Having the children close at heart

The other day, I received a small package.

Inside was a letter.

"This is just a small contribution, but these are towels collected by the six grade class (9 students) and their teacher from Kanaizumi elementary school on Sado Island, Niigata prefecture. Some of the towels are a bit older, but none have ever been used. We would be happy if somebody uses them."

At Jonet, I immediately put these towels into the Jonet bags (the bags full of presents that we hand out to people). We brought these to the people living at the evacuation center set up in the gymnasium of Hashikami junior high school in Kesennuma.

When I handed the bags out, I told people that these were relief supplies collected by elementary school students.

"I am from Oshima.

With more than half of my life already behind me,  (I made such a hard experience) and now I have no dream and no hope left.

But I am praying for you, for the children.

Thank you for your present.

Today, I had a good time."

This letter to the Kanaizumi elementary school students was written by a 82-year-old lady.

Until the disaster, she had worked very hard drying seaweed.

She seemed like a brave person to me.

She has led a harmonious life without quarreling with others. 

At the Jonet salon today, she participated in making little dolls out of work gloves.

The doll she made today is the "dried seaweed style" in one of the pictures uploaded in today's other blog post.

She explained to me "If your hair is lose, you cannot get your work done. Only if you tie your hair together like this, you can dry seaweed. That is why this is called 'dried seaweed style'."

When the earthquake hit, she was at home with her husband. They went up to the second floor of the house.

The earth was still shaking when the black tsunami wave hit.

The whole house was lifted up by the tsunami. Her body was lifted up by the wave as well.

Many things came tumbling down from the ceiling.

Her husband took one of the parts from the ceiling and told her "Hold on to this! Hold on tight and don't let go!"

The window glass broke and both herself and her husband were washed out of the house.

Instantly, she could not hear her husband's voice anymore.

She had her eyes open at all times and saw how she was being washed away.

In the middle of this, she heard some of her neighbours crying for help.

Both men and women were shouting, "Help! Help!"

She was washed to a place 2km away from her home and rescued there from the waves. She was told her ribs were broken.

She had not noticed that she broke her bones while she was washed away.

But when somebody touched her, her bones stuck out at odd angles in two places.

The body of her husband was found soon. It was found entangled in a rope.

She said that she was thankful for the small mercies.

Her husband had been sick and was lying in bed. A short time before the earthquake, it had gotten cold, so she had put some warm clothes on him.

In the breast pocket of these clothes was the patient's registration card from a hospital visit on the day before and some change.

With that, it was possible to identify him and she could claim the body. That is what she is thankful for.

She is still suffering a lot from all this. As she was telling me these things, she was wiping away tears.

She said that she can still hear the cries for help from her neighbours.

"Why wasn’t there anything one could do?"

That is why she has no dream and hope left.

When she wrote the letter to the elementary students, she said: "I used to have a quite beautiful handwriting. Now I can only write very poorly."

I will never forget her eyes when she said that. There was something very strong in them.

And she told me over and over again to make sure to tell the children one thing.

That she is praying for the happiness of the children and that she is very thankful for their kindness.

mom.jonet