Part Seven of my account of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 8/5 – New gloves! My first pair of rubber gloves had barely held up yesterday, having been ripped apart by the sharp scallop shells over […]
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Re-building Tohoku Part 6: Tying the Knot
Part Six of my account of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 8/4 – Today I started off in the oyster assembly line, working to wedge those shells we found yesterday between the two intertwined ropes. It […]
Re-building Tohoku Part 5: The Search
Part Five of my account of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 8/3 – A dreary and rainy day. While the others continued to work on the oyster ropes at our usual spot, a few of us […]
Re-building Tohoku Part 4: My Oyster Education
Part Four of my account of working as a Peace Boat Volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the events of March 11th 2011, as part of earthquake/tsunami clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 8/2 – Well now that the festival was over, it was back to Kobuchi-hama to assist with oyster cultivation. Experiencing the festival […]
Re-building Tohoku Part 3: The Fight Back
Part Three of my account of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 8/1 – Early-morning task for today: cleaning the portable volunteer toilets: scrubbing, disinfecting, re-stocking toilet paper and refilling the water tanks. While not the most […]
Re-building Tohoku Part 2: 10,000 Lanterns
Part Two of my account of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ 7/31 – 4am: awoke to a strong aftershock. Movement and whispers in tents. Ready to go. Shaking halts. 6.4 in Fukushima. No tsunami alert. We […]
Re-building Tohoku Part 1: Rising Tide
Part One of my accounts of working as a volunteer in Ishinomaki, a town hard-hit by the earthquake/tsunami of March 11th 2011, as part of clean-up and recovery efforts. ~ Mountains of memories. Walking the road ahead, a glance to the side: a silent monument, a ship. A laughing child. Monks chanting. A hill-top view […]