Letter from Ishinomaki: “…in the past few days the flowers have come to full bloom…”

July 13, 2011

The following was received in a letter from a family in Chuo-cho whose house was cleared of mud by volunteers:

“Nice to meet you, hello. My family name is Henmi, and I live in the central area of Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, where Peace Boat volunteers are mainly working after the recent disaster.

Of course we live in an area which received much damage by the tsunami, however thanks to the volunteers coming several times to help to clean, we are now able to live in our own house.

The first time that the volunteers came, the flower bed in our garden was totally covered in mud, however by their last visit the flowers were starting to come through. My mother was so happy, and told the volunteers that ‘once the flowers are blooming, I will take a photograph and send to you all. Thank you so much.’

I myself was not sure if flowers would really grow in a place which had been covered with so much salt water, however in the past few days the flowers have come to full bloom, so my mother told me ‘send the photos!’, which is why I am contacting you all of a sudden now.

I am attaching these photos together with our deep feelings of thanks. Even now we see many people from Peace Boat throughout the town, and there are many people wearing the blue emergency relief outfits helping with so much – thank you very much! The reason that Ishinomaki is now able to be making moves towards recovery is thanks to the great energy that was given to us by the volunteers helping with the clean up. We just cannot express enough of our thanks. We apologise for mailing you just to send one single photo like this. Thank you so much.”