May 27: Last job and heading home..

We are heading home today.

It is nice day again.  We have been very lucky with weather.  No rain, no wind.  Nice weather all through the week we stayed.

We have one more job to do before heading home.  We promised with ladies in Ogatsu that we would bring foods again.  Special request from them - Bananas, Milk, Tofu, Sausages, Ham.

It took for a while for us to get our car ready.  We needed to take down two tents and to load our stuff back to the car.  Why do we still have so many stuff???   oh....the garbage... yes, our garbage.
Volunteers are to take their garbage home.  Do not leave your litter behind.  It is just like going to camping in woods.  Unfortunately and sadly..... we saw some people leave things behind....

one tent down

almost clean..

We need to keep one seat here... can we?  the green bag is our garbage.

with relief supplies loaded, the car is very very full - again...

Fortunately, we were able to find fresh vegetables and fruits in the supply warehouse again.
We got a box of banana, 20 pieces of oranges, and bunches of Japanese spinach.  We also grabbed bags of seasoned soy beans, roasted chestnuts - mainly protein source which they are lacking for last two months.    We went a local supermarket and bought milk, tofu, sausages and ham.  Again, thank you so much for your cash donation, everyone !!

by the time we were done with shopping, it was already noon.  So we stopped at the river bed on our way to Ogatsu and prepared our last camping style lunch - CURRY RICE !!

You know, I really think that two things / inventions changed the camping industry. 
  First one - that portable gas stove (burner).  
  Second one - Retort Pouch Processing. 
They are so convenient.  With this gas stove the camping is now too easy, and you feel like you are cooking at home.  And the retort pouch food is so tasty and fast to prepare (just heating in the boiling water.)  You turn on the gas just by twisting the knob, then you can cook anything.  It was very windy outside, so we needed to bring the stove in the car.  Here is the process of our lunch making.

first try - too windy

correction made for wind - first step:  cooking rice

second step - heating the retort pouch Curry gravy in the kettle

Japanese Favorate  -  Curry Rice !!

Stuffed with Curry, we were driving another hour to get to Ogatsu.
When we got to the community hall, the ladies were cleaning up after lunch.
"We brought bananas and tofu for you !!"

As they smiled to see these foods, they told us that the road with landslides were open again and they could go to town easily now.  It is a great news !  They could go shopping as normal gain !

However, they did not sound completely happy - because as we talked more, we realized most of them has no income sources anymore.  They had no income for last two months.  Their main industry in this whole community was fishery.  They used to get Scallops, Oysters, Kelp, but they lost all nets and devices which they invested in hundreds of thousands of dollars.   Their warehouses are destroyed completely - I saw this town - completely gone by Tsunami...  Men were engaging fishery, and women went to work warehouses, stores and small offices in other town, which is also gone.

One lady said to me that they could go to stores now because the road is fixed, but still they can not buy anything because we don't have income....

How long do they need to worry about their future?  How long would it take for them to get some sort of help so that they can get their own feet again?
What is the plan?  any plan?  best plan?   What can we do to help them ??