一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

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.