On the day that I left Ishinomaki for my first trip, we took a detour with Andrew, the man who runs the Samaritan's Purse base, to an evacuation center in a city called Minami Sanriku so that we could bring them fresh vegetables and clothes.
Minami Sanriku is one of the cities that, after the earthquake and tsunami, has been essentially wiped off the map. Seeing this utter destruction was very hard and pictures alone can't convey the seriousness of it. It looked like a war had happened there.
I went back to Minami Sanriku on my second trip, which I returned from last week. By now, a number of people have moved out of the evacuation center (really just the local middle school's gymnasium) and into temporary housing facilities. We delivered fresh produce and some meat to the roughly 50 families living there (again, this was Andrew's idea). It wasn't much, but I think that they really appreciated it. Afterwards, we went to the same evacuation center and sang some hymns (in Japanese) to the people staying there. With virtually no Christian population there, not one of them had a clue what we were singing about, but I think that it was a comfort for them. At the very least, it was something to break up the boredom of the day.
I'm writing about Minami Sanriku partially to convey the seriousness of the situation here in Japan and partially to help get over it myself. Going there was upsetting for me, and I think that posting these pictures and telling people about it can help me. Thank you for reading! My ability to access the internet is a bit shaky right now, so this may be my last post until I return to the US.
The evacuation center
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| This fishing boat is in a ditch half way up the mountainside |
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