Nice to Have Some Help

Hirano san at Yamaguchi Temporary Housing.

The tanks and plumbing of Takata's temporary gas station.

After a few trips to Iwate by myself during the summer, I am getting some helpers lately. This time my wife came along to visit one of my first contacts, a Chinese lady whose requests for furniture got me started in the temporary housing projects. I had a number of orders, so I contacted Hirano-san, a young man who is part of an NPO that does a lot of mobile cafe/counselling work. I am glad he was able to come and lend a hand today (and tomrrow, too, thankfully).I first met him because he saw my decks while doing cafes, and wanted to learn how to make them. Now, he is good enough at it that he makes them himself. When we get together, we can really turn them out; a double and 5 singles today, despite the loss of about an hour while he tried to find me in Rikuzen Takata.
Usually I would have been fussing over the lost time, but this time I just took the opportunity to talk to the people at Japan's only (as far as I know) temporary gas station.
As their former location was near the 3 story Takata High School, their escape was harrowing (the school was completely innundated). The man I talked to said he figured he had time, so he stayed to finish up a few things before moving to higher ground.
"Hear that thumping? (a backhoe was packing dirt on a new road behind us, making an oddly metallic sound).
"Thats what it sounded like- the power poles being snapped off. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I jumped into my 4-wheel drive car and headed out. The wave actally caught me and lifted the car for a minute, but I got away. I have nightmares about it every night."
" I have 2 teenagers,. We live in temporary housing at the Sport's Dome. It's about one sixth the size of our house that was destroyed."
I asked him what he planned to do about housing long term.
"I don't know. I can't even imagine what I will do. I don't know if this job will last. I can't begin to plan. Everything is so uncertain."
And here I had been thinking this cheerful, upbeat crew were well on the way to recovery. Somehow they had managed to put together this jury-rigged, much-needed gas station on the twisting hill road which has become Takata's man artery. It seemed they were in the right place at the right time. The faciliy is temporary, but isn't it a step to a permanent one, a business with a future? Not so, apparently.
It's not over yet.

Chairs Revisited

A new home for the family.

In May through July, with a lot of help from friends, about 300 table and chair sets were produced for people in shelters. By the end of July the shelters were closed. What became of all that furniture?
While most of the sets went to people in Rikuzen Takata, the next trips I made were to Ofunato. This past week I got back to Takata for the first time since mid summer- and met several who said, "Remember me? I got one of your tables."
One family let me take a picture of their set (complete with cushion provided by a friend's church in Kanto). They say it is great for elderly guests who find it hard to sit on the floor.
Recently fellow missionaries who are working a bit father north said it would be good to have a slightly larger chair. I made 11. Hopefully they will find good homes, too.
Meanwhile, I have several more orders for decks- it's not over yet.

A Good Day's Work

Sawdust flying at the cram school shed.

Two double decks with extender benches- a good day's work.

This week's helper, Andy Carlson and I started the day with preparation of the pieces for today's decks at the cram school shed; that way we didn't have to pack the bulky cutting set-up to the site. First stop was Higashi Machi Kouen, to deliver an entryway shelf to the 88 year old woman featured in yesterday's post. Then, on to the Yamaguchi project to do another double deck. As it turned out, this family decided they also wanted benches like the next door neighbors got the day before, so we had to get some more wood and go back to the shed to cut it. We did a single deck as well, and the day was mostly gone- as was the lumber. We got another lot for tomorrow, but the stores were running out! We had to buy 12 foot boards and cut them in half. We also got 3 more orders.
Since there was no time to build anything in Rikuzen Takakta, I took Andy on a short tour, then we visited the sites there, got measurements in preparation for tomorrow, and also got 2 more orders. The ladies who ordered the decks were very chatty once they discovered what we were there for. It was the same old refrain; "I have nothing left; it was all washed away".
Driving through Takata with Andy, describing what happened..... I will never get used to the devastation. Over and over and over; loss and destruction and lingering fears just under the cheerful, "ganbaru" (hang in there) facade.
It's not over yet.

Training

The Survivor's shoes

Today started with the production of 2 special extra-wide benches. Having trained Bryan Thompson in the art yesterday, I had the satisfaction of seeing him assemble them almost single handedly. Too bad he had to leave before lunch!
The person who drove away with him left me a new helper, an MK (missionary kid) called Andy. Today I had to slow down and take time to train Andy, but by sunset he was really catching on. He should be here for 2 more days, and really speed things up.
Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who could stay longer after being trained? I think virtually every relief agency feels that way. However, it is not only the work we get done for tsunami victims that counts, but also the work God does in the hearts of those who come to help, even for a short time. The "victims" teach us, as well.
Take the lady we talked to this morning, for instance. We made a deck for her yesterday, and today I was measuring her entryway for a shelf. Part way through, she started explaining about some of the things I had to work around.
"I'm sorry about all this stuff. It came from relief supplies. Most of it was good, but there was some weird stuff, too. Look at these boots. These are motorcyclist's boots!"
I suggested she and her husband could take up motorcycling.
"Ha! Me and gramps there on a motorcycle!"
She pulled out another pair of shoes.
"These are the ones I wore when I fled the tsunami. They're wreaked from the wet, but I can't bring myself to throw them out."
"That day, we left for higher ground as soon as the earthquake was over. Some of our neighbors stayed to gather stuff they wanted to save. They're all dead. I got to the stairs going up to the temple. I had to crawl up on my hands and knees- I'm 88, after all. We have nothing left. Afterwards, I crawled around on the piles of flotasm looking to see if there was anything I coluld save. I did find the nameplate from our house later. That's all we have."
Later in the day, we were at another project building a double deck to join two units. It was dark when we finished, and the lady of the house gave us coffee and snacks. As we ate, she told us her story.
"This is a nice project. These units are built better than most. And, we have this big open space back here. I won't tell anyone about it, though. Most of them don't have so much space, so they can't have a nice big deck like this. It will be so great to be able to air our bedding finally! It's nice being here in the highest units. More space- and those ones at the bottom- well, the tsunami came right up to there. I feel better up here, let me tell you. Before the tsunami, the house we were in was right by the shore- it was practically in the water. So, as soon as it stopped shaking, we got out. There was no doubt there would be a tsunami, and no doubt we would get flooded. But, we never thought it would go that high. We lost everything. Everything. But, I have to be thankful for what we have- we have a roof over us, and this place will at least be warm this winter."
Training- I guess 3/11 is training all of us.
It's not over yet.

More of the Same

The new saw table an improvement.

Thanks to Bryan Thompson's help-deck #5 for today.

So far, the only things new on this trip to the coast are a helper (who leaves tomorrow), the location (a 13-unit project in a park) and a cut-off saw and table set-up (which is making life a lot easier).

We hope these decks make life easier for the residents. Most of them are elderly and can barely reach the clothes line with the deck in place.

The lady who is caretaker/administrator of the project does not live in temporary housing herself. On March 11, she went home from her office right after the earthquake. She and the rest of her family were at home (in a place above the high-water mark) when the tsunami hit. So, she had a home and family, but no job- the office was washed away.

She has since become a town employee, and has a rather high-stress job taking care of the highly stressed people in the project.

Everyone wishes their lives would become easier.

It's not over yet.