0:14
They just switched of the lights in the bus which is taking us to Hanamaki. Hanamaki is the place where our camp is around 2 hours away from Rikuzen Takada, the place where we will work. From what I saw in the Internet RT was completely whipped out by the tsunami but they have already made a lot of progress with cleaning up and want to start to build new houses in summer. I am wondering how a city looks which is built completely new in short time... I hope beautiful...
When we arrive in the morning, we will directly go to RT. They said that we will be assigned to whatever the city office needs us to do, so our work could be a variety of things but I guess they will mostly need us for cleaning up what the tsunami destroyed and left behind. That is fine for me. I'm willing to do what ever helps. I felt so helpless in Germany on 3-11 that I'm nearly over-motivated. I really wish to give something back to the country which is my home for more than 4 years. Even if it is so little..
I'm thankful that JAR offers us this possibility. In contrast to most other organizations, they provide work clothes, shelters, electricity, insurance AND we don't have to pay anything.
People around me start to sleep and I should do the same. I guess I will need the energy in the morning :)
I'm a little bit nervous... but I'll give my best tomorrow!!!
16:00
When we arrived in Hanamaki, we had a little bit of time to change our clothes before we went on a 2 hour bus ride to the volunteer center. I couldn't sleep much on the way up, so I fell asleep every 5 minutes. But from what I saw it looked pretty much like normal countryside with a high percentage of rice fields, no destruction.
In the volunteer center in Rikuzen Takada we got assigned to clean up a certain area maybe 2km from the coast.
I expected worse after seeing the pictures on the Internet. But of course they were taken directly after the catastrophe and since then a lot of cleaning has already happened. But there is still so much left to do...
When we entered the area of destruction I felt really shocked for some moments. To see something in a picture is so different than in reality... A whole area gone... Nothing left, not a tree and just a few half destroyed houses, the rest was covered by undefined trash or where it had been cleaned already, simply empty.
They just switched of the lights in the bus which is taking us to Hanamaki. Hanamaki is the place where our camp is around 2 hours away from Rikuzen Takada, the place where we will work. From what I saw in the Internet RT was completely whipped out by the tsunami but they have already made a lot of progress with cleaning up and want to start to build new houses in summer. I am wondering how a city looks which is built completely new in short time... I hope beautiful...
When we arrive in the morning, we will directly go to RT. They said that we will be assigned to whatever the city office needs us to do, so our work could be a variety of things but I guess they will mostly need us for cleaning up what the tsunami destroyed and left behind. That is fine for me. I'm willing to do what ever helps. I felt so helpless in Germany on 3-11 that I'm nearly over-motivated. I really wish to give something back to the country which is my home for more than 4 years. Even if it is so little..
I'm thankful that JAR offers us this possibility. In contrast to most other organizations, they provide work clothes, shelters, electricity, insurance AND we don't have to pay anything.
People around me start to sleep and I should do the same. I guess I will need the energy in the morning :)
I'm a little bit nervous... but I'll give my best tomorrow!!!
16:00
When we arrived in Hanamaki, we had a little bit of time to change our clothes before we went on a 2 hour bus ride to the volunteer center. I couldn't sleep much on the way up, so I fell asleep every 5 minutes. But from what I saw it looked pretty much like normal countryside with a high percentage of rice fields, no destruction.
In the volunteer center in Rikuzen Takada we got assigned to clean up a certain area maybe 2km from the coast.
I expected worse after seeing the pictures on the Internet. But of course they were taken directly after the catastrophe and since then a lot of cleaning has already happened. But there is still so much left to do...
When we entered the area of destruction I felt really shocked for some moments. To see something in a picture is so different than in reality... A whole area gone... Nothing left, not a tree and just a few half destroyed houses, the rest was covered by undefined trash or where it had been cleaned already, simply empty.
It was an overwhelmingly horrible view and I was kind of relieved hearing a group of girls behind me laughing. They had been here before and it was just a normal day of work for them but I guess all of the volunteers felt similar to me on their first day. The bus became noticeably silent.
We started to work as soon as we arrived. The area we were supposed to clean up was maybe as big as the ground for a one-family-house plus garden. We had to carry the things close to the street, and separate them into burnable and non-burnable.
Some pieces were really big and it took 8 of the volunteers to move them but most were small things. It's just logical to expect any kind of thing in this mess... Wood from trees, pieces of houses etc but there were also things like shoes, clothes, documents, post cards, photos, CDs and I saw even a tooth brush. I think all of us tried to not think about the people who owned those things but of course it is nearly impossible to do so if you suddenly hold a hello kitty writing practice note book of a child in your hands or a Teddy bear.
