Shaken and Stirred

June 11^th

We have had small earthquakes every day.   With my California know-how, I’d guess that the first couple were 2.0’s.  This morning we had a good rattler -- more like a 3.5.    One of our Japanese volunteers was here during the big one.   She said that the quake that caused the Tsunami had a low, loud rumble to it.   Our daily aftershocks are quiet, but un-nerving.  The volunteer house goes silent and we all just wait for it to pass.   The good thing is that we are staying in a nice solid building and we are up on high ground.

Yesterday, I joined a volunteer team that went out a rocky inlet near the harbor to help start the clean up on an oil spill.   The oil is from one of the ocean tankers that got pretty beat up.   Our group of 7 joined about 30 other local volunteers at the job site.   The man leading the project gave us an orientation (in his limited English) and we headed down to the shore to shovel and pick up globs of oil and oil soaked mud into bags.    It didn’t feel like we were making much progress and it will likely take months to clean up that shoreline.   It was a hot, tiring and frustrating day.   We came back to base stinking of oil, very exhausted and disenchanted.   We soon found out that we weren’t the worse odorous offenders in the group.   One of the teams went to a seaweed factory to clear out boxes of rotted seaweed.  Peeeyeeew!  Each of the other work teams staggered back to the volunteer base muddy, dusty, dirty and tired.    The looks in their eyes expressed utter exhaustion.

Every night after we all eat together, there is a team meeting.   The new volunteers introduce themselves, all of the work teams give reports from the field, the next day's jobs are announced and then the meeting ends with a farewell from those who are leaving.    It’s the farewells that can sometimes get all of us pretty choked up.  Last night was particularly heart rendering.   Three of the Japanese volunteers got up to say their good-byes.   There are several volunteer translators for these meetings, but the Japanese seemed compelled to try English to express their thoughts.   Somehow, that makes their farewells much more poignant.   One man, Oba (about 35 years old, I think he was from Tokyo) was emotional when he spoke in broken English to say to everyone who much he appreciated the experience of working with the All Hands group.   He was angry that the Japanese government didn’t offer more opportunities for the Japanese people to get involved in helping.   When the earthquake and tsunami hit, like any caring person, he wanted an opportunity to do something.  Afterall, this is his country.   He had no luck being "allowed" to do anything - then he found out about All Hands.    He was so glad to have been made to feel so welcome by everyone.    Ayaka, a local Japanese woman (around 19 years old) was a very spirited and enthusiastic volunteer.   While clearing out ditches, she had us all laughing at her energy and good humor.   Her farewell was tearful and moving as she said how much it meant for her and her country-men to see that there were so many people in the world who cared about them.    I have only been here are few days, but I keep hearing time and time again how surprised people are that complete strangers would come to a place like Ofunato and work their asses off to help them, for no other reason than to do something good. 

It is sometimes difficult for the Japanese people to express their emotions, but last night I'm so glad that these volunteers did.  I really needed that "shot in the arm" and re-affirmation that the hard work is well worth it.  Once the locals come and join in the relief effort they see what it feels like to work alongside others from who made a the trip from another country to help.   Here all of us are equals at being tired, exhausted, dusty, dirty, smelly, muddy and caring.    All of us are equals at wanting to see a better world where people work for the common good