Image: Kadonowaki Elementary School, one of the many schools destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami (Credit: ChiefHira via Wikimedia Commons)
On 11 March 2011, the eastern region of Japan was hit by a devastating
earthquake, the fifth most powerful in the world since records began, which
also triggered a tsunami. Over 15,000 people died and many thousands more
were injured or lost their homes and livelihood. In addition, the tsunami triggered
accidents at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
This week’s SoroptiVoice blog continues our series looking at Soroptimist Projects of Excellence featured in the Global Impact Report 2012-13.
Mitsuko Morita
of SI Maebashi (Japan) writes about providing a scholarship to one girl whose family suffered in the earthquake.
Since the earthquake occurred in Tohoku, SI
Maebashi had been discussing how we could support the victims. We heard from Gunma Seta
Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry High School, where we had set up an S
club, that they had accepted a girl transferred from Fukushima. Her hometown was damaged not only by the
earthquake and tsunami, but also nuclear radiation. Her personal information was of course
confidential but it is the complete trust between the school and our club that
meant we got to know her and could achieve this project. The main reason why we choose
this project was that we were able to meet face-to-face with the girl
and see how our support was being used.
We had a chance to meet the girl and her
family to get to know about their circumstances while we were planning our support. Her father remained in Fukushima for his
work. Her mother, sister, and brother
moved to Maebashi with the girl, but they could not help living separately. We decided 20,000 yen contribution par month
continuously till her graduation from high school. As our club was coming to the 35th
anniversary at that time, we named this project “SI Maebashi Kizuna 35”. Kizuna means"ties of friendship".
Our President presented the first contribution
to her at the principal’s office on September 3rd 2011. Her father attended it, too. He told us the unspeakable nightmare they
went through on the day of the earthquake. The girl
and her father also told us about their fears of nuclear radiation and their
hard life as refugees. The story
shocked us and we recognized our support was seriously needed. She had to leave her hometown without her
father, and the family has to live apart.
Even in such a difficult situation, she studied hard and tried to look
forward to a bright future. We were very
much moved by her courage.
After we submitted Program Focus Report, we
still set a collection box for contribution every month at our regular meeting
until the project ended at her graduation, which we think was very good way for
us to confirm the continuation of the project and its meaning. Actually, it always reminded us of the girl,
and we often talked about her. The
meaning of disaster support also came up for discussion time to time. The collection box was completed in March
2013. She graduated and has determined
to go onto a technical college. A thank-you letter sent from her was introduced
at our regular meeting; we all applauded.
Support for the disaster area should go on and
continue to meet the needs there. Japan Higashi Region
adopted SI Maebashi’s newly suggested project as one of the reconstruction
support projects in 2013. We felt deeply for the suffering of survivors and were able to
carry out a support plan. We truly shared
those virtues that we, Soroptimists always treasure.
Read about SI Maebashi Kizuna 35 on the Global Impact Report website.
The SI Global Impact Report 2012-13 highlights 39 Soroptimist Projects of Excellence from around the world to educate and inspire.
The following video was made by Japanese Soroptimists to thank Soroptimists around the world for their support. Watch on Youtube.
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