Out of the Muck

Imagine for a moment that your home has just been submerged in water… salt water that has carried with it all kinds of biological and chemical hazards, like dead animals and petroleum products. Everything in your home is now ruined: your furniture, appliances, electronics, entertainment, keepsakes, tools, cars, toys, walls, floors, food, supplies, computers, sporting goods, landscaping… everything is ruined. Your home is also uninhabitable because of the hazardous materials trapped in every nook and cranny of your house and property. What would you do?

Damaged home near Sendai

Call your insurance company and/or government: Unfortunately their local offices were flooded and the main offices are completely inundated with calls from tens of thousands in similar situations.

Call your best friends or close family: Tragically, they are dead, swept away by the surging water.

Call your church or small group: Many have left the area. Some are dead or missing. And those you can find are dealing with their own massive problems.

You wander your neighborhood only to find that the homes around yours are largely gone, with nobody in sight. The smell of death fills the air. The few neighbors you can find are in shock, paralyzed by the overwhelming destruction.

You quickly realize you have to deal with this on your own. But how? There is a toxic sludge that fills your home and yard. Nothing you own works, there is no electricity or gas service, and your tap water is contaminated. The things you need for your job are worthless. Your place of business fared no better and will be out of commission for some time, leaving you without an income.

Bicycle in a rice field

For the next few days, even weeks, you do your best to find a place to live for your family. News of dead and missing loved ones reaches you daily, even hourly. You scramble for food and safe drinking water, braving the debris-filled streets. Exhaustion, and a paralyzing depression set in. The catastrophe is winning.

As if out of nowhere, a group of volunteers arrive at your house, asking what they can do to help. You have no answer, as you have given up hope. They find something on their own and get to work. You assure them their efforts are in vain, but they continue chipping away at a small project amidst the vast ruin of your home while you sit and wonder why.

C.R.A.S.H. volunteers remove muck from under floors of farm house.

They return the next day and the next. As each day dawns, they return, making steady progress against the tide of your decaying home. And with each day, you find yourself more responsive and more involved in their efforts. Eventually, you are so energized that the volunteers are motivated by your attitude and energy. You find yourself smiling and joking with the volunteers, most of whom do not even speak your language. It will be months before your home is functional, and years before your neighborhood remotely resembles the vibrant community it was before the disaster hit. But these volunteers promise to help until you are on your feet.

Farmer cheerfully receiving rice seed now that volunteers have fixed so much

At night, when things are quiet, tears of gratitude fill your eyes as you wonder about those who have brought kindness and aid when you had lost hope. What motivates them? How can you thank them?

The house our team worked on is owned by a farmer – the Captain of the local volunteer fire department. He lives there with his wife, children, and his mother. The family’s home for 300 years survived the tsunami, but suffered great trauma and damage. They are a somewhat rare breed in the affected area. Many died. Many more had their home damaged beyond repair. And many have simply left the area. Those left to repair their homes are on their own.

With no help from those we all tend to count on, they were left with the daunting task of repairing their home and rebuilding their lives. This is where volunteer organizations like C.R.A.S.H (http://www.crashjapan.com/) and Love Neighbors (http://loveneighbors.jp/en/) come in. Working with local churches, they find people like the farmer and his family, who are caught in the gap with no outside support, to provide physical assistance, friendship, and emotional support.

Given the grand scale of this disaster, a few recovered homes do not seem to make much of a difference. But it makes a huge difference to the farmer and the others helped by volunteers from around the world; the kind of difference that turns despondency into a revitalized, can-do attitude, and provides a fresh start despite the surrounding ruins.

Intricately painted vase in an Onagawa building gutted by the wave

So what can you do? It’s simple. Volunteer and/or give. Organizations like C.R.A.S.H. and Love Neighbor rely solely on donations and volunteers to make a difference in a world turned upside down.

Four-story building on its side in Onagawa

To see a video slide show, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziiJtsEYLL0

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