In Shiogama, a tsunami victim receives an eye exam at an OBI clinic.

Report from the field: OBI teams share their firsthand, eye-witness accounts of the relief efforts in Japan

VILLAGE OF OHIRA-MURA, Japan – About an hour ago it got dark, and just as I settled in to write this, the house started to shake. The bed rocked sideways back and forth for about ten seconds as unseen forces deep in the earth shuddered. It was an unsettling experience, and even though my mind told me it was just another aftershock, there was a stab of fear suggesting that it might be another big quake, and that I should be running for the door. Such is life in Japan.

Last night we drove up from Tokyo. As we drove, David took readings with the new Geiger counter I brought from home. Inside the van it registered around 50; a reading David said was perfectly OK.

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Tsunami victims in Shiogama pick out frames for their new glasses.

After driving for a couple hours we stopped at a rest stop northwest of Fukushima for fuel. We were at least 100 miles away from the defunct nuclear reactors, but when David got out of the van the machine started chattering like an electronic machine gun. The reading shot up to 300, and with a worried look David said, “This is not good.” The rest stop was normal in every way, with bright lights and people streaming in and out of the store with cold drinks and snacks in hand. The sky was clear, and the air ice-cold, but the radiation was there; odorless and invisible.

As I write this I’m in bed, because it’s too cold to sit at the desk in my room. The only heat in the house is a wood stove in the other room. Lack of fuel takes on a whole new meaning when you are living it rather than reading about it. I hear the team talking in the next room about our incredible day at the eye clinic in Shiogama.

The Operation Blessing eye clinic served 100 people, providing prescription glasses to 79 and reading glasses to another 21 tsunami victims.

We served 100 patients today. 79 picked out new frames and were given a full eye exam and vision test. Next week they will receive their new glasses, complete with prescription lenses. The other 21 patients only needed reading glasses, and went home with a new pair. Over and over we heard patients and local media marveling that American strangers were thoughtful enough to provide tsunami survivors with new glasses.

After we left the eye clinic, our box truck followed us to the country. There, we visited the rice farm where we have been buying rice 3,300 pounds at a time.

The rice farmer, with his son and daughter, helped load the 67-pound sacks into the truck, then insisted we stay for dinner. The farmer said his wife had planned on us joining them. We were cold and hungry, and thanked him for the invitation.

Operation Blessing relief teams purchased another 3,300 pounds of rice from a local farmer for distribution to tsunami victims.

We took off our shoes and entered the 300-year-old farmhouse built by the farmer’s ancestors, and he told us how the house has stood through many earthquakes. We sat on the carpeted floor along a large wooden table that had a quilt that hung down to the floor on all sides. The farmer explained that there was a heater underneath, and that the quilt kept the warmth in so we had a cozy place to put our legs. It was very cozy, and I felt honored to be in such a place with such kind people. Dinner was rice, beef gravy and mushrooms with several veggie side dishes. It was scrumptious. The rice was shiny and bursting with flavor; the best I’ve ever had.

We had a great chat, and the farmer, like every farmer I have ever known, told us what he thought his government should be doing. His young daughter had a list of questions about OBI, which David and I answered. It was a wonderful experience.

Japan is a scary place to be at this troubled time, but the smoke will clear eventually, and we will have new friends who will never forget the ways that OBI helped them in their darkest hour.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

 

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