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apfseditor Excerpt from Asahi Shimbun, March 31, 2011
[Photo] Baitalik prepares coconut curry at an evacuation center (Photo by Hayashi, Ofunato City)
Recently, at the evacuation center at Suezaki Elementary School in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture, Bangladeshi Hasan Baitalik (46), who has been living in Japan for 20 years, served authentic Bangladeshi curry. "I'm also a person living in Japan. Of course I have to do something," he said, explaining why he visited the center. The children happily gobbled down the large chicken pieces and coconut curry.
Baitalik, who runs an Italian restaurant, is a director of APFS, an NPO based in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, which supports foreigners. The organization has about 3,400 foreign members, and after the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake in Niigata Prefecture, the organization helped repair houses as live-in staff.
After learning that disaster victims were taking shelter in cold evacuation centers after the earthquake, he consulted with CEO Jotaro Kato (29), and they decided to serve food at Suezaki Elementary School, which was introduced to him by a prefectural employee he knew.
The two men and five others boarded a wagon loaded with 300 liters of water and 75 kilograms of rice, and arrived from Tokyo after about 12 hours. They made a total of 500 servings of curry at two evacuation centers. The unique aroma of spices and tomatoes rose from the large pot, and the victims were delighted, saying, "It's the first time I've eaten curry since the disaster." Some people ate two and a half bowls in one go.
When a child said, "All my family members were safe, but our house was washed away," Baitalik replied, "When you grow up, you can build a house for us. You can do anything as long as you're alive," and handed him a bowl of hot curry.
Toshio Niinuma (59), deputy head of the evacuation center, said, "It's been a long time since I've had such a full meal. I'm grateful." Kato said, "I want to stay here for a long time and help with activities such as sorting clothes and responding to the needs of the disaster victims." (Toshiyuki Hayashi)