06
Oct 2011
As the local needs change with every day, the Peace Boat volunteers are also required to adapt to developments in their varied activities. This report follows Cleaning Team Assistant Director Ichijo Kenji for a day. Mr Ichijo, known as Mantle, has been in Ishinomaki since March 21 when he travelled ahead to prepare to receive the first 50 volunteers, and since then has been responsible for debris clearance and home cleaning activities.
05
Oct 2011
Since Peace Boat launched its relief activities in Ishinomaki, the food provision team has prepared a total of more than 100,000 meals. This report follows the Assistant Directors (ADs) who have long been working with this team, Morinaga Yoko (in charge of the kitchen) and Kitamura Kazumi (in charge of support towards self-sufficiency).
Assistant Directors are responsible for coordinating volunteers, in groups of around five persons each. Peace Boat appoints ADs for each kind of work, according to their experiences and skills. These staff work in the field long-term, and through being familiar with the changes in required relief activities play a vital role in ensuring that the work undertaken is safe, smooth and efficient.
05
Oct 2011
Peace Boat will be holding a special event on October 13, reporting and looking back on the activities in the 200 days since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and announcing the launch of the Peace Boat Disaster Relief Volunteer Leader Training Programme. This programme will train people in disaster relief skills to ensure that the effects of future disasters can be mitigated. Please join us to learn about our work, our future goals, and to connect with other Peace Boat supporters.
03
Oct 2011
The “Orahono Recovery Festival – Ishinomaki/Onogawa/Higashi Matsushima” will be held on Sunday October 16.
Despite recent difficulties including the severe damage caused by Typhoon 15, local youth associations, fishing and agricultural industry representatives, the chamber of commerce and tourism association have come together to hold a “recovery festival.” The cities of Ishinomaki, Onagawa and Higashi Matsushima will work together to hold a recovery festival in the Ishinomaki region for the first time since the disaster.
30
Sep 2011
Orientations, training and safety measures for volunteers have been developed greatly as the activities have proceeded over the past six months. Read here for further information about such issues.
21
Sep 2011
New 15-second videos Vol. 8 to 11 covering Peace Boat’s activities in Ishinomaki have been uploaded to Youtube by the Ganbatte 365 project introduced earlier on this website.
See below for two clips of Peace Boat efforts supporting the production of Ogatsu stone accessories and Peace Boat volunteers interacting with local shop owners.
20
Sep 2011
On September 11, 6 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami caused unprecedented damage, 10 high school students from Tochigi Prefecture came to help with Peace Boat’s debris removing volunteer activities.
One of the students said, “I am sure that I will happily remember this day one day when I eat fish that are caught in Miyagi. That’s what I am looking forward to!”
We hope that the students tell their family and friends from school about their experiences after returning home and that these experiences become something that they will benefit from in the future.
17
Sep 2011
Taylor Anderson was an assistant English teacher from the United States who lost her life in the tsunami. Taylor was teaching English at 7 schools in Ishinomaki city, a place she was known to love. Four members of her family came to Ishinomaki on September 8.
Peace Boat was contacted by Taylor’s family because they wanted to volunteer. As a result, the Anderson family participated in Peace Boat’s clean-up activities in the Shintate region.
We interviewed Taylor’s father Andy about his visit to Japan and his motivation for joining the volunteer activities.
16
Sep 2011
On September 9 approximately 30 volunteers participated in the Festival at Hayamahime Temple Festival Temple, which is located in the Oginohama area of the Oshika Peninsula. Volunteers participated in the festival because they have been assisting with debris removal and work in the fishing industry in the Ogihama area for a long time, as well as helping with cleaning activities around the temple in the lead-up to the festival.
This was a wonderful day which no doubt gave both the local residents and volunteers lots of energy and inspiration to continue on with from here.
14
Sep 2011
Peace Boat has started to recruit volunteers to assist with cleaning efforts in the aftermath of the Typhoon #12, which caused severe damage to the Kii Peninsula in Western Japan.