The day started with several rolling shakes that got most folk I know out of bed. There have been others throughout the day, just light ones, but reminders that we are not in control. I'm glad I know the God who is.
I was able to help out at the Guest Home this morning as there was no power cut. Then I got the filing caught up in Serve Japan. So I have a certain feeling of accomplishment.
Our team in Aomori were planning to set up a kitchen to make and serve curry rice. They found an area where people are able to live in their homes, but aren't able to get food easily. The local shelter requests food for the number of people staying there, but not for those living nearby. Curry rice is a kind of Japanese comfort food to many. It tends to be milder and sweeter than Indian curry and is served with Japanese short grain rice.
Tomorrow is the regular Prayer Meeting at JHQ and it's my turn to lead. There are an overwhelming number of things to pray for, so I hope to help us to encourage each other and to be thankful.
Showing posts with label relief work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relief work. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday Update
It sounds like people everywhere have seen lots of images of Japan in the past few days. One thing you need to remember is that not all of Japan looks like that. In my town, Ichikawa, everything looks the same as it did a week ago. Church was much the same with the addition of a collection point for monetary donations for relief efforts and prayers during the service specifically addressing the distressing circumstances.
I have heard some amazing stories about friends and acquaintances. One man who works in Tokyo picked up his 12 year old daughter who is is in school in the city as well. Trains were not running, so the two of them walked home. I don't know how far, but it took most of 8 hours to accomplish. A mom and dad drove into Tokyo to rescue their two kids who were stranded at school. On the way back they got to the river that divides Ichikawa from Tokyo. Dad and son decided to get out and walk; they got home at about 12:30 am. Mom and daughter made it home with the car after 4:00 am.
Today I saw the local JR train line running. Most activities are continuing as usual. I noticed again at my local market that food was rather scarce in some departments. I wonder now if deliveries were just totally disrupted on Friday and stores have had to make do with what they had.
If we had only had the earthquake, the relief effort would have had mostly consisted of clean-up. With the tsunami so much more is needed. Here "in country" OMF as I mentioned yesterday is partnering with a group called CRASH for coordination of activities.
From the OMF website http://www.omf.org/omf/japan
OMF workers will be helping with relief efforts in the Sendai region to provide whatever assistance they are able to give to the people in the area. OMF will also be supporting the work of other Christian agencies in Japan that are reaching out to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
The Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund, an OMF Japan project, has been created to channel funds for this effort. Anyone wishing to contribute to this project may do so through the OMF office in their country. (Working through your local OMF office is faster, less expensive and less complicated than arranging international bank transfers to Japan). Please quote project number L60500.
In the States you can make donations to this fund by check or credit card. For more information call 1-800-422-5330.
I have heard some amazing stories about friends and acquaintances. One man who works in Tokyo picked up his 12 year old daughter who is is in school in the city as well. Trains were not running, so the two of them walked home. I don't know how far, but it took most of 8 hours to accomplish. A mom and dad drove into Tokyo to rescue their two kids who were stranded at school. On the way back they got to the river that divides Ichikawa from Tokyo. Dad and son decided to get out and walk; they got home at about 12:30 am. Mom and daughter made it home with the car after 4:00 am.
Today I saw the local JR train line running. Most activities are continuing as usual. I noticed again at my local market that food was rather scarce in some departments. I wonder now if deliveries were just totally disrupted on Friday and stores have had to make do with what they had.
If we had only had the earthquake, the relief effort would have had mostly consisted of clean-up. With the tsunami so much more is needed. Here "in country" OMF as I mentioned yesterday is partnering with a group called CRASH for coordination of activities.
From the OMF website http://www.omf.org/omf/japan
OMF workers will be helping with relief efforts in the Sendai region to provide whatever assistance they are able to give to the people in the area. OMF will also be supporting the work of other Christian agencies in Japan that are reaching out to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
The Sendai Earthquake Relief Fund, an OMF Japan project, has been created to channel funds for this effort. Anyone wishing to contribute to this project may do so through the OMF office in their country. (Working through your local OMF office is faster, less expensive and less complicated than arranging international bank transfers to Japan). Please quote project number L60500.
