Impressions of Iwate - Day 3

Another day. More new experiences. This time a visit to a primary school in an area badly affected by the tsunami. In the school playground (they are large in Japanese schools) the military have set up large tents which are operating as temporary bathing facilities for people who are not in their own houses or are not able to use the bath in their house. Each day there is an after-school club for children whose parents are working. We were asked to go at 3pm and the request was for a barbecue. We spent the morning getting all the stuff together and were pleased to receive a (very large!) barbecue grill from another missionary who had just finished time in the area. When we got there the teacher said 'We have lots of children today'. There were around 35 and some other kids from the area turned up too. We played some fun games, football, even an egg and spoon race! One of our team taught them Frere Jacques in French. Then it was the BBQ time - the kids loved it. At the end we had lots of goodies (including some tartan pencils from Scotland which we have had for ages) and everyone was delighted to get something. Some of these kids would have lost their houses and everything in them. We didn't talk about that though - it was time for fun and food and just building relatioships with that school. The pastor of the church was there but in the background - cooking the food and helping clear up. How many of these children are hurting inside? All of them have witnessed and are daily seeing sights round about them that are unimaginable for most of us. As we drove back we saw many destroyed houses, some left half-standing awaiting demolition. We saw the mangled railway track. A train still stood on the track having been derailed at the moment the earthquake struck. We think the people in the train got out to safety before the tsunami came crashing over the thick sea wall. Tomorrow Daniel and Matthew will go to another school with the pastor's son just to play and have fun with local kids. The rest of us are out and about again, this time delivering a special noodle dish to locals in a certain area. One other impression of today from an early-morning walk. Sometimes you go past buildings which have been wrecked. Others are damaged. Yet others just round the corner appear to be relatively unaffected. The force of the water was immense. To look on now though you wonder why the water went some places and not to others. Those who remain are surely grateful to be alive - yet perhaps too there is a sense of guilt because some of their friends and neighbours lost their lives while they survived. The task of rebuilding broken buildings is huge. The task of rebuilding broken lives is perhaps even greater. We trust that the little of bit of fun we gave the children today helped even in some very small way.