Hello,
my name is Kiyomi Ikenaga from the Japanese Women's Initiative, Berlin. Masayo Niwa from the Asia-Japan Women's
Resource Center gave me your address.
First of all, please let me express my deep sympathies for the victims
of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The
earthquake and the tsunami, as well as the nuclear accident in Fukushima were
covered quite thoroughly in the media here in Germany. Still, many of our
members were trying to collect as much information as possible and were glued
to their computer screens for days on end. It has now been over two months. It
breaks our hearts to hear that many affected people still live in bad
conditions regarding food supply, the hygienic situation etc.
The
reason I am writing is that I would like to give you the donations that were
collected in Berlin. I will have to go into a little detail to explain the
background of the donations.
In
Germany, there is a group called "Korean Women's Group" to which we
have been entertaining a close relationship for more than 20 years. On April 16th, this group and our group
held a joined event, a study session on the topic of "The Life of Women in
Japan and Korea during the Occupation". (This seminar had been planned for
more than a year.)
During
the seminar, we spent some time talking about the natural disaster, tsunami and
nuclear accident in Japan. As there was a plan to travel to Korea and Japan
this fall, we exchanged information about how both countries are currently
affected by the nuclear crisis and discussed whether it would be possible to
carry out the travel plans safely.
At the
end of the seminar, I was given an envelope with the words "Please give
this to women who were affected by the disaster." When I opened the
envelope, it contained money. The previous day, on 15 April, the "Korean
Women's Group" had held a different seminar which members from all over
Germany attended. I was told that there, the idea to collect donations had come
up and the people who were present had spontaneously collected the sum I was
given now.
One of
the topics on that day had been how families can share the history they experienced.
I had just heard terrible accounts of what the parents of these women went
through under the Japanese occupation, and was thus very moved to receive this
donation immediately after that. I promised that I would make sure that their
kindness would be given to people/an organisation that would make good use of
it.
When I
thought about whom to give the donation, I remembered reading several reports
about your activities that Masayo Niwa posted on the mailing-list of WAM
(Women's active museum on war and peace). I discussed the idea with other
members of the Japanese Women's Initiative and we decided to give the donation
to you.
Inspired
by the Korean Women, the members of our group, who had individually contributed
to other collections so far, decided to collect donations once more amongst
themselves and the people around them.
Both the
Korean Women and we would be happy if these donations would reach the affected
people as directly as possible and help to make a difference in improving their
situation.
In the
middle of June, a member of our initiative is going to Japan for some time. We
plan to make a bank transfer at that time. Please let me know your account
details.
For the
people who lost family members and friends in the matter of seconds, who lost
their economic and social base, it will not very hard to make a fresh start and
overcome their trauma. Even though it is not much, we hope that what we
collected can help some people a little bit to get going.
Japanese Women's
Initiative, Berlin
Kiyomi Ikenaga
