ASEAN volunteers want to do more for Japan

A delegation of 70 young people from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), recently took part in volunteer work in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, which was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

The volunteer programme was organized by embassies of the association’s member countries in Japan in co-ordination with the Japan Foundation.

At first sight

Posing for photographs

The ASEAN volunteer delegation consisted of two groups: students working in Japan and others coming to Tokyo to join hands with them.

Reaching Japan for the first time, Elliane Arriany from Malaysia said she found it quite different from what was reported in the newspapers and she thought that Japan was very calm.

After six hours of travelling, Honda, a staff member of the Japan Foundation, announced that the delegation would arrive in Natori city in Miyagi province, one of the places that suffered the most from earthquake and tsunami, as of May 31, 907 people were dead and 124 still missing.

Reza Khadafi from Indonesia who held a handful of sand from the foundation of a flooded house, said, “I know this sand is from the sea”.

Volunteers want to do more for Japan

After their stay in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi prefecture, volunteers went to Ishinomaki, which suffered the heaviest losses with 3,025 deaths and 2,770 missing.

Nearly three months after the disaster, the city still bears the sears of earthquake and tsunami. House walls show a one meter-high water line, and the streets are covered with thick dust.

ASEAN volunteers joined in cleaning up a convalescent centre for labourers called “Meiyu”, 3km from the coast.

They were divided into three groups to do the job.

Meanwhile, in another area, a volunteer group was involved in cooking and giving arts performances to entertain some of the local people.

There was a long queue in the food area serving Thai dishes and Vietnamese coffee. Katsuyuki Kimura, A Japanese man, said he was tasting his third cup of coffee and was surprised to learn that Vietnamese coffee is so delicious; he said he wished to visit Vietnam sometime soon.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh, like other Vietnamese volunteers, also wished they could do more for Japan.

Love for Japan

The delegation returned to Sendai on the evening of June 5 for a farewell party.

Speaking at the event, ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan emphasized that the volunteers’ journey would further strengthen solidarity between the association and Japan.

The journey, though short as it was, left everyone, memories of Japan, said Su Zar Zar from Myanmar.

On the way back to Tokyo, the delegation visited Matsushima bay, which is famous for 260 islands.

The Japanese in general believe they will overcome all their challenges just as the solid pine trees in Matsushima.