters for everyone.
He always joined us with his wife and the couple is now a popular fixture of our events.
It was two teachers from Hanaizumi Junior High School who grilled meat. They have been helping us at several Tomodachi Curry®
events since they met Taher when he had a lecture at the school.
Taher and the teachers are now good friends and three of them drove together to and from the venue.
The barbecue site was filled with hot, delicious smell and the children could no longer stay still. They squealed for joy when they saw hair crabs brought in.
Kids loved barbecued meat and seafood, and almost forgot about the existence of Taher because he was not cooking his usual curry this time.
However, as if he was determined to win back people's attention to himself, he started to grill his wife's specialty spicy chicken.
It was the chicken Mrs. Taher marinated overnight in her authentic spicy sauce.
Half of the chicken was less spicy so that children could enjoy also. The rest was seasoned with more spices and peppers to suite adults' taste buds.
Our volunteer staff members quickly devoured the delicious meat.
When the meal was over, Mr. Murakami, who had been anxiously watching over the barbecue site to see if everyone was happy,
looked relaxed. Mr. and Mrs. Sugawara grilled oysters up till the end.
When it came to a summer barbecue, we could not miss our traditional watermelon splitting game.
Everyone tried to hit the watermelon in turn from the youngest to the oldest but it was not as easy as expected.
The high school student who tried at the end managed to split the fruit at last.
For many of us, it was the first game of watermelon splitting in a very long while.
We enjoyed it thoroughly no matter the age.
Following the game of watermelon splitting, the children who were enthralled by fishing in the morning asked if they could also get on the boat.
As the rain stopped, the second round cruise was pleasant under the cloudy sky.
Some of the kids were lucky enough to get on the boat twice.
All of them were ever so excited and yelped with delight.
They pumped their fists together at the end of the cruise with wonderful smile.
Although our means are limited, Rentai Tohoku Seinan is going to continue various activities with growing number of local supporters
to help those suffered by the earthquake in Tohoku become self-reliant once again.
