[3157] PCT volunteer teams help locals in Sendai in post-tsunami rebuilding and cleaning efforts

PCT volunteer teams help locals in Sendai in post-tsunami rebuilding and cleaning efforts

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan

Written by Lydia Ma

The PCT has sent four teams of volunteers to Japan this summer to work alongside the United Church of Christ Japan (UCCJ) at its Emmaus Rebuilding Center to assist the UCCJ in rebuilding efforts in Sendai and Ishinomaki. The fourth team comprising of 20 volunteers, arrived to Sendai on August 23, 2012. Of this team, 11 are carpenters from Taimali, Taitung, one of the areas most affected by Typhoon Morakot in 2009.

According to PCT Church and Society Committee Secretary Huang Che-yen, the fourth team outnumber other teams sent by the PCT in number and in age. It is also the team with the highest level of Japanese proficiency. During a training seminar, Huang reminded volunteers to observe and respect cultural differences once they arrive to Japan and to put the needs and feelings of their hosts first. Commenting on the cultural differences, Huang said: “Japanese people tend to be slow and meticulous whereas Taiwanese people tend to favor speed over precision.”

As soon as the fourth team arrived to Sendai, they were taken to Emmaus Rebuilding Center for a brief meeting with the staff working at the center. They were briefed on their daily schedules and on their room and board arrangements for the following 2 weeks.

Volunteers will be provided with bicycles as their means of transportation and they will need to travel 14 km every day to get to the site where they will be working – an area devastated by the tsunami. They will work there from 10:00 to 12:00 and then from 13:00 to 15:00. There will be 2 staff meetings every day, one in the morning and one at night where details about their work day will be discussed, distributed, etc.

At the end of every work day, there will also be time for discussion with other volunteers and time to meet new volunteers who are also going to be helping out at the site. The volunteers will be divided into small teams so that they can share about what they have learned or experienced throughout the day. Emmaus Center is keen to ensure that there is good interaction between volunteers, local staff, and local residents in Sendai.

Emmaus Center is in charge of distributing and coordinating clean-up efforts. Volunteers will need to do tasks such as cut grass, pick up garbage, dig out dead branches, remove debris, sort through recyclable materials, help farmers fertilize land and sow seeds. They will also lead elderly people living in prefab houses in morning stretching exercises and help out with whatever is needed at the center. Those who are professional carpenters will be working in teams to help Sendai residents fix whatever needs to be fixed in their homes, such as roofs, furniture, doors, windows, etc.

Because it is summer vacation for college students in Japan, many youths and their families are also volunteering in Sendai. Many of them are surprised to when they hear about Taiwanese volunteers coming all the way to Japan to help out. For this reason, they make a point to meet with Taiwanese volunteers at one point and express their gratitude. One college student from Nagoya said that it is not easy to be a volunteer and she has a great deal of respect for volunteers who are willing to travel so far and volunteer in a country where the language and the culture are so different from one’s own.

One volunteer from Taimali who is also a full time pastor commented that coming to Japan to serve was a great learning experience. He said that he saw remarkable stamina and discipline in Japanese people from how they have coped and responded to the devastation left by the tsunami. He hopes to relay what he has learned in Sendai to his congregation at home to create better outreach programs. “I think our people at home will understand the importance of this because Taimali was once a disaster area too,” he said.

Photo by Chen Yi-hsuan