Today’s report is about our final trip to Fukushima in 2019.

This time we were joined by a volunteer, Ms. Nanami. A total of 6 staff members and 1 volunteer were involved in this month’s support activities.

 

On our first day, we visited the Omachi Community Center in Minamisōma City.

We began by playing simple recreational games with the community members who were waiting for their thermotherapy treatment.

 

　　

＜Picture shiritori, a variation on the popular Japanese word game. Everyone had a good time, regardless of their drawing skills.＞

 

＜The whole group worked together to solve this “brain-training” puzzle!＞

 

＜The recreational activities took place next to the thermotherapy (Thermotherapy on the left, recreational activities on the right)＞

 

＜Thermotherapy treatment at Omachi Community Center＞

 

We would like to thank everyone who came to the Omachi Community Center.

 

On our second day, we visited the non-profit organization Hanamiyama wo Mamoru Kai (Committee to Protect Hanamiyama) in Fukushima City. We split up into two teams to perform thermotherapy and help clean up the Hanamiyama mountainside.

Ms. Nanami and two staff members helped to remove fallen trees, dig stairs in the mountain trail, and reinforce the dam.

Other regions still need more work to recover. We would like to keep helping with restoration and recovery efforts.

 

We also visited the children at the children’s centers Rainbow House and Minna no Ie and gifted them with the cards that were sent from Nepal and Ukraine as part of our Christmas card exchange program.

We were overjoyed to see the children looking through the cards and deciding which ones to take home.

　　

＜The children with their new Christmas cards＞

 

It will soon be 2020.

We would like to thank everyone from Fukushima for all of their help and support. We wish you all good health.

December 10th-11th, 2019
Thermotherapy participants
Day 1 (20 participants): 4 at Ōmika Lifelong Learning Center, 16 at Omachi Community Center
Day 2 (26 participants): 11 at Hanamiyama wo Mamoru Kai, 10 at Minna no Ie, 5 at Rainbow House

 

Our next visit to Fukushima will take place on January 28th and 29th.