Some of the things were in surprisingly good shape and some were so destroyed that they formed a kind of mud with the other things and it was impossible to say what it was before.
In the lunch break we were sitting on the stump of a tree we couldn't move just next to a washed out car. We collected things we found important on the car like photos or documents... Simply things which might be in any kind valuable for the people who lived in this area. Of course the water could have brought it from far away but I guess if we find things in good shape the possibility is quite high that they are from close around.
Suddenly Patrick said that the key is still in the car... That was a horrible moment because it meant that somebody was in the car when the tsunami hit it. I guess it was a woman because of the things attached to the key... All the windows were destroyed and the metal was quite twisted. The damage was really bad and suddenly I had this movie in my head that a young woman tries to flee, the tsunami behind her but the tree (we were sitting on!) would break and hit her car, making it impossible to get further... But! in my story she gets out of the car and climbs up the near by hill before the tsunami reaches the area. Together with the young girl who's note book I found.
It was over when somebody made a joke and stopped me thinking. First I thought it's disrespectful to make jokes in such a situation but it's not, it's the only way to not let those things take you away because if you think more closely about this all, you'll cry instead of working and help.
We started to work as soon as we arrived. The area we were supposed to clean up was maybe as big as the ground for a one-family-house plus garden. We had to carry the things close to the street, and separate them into burnable and non-burnable.
Some pieces were really big and it took 8 of the volunteers to move them but most were small things. It's just logical to expect any kind of thing in this mess... Wood from trees, pieces of houses etc but there were also things like shoes, clothes, documents, post cards, photos, CDs and I saw even a tooth brush. I think all of us tried to not think about the people who owned those things but of course it is nearly impossible to do so if you suddenly hold a hello kitty writing practice note book of a child in your hands or a Teddy bear.
Some of the things were in surprisingly good shape and some were so destroyed that they formed a kind of mud with the other things and it was impossible to say what it was before.
In the lunch break we were sitting on the stump of a tree we couldn't move just next to a washed out car. We collected things we found important on the car like photos or documents... Simply things which might be in any kind valuable for the people who lived in this area. Of course the water could have brought it from far away but I guess if we find things in good shape the possibility is quite high that they are from close around.
Suddenly Patrick said that the key is still in the car... That was a horrible moment because it meant that somebody was in the car when the tsunami hit it. I guess it was a woman because of the things attached to the key... All the windows were destroyed and the metal was quite twisted. The damage was really bad and suddenly I had this movie in my head that a young woman tries to flee, the tsunami behind her but the tree (we were sitting on!) would break and hit her car, making it impossible to get further... But! in my story she gets out of the car and climbs up the near by hill before the tsunami reaches the area. Together with the young girl who's note book I found.
It was over when somebody made a joke and stopped me thinking. First I thought it's disrespectful to make jokes in such a situation but it's not, it's the only way to not let those things take you away because if you think more closely about this all, you'll cry instead of working and help.
A few minutes later two children passed us. They were really cute and greeted us several times. The unbelievable thing was that they seemed to come out of nowhere and go back to nowhere. In-between all this destruction and tragedy they were walking back home after going to school. Isn’t this amazing? Aren’t humans amazing? But of course life must go on… but if I think about what those children have to get through already in this young age... We really need to help those people get back a normal life as soon as possible!!!
After the break, we had to deal with all the cables which were a total mess and it was really hard work to get them separated and with them all the things which got into the mess too. The last hour we spent in the mud. First I used a spade but after a while I was so exhausted that I would just use my hands to throw the mud into the wheel barrow. It seemed like it would never end...
At 15.00 o'clock we were done with the work. I'm not sure if our work helped somebody... We basically just moved things from one place to the next... But if it makes the work of the people easier to collect the trash later, it would be great. I so hope that the people from this area made it...
22:00
We just finished dinner. Patrick and Ruben made hamburgers. It was really delicious but a lot too much :)
Now I'm so sleepy. Work, onsen, food, coma... I think I'm done for today. Where is my sleeping bag?
After the break, we had to deal with all the cables which were a total mess and it was really hard work to get them separated and with them all the things which got into the mess too. The last hour we spent in the mud. First I used a spade but after a while I was so exhausted that I would just use my hands to throw the mud into the wheel barrow. It seemed like it would never end...
At 15.00 o'clock we were done with the work. I'm not sure if our work helped somebody... We basically just moved things from one place to the next... But if it makes the work of the people easier to collect the trash later, it would be great. I so hope that the people from this area made it...
22:00
We just finished dinner. Patrick and Ruben made hamburgers. It was really delicious but a lot too much :)
Now I'm so sleepy. Work, onsen, food, coma... I think I'm done for today. Where is my sleeping bag?
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