9 Asian students from Vietnam, Myanmar, South Korea, China and Sri Lanka joined the 10th Dispatch of Volunteers to Tohoku from September 23th to 26th. They did work like removing sludge from homes at Rikuzentakata City and Otsuchi Town in Iwate prefecture.

We are posting more pictures on our facebook page.

◆from VIETNAM, Tran Phuong Dung◆ Share
Q:How did you feel after participating in volunteer activities?
I am happy to be a member of ACC 21 volunteer group in Tono city. It brings me an opportunity to share sympathy and contribute my little efforts to support people in disaster areas for recovery process. I was really touched by warm and friendly friends whom I met at volunteer center. They are Suzuki Akemi-san and her husband who drived a long distance from Nagoya to Iwate in order to join volunteer group. They are Ozaki-san from Kawasaki who is spending weekends on supporting local people of disaster areas. The other friends whom I met on the bus to volunteer areas left a strong impression about open-heart and enthusiasm.
I like autumn scenery of Tono with the yellow fields, the mountains and the sky with full stars very much. I miss my friends in volunteer group. They shared with me the emotion of happiness during volunteer time, the coldness of night and hot soups.
I would like to express my appreciation to ACC 21, Kuroyanagi Hidenori-san, Shimizu Kyoko-san and Ito Michio-san for your support during volunteer time. Thank you for giving me unforgettable experiences.

Q: How would you describe TOHOKU to tourists?
TOHOKU is now strongly recovering. Come and experience it!
Create more opportunities for people to participate in recovery process of TOHOKU.

Q: What did you learn and what would you like to suggest to your country people in case of natural disasters that might happen in your country?
What I learnt from Tohoku is sharing. Receiving and sharing is quite simple principle of life.
Some messages to people in my homeland: set up natural disaster early warning device, build up emergency evacuation center, diffuse the basic knowledge of natural disaster. But the most important thing is protect environment.

Q:Your message to the people of the world.
Share your heart in action.


◆from VIETNAM, Doan Hoai Nam◆ Share
Q:How did you feel after participating in volunteer activities?
Seeing the things left there now with my own eyes and comparing with the pictures when the big disaster hadn't happened I know how terrible damage the tsunami brought to Tohoku. And seeing everyone there, day-by-day is rebuilding the town together, more than anything I also want to contribute my small strength with everyone to bring happiness back to those people's life. Thanks to ACC21 for helping me participating in this time volunteer activities. If I didn't, I couldn't have that great experience in my life. I will try to go there again until Tohoku still need my hands.

Q: How would you describe TOHOKU to tourists?
Tohoku is a beautiful place. Tsunami only took small part of the beauty away. There are still a lot of other beautiