Takeko is starting to organize events for her community

In Takeko’s words:

“Before March 11th, 2011, I lived in a village called Nagatsura with my family. The Tsunami washed away everything  in the village. Fortunately, my family survived, and now I live in a transitional shelter with them. My grand and great-grand children are living in Sendai.

It will be difficult to return to Nagatsura, and I am not sure about my future. We, (former residents of Nagatsura) might move somewhere together, but we don’t know where that will be.

I couldn’t bring anything with me when I evacuated. JEN’s support of the residents helped me greatly to begin my new life here at the Oppagawa Kasen Transitional Shelter.

Today, I met with a lawyer who was brought to the transitional shelter by JEN. I thought it would be important for me to understand such legal matters. Moreover, these kinds of gatherings give
me an opportunity to get together with neighbors to talk with them.

JEN usually organizes events for us, but we have now started to think about organizing events for ourselves. I used to be in charge of the women’s association in Nagatsura, so my neighbors rely on me. We are in mourning, so we could not decorate for celebrating the New Year as usual, but we still spent the event together.”

Thank you Naomi and Junji for your generous support of JEN that allows us to provide services for people like Takeko.