Not only Japanese but foreign residents were also shocked by this earthquake. We also had some inquiries to our office too that “migrants who have lived in Japan for long years would also like to do something”.
As our first activity to support the disaster area, we headed to a disaster site (Iwate Prefecture) on March 27th, 2011 and distributed Bangladeshi curry. Altogether five people went to the site, three from our organization (Mr. Kato, Mr. Shajahan/Hassan and Ms. Katsuta) and two to support us with record taking.
(Impressions by participants of our organization, Mr. Kato, Mr. Shajahan/Hassan and Ms. Katsuta are uploaded to the APFS Blog. Please take a look there too.)
Provision of 500 Meals of Bangladeshi Curry
(developments of the day)
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March 27th (Sun) 2011
9:00 Arrival to Matsusaki Junior High School, Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture
9:00-12:00 Preparation of 300 meals of chicken coconut curry
12:00-14:00 Distribution of 300 meals of chicken coconut curry
Socializing with disaster victims and the local headquarters for response
14:30 Arrival to Matsusaki Elementary School, Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture
14:30-17:30 Preparation of 200 meals of chicken coconut & vegetable curry
17:30-20:00 Distribution of 200 meals of chicken coconut & vegetable curry
Socializing with disaster victims and local officials
20:00 Local departure
Organized by: A. P. F. S. Non-Profit Organization
(ASIAN PEOPLE’S FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY)
Supported by: Padma
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Elderly people and children from the disaster expressed their wish through television that they “want to eat something warm” and that they “want to eat meat”. The above described activity was realized by the strong desire of one of our directors, Mr. Shajahan(Hassan) that he wanted to respond to these wishes.
We received many warm comments from disaster victims such as “this was the first time I could eat warm since the earthquake”, “it was so delicious that I had two and a half bowls”, “this was my first curry rice for a long time, I received power from it”, “really thank you” and “this community will recover by all means, come and have fun then too”.
“Mutual understanding and mutual support between Japanese and migrants”; that is the ideology behind our organization’s activities. During this event, Mr. Shajahan(Hassan) said that “regardless of country of origin, we have to help each other all over Japan”. Exactly, this activity was an materialization of our ideas.
On this occasion, we received a great amount of support from Padma (an Italian and Bangladeshi restaurant) and Ms. Tomoe Mega, an employee of Iwate Prefecture. We are truly grateful.
Based on this experience, A. P. F. S. will continue its support the disaster area.
【Add 2011/3/31】
Please Donate to Our Second Activity of Food Distribution!
See the detail of Donation →click here←.
