12 July Jonet in Onagawa

Drawing on uchiwa-fans

A lot of effort is put into completing each fan.

At 7:30 in the morning, we picked up the Jonet and Jonet Salon tools at the office and left for Minamisanriku, Onagawa and Ishinomaki. We went by two cars and ended up getting stuck in traffic. This time, two teachers joined us from Tokyo and Kyoto, who are active for women's issues in various fields.     

In Minamisanriku, we went to Omoriya Shoten, a shop that is open and functioning among all the rubble, giving hope to many people. There, we delivered a mobile unit for generating solar energy donated by Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. Omoriya Shoten is also a place where many of the people who are involved in cleaning up the debris go to take a break. So far, there had not been electricity, so they were very glad to receive the solar energy unit.

Then, we left Minamisanriku and drove about 90min to Onagawa. Since we did not want to make the people in Onagawa wait, we had a quick lunch of onigiri in the parking lot of a convenience store.

At the evacuation centre of Onagawa gymnasium, we held a Jonet fan- making workshop. The people who came, had apparently been looking forward to it eagerly and came well prepared. Some brought poems, quotes or pictures that they wanted to draw on their fans, and every one got very creative. Some people said "I am so bad at this" but still looked like they were having fun and produced very individual results. It also was a rare opportunity to hear a Kyoto accent - one of the teachers taught everyone how to say "ookini (thank you)" and "oideyasu (welcome)".

Near the end of the workshop, we had some tea and sweets, and everybody presented their own finished fan with a short speech. Somebody who had drawn an owl (fukuro) explained that it meant to express the wish that life from now on would bring lots of luck (fuku) and happiness to everyone. Somebody else drew a pumpkin, which was supposed to symbolize living a centred life with a strong core. Somebody wrote the characters for suzukaze, cool air, because they are always hot and want the fan to help cool things down. And an elementary school boy drew pikachu, a Pokemon character.     

Finally, a group picture was taken with everyone showing off her new fan. We handed out many of the Jonet Sets that we had brought with us and were happy when we were told "It is so great to get cosmetic products, thank you!"

By the time we left Onagawa it was already 4 pm. On the way back, Y., a Jonet staff member who lives in Ishinomaki was in the same car as me and showed us the affected areas of Ishinomaki. I had no idea that the Kadonowaki district had been affected this badly and I was left speechless. The fact that Y. was able to survive that tsunami and got well enough to join our activities is really something I am very happy about. 

I look forward to working together with the rest of the Jonet team! 

   

Chikako