June 2: Providing meals at the Kofukuji shelter

Tonight, we provided meals at the Kofukuji shelter in Kesennuma. About twenty people still live in this shelter. Many of them have applied for makeshift homes, but none of them have yet been awarded one. People who can enter makeshift homes provided by the government are selected by lottery. The number of makeshift homes built in a hurry after the earthquake is still way below the number needed. People who don't win the lottery and who haven't found a place at the home of relatives or elsewhere, keep living in crowded shelters. 

SWTJ at work in the shelter

Many of the people who live in the small-scale shelters  (groups of between 10 and 100 evacuees living in schools, temples, or gyms) visited by the SWTJ Kyoto Caravan are exhausted after having lived in  these crowded places for nearly three months.  They do take turns cooking,  but making meals for so many people every day is tiring. Many of the evacuees cannot serve in the kitchen since they commute to work from the shelters.
As a result, many shelters serve cold meals out of donated boxes which contain food such as canned fish or rice balls. A warm balanced meal by volunteers once in a while is not only a welcome treat for all, but also a much needed break for those who have cooking duty in the shelters.

The shelter invited people in the neighborhood who still also do not have access to nutritious food to come and share the meals we prepared. In this shelter, we gave out meals for about fifty people.

The cotton candy was as popular as always! Kids love to try to make their own. A kindergarten teacher we met hoped that we would come back in summer for the summer festival.

Text and photos: Kanazawa Daisuke
(translated and edited for the English version by B.Y.)