In the States you can make donations to this fund by check or credit card. For more information call 1-800-422-5330.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
One Day Later
The subtle rolling and gentle shakings are fewer and farther between. I walked up to the Ichikawa JR Station late this afternoon to get some exercise and to see how things seemed to be going. It's Saturday which is usually a day when families do something together. The shops are busy and so are trains.
Today there were people walking purposefully as usual. Women with several bags of grocery shopping. Moms and dads with babies. The sidewalks weren't crowded, but there were people doing the usual things. At the station building itself, which is full of all kinds of shops, people were looking at and buying food. I went to the gates for the trains and saw that they were running the Rapid Service toward Tokyo and toward Chiba, but it didn't look like there were trains running on the local line. Periodic announcements were being made over the PA system. These, as in stations around the world, are difficult to understand on a good day. I thought perhaps they were saying that the Blue Line was working as a "stop-at-every-station" train, but that can't be right, there aren't platforms at all the stations for the Blue. A large screen was running through the list of train lines one-by-one saying if it was operating or not. Glad I didn't need to go anywhere.
I went to the bank and used an ATM. There was one other woman there doing the same. I went to several shops that sell ready to eat food and they had sold most of their inventory. Some were hurrying to make more, and it seemed that some were running specials to make sure they sold everything.
This evening there are problems that everyone has heard with the power plants. Tokyo Electric is talking about "rolling blackouts" (where have I heard that term before?) so I went ahead and took a shower in case there is no power later, or tomorrow morning when I want to go to church. I need to get a flashlight out of my emergency kit. It's not too cold yet this evening, but if it's dark I suspect I'll spend some time under the covers with a book and my battery operated book light.
Like the Japanese I have adopted an attitude of making the best of a difficult situation, and staying calm as the Prime Minister has urged. No moaning and complaining - others have much more difficulty to cope with than I.
OMF Japan works with an Organization called CRASH - Christian Relief, Assistance Support and Hope - which is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world. Hopefully some of us will be able to contribute various talents and skills to the recovery through working with them. If you want to do something tangible, go to their website http://crashjapan.com/ to see what you can do. If you're looking for a place to make a monetary donation, click on the tab for donations.
Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers.
Today there were people walking purposefully as usual. Women with several bags of grocery shopping. Moms and dads with babies. The sidewalks weren't crowded, but there were people doing the usual things. At the station building itself, which is full of all kinds of shops, people were looking at and buying food. I went to the gates for the trains and saw that they were running the Rapid Service toward Tokyo and toward Chiba, but it didn't look like there were trains running on the local line. Periodic announcements were being made over the PA system. These, as in stations around the world, are difficult to understand on a good day. I thought perhaps they were saying that the Blue Line was working as a "stop-at-every-station" train, but that can't be right, there aren't platforms at all the stations for the Blue. A large screen was running through the list of train lines one-by-one saying if it was operating or not. Glad I didn't need to go anywhere.
I went to the bank and used an ATM. There was one other woman there doing the same. I went to several shops that sell ready to eat food and they had sold most of their inventory. Some were hurrying to make more, and it seemed that some were running specials to make sure they sold everything.
This evening there are problems that everyone has heard with the power plants. Tokyo Electric is talking about "rolling blackouts" (where have I heard that term before?) so I went ahead and took a shower in case there is no power later, or tomorrow morning when I want to go to church. I need to get a flashlight out of my emergency kit. It's not too cold yet this evening, but if it's dark I suspect I'll spend some time under the covers with a book and my battery operated book light.
Like the Japanese I have adopted an attitude of making the best of a difficult situation, and staying calm as the Prime Minister has urged. No moaning and complaining - others have much more difficulty to cope with than I.
OMF Japan works with an Organization called CRASH - Christian Relief, Assistance Support and Hope - which is a network supporting Christians to do relief work in Japan and around the world. Hopefully some of us will be able to contribute various talents and skills to the recovery through working with them. If you want to do something tangible, go to their website http://crashjapan.com/ to see what you can do. If you're looking for a place to make a monetary donation, click on the tab for donations.
Keep Japan in your thoughts and prayers.
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