We are going back home tomorrow, so this is the last day for our physical labor.
My body is getting used to this daily rhythm, get up early, work hard, and go to bed early. Oh, wow !! I am feeling great ! I feel like I could continue staying here another week or maybe a month !! I am not feeling tired, and I am really enjoying being here and working.
Well... it is only three days I have worked so far, and I know it is too early to say I could continue longer or not. However, I know now i will be coming back again. I was not really thinking about coming back when I came here a week ago; it was a possibility at that time, but now it is definitely a plan for me. I have noticed as I worked together that many of volunteers are repeaters. I think many feel that the clean -up needs to be done as quickly as possible, and that they know how good they feel physically and mentally working here. In a way, this could be addictive.
Another day starts - today's assignment is to remove mud and sludge from the front yard of a house.
The area is close to the ocean and a huge paper manufacturer, so most of houses are destroyed completely and the papers are everywhere, the road, on the house and bushes, in the mud...everywhere. We needed to dig out the almost dried mud and sludge from the yard and the street gutter. There are 8 men and 2 women in this team. Men focused on shoveling out sludge from the gutter, and we, girls, focused on digging out the papers, mud, broken ceramics from the yard.
At the lunch break, one guys made a comment that he felt that all of volunteers working here Ishinomaki were either licensed constructors or semi-professionals in the construction industry because people seem to know what they were doing. He had volunteer work in the different city, but the work was not as physical as it were here.
He might be right, I thought.... I met several people who have construction business or they used to. Or as I said before, many volunteers are repeaters, so they have enough "dirty work" experience and they look like a semi-professional in construction business.
I met many people here. And I am happily surprised there are so many different type of people gathering here. I want to tell you about people I met. Some people are friendly, the other are kinda quiet. They are all fun and admirable people.
Firemen from different cities all over Japan
College student who took a leave of absent for one or two semesters
Yakitori (chicken on a stick) Bar owner and a professional constructor from Hyogo who had experienced flood two years ago in their hometown and felt saved by volunteers at that time － they want to return a favor.
A retired man in 60's who came by bicycle (!!) from Yokohama to Ishinomaki (260 miles) taking 10 days
Translator who stayed in a tent for 5 days and moved to a hotel in Sendai for other 2 days so that she can continue working. (She is a repeater, and when I met her she was in her three weeks stay in Ishinomaki.)
A retired grandpa who stays and works in Ishinomaki in weekdays, and goes back home in Akita 2 days in weekend.
A man in 50s who goes to a school to start new career in social services - he makes one-day trip when his school is off.
He called himself "clown volunteer" - I heard he dresses up like a clown and goes to schools everyday to make children happy.
It is so fun to meet these people - everybody has a story and a reason to be here.
When you talk to them, you feel like you know them for a long time. They are just like your old friend - you just met them one day, but you do feel very close to them all.
I will miss them as we leave here tomorrow, but I am sure I will meet them again here in Ishinomaki when I come back.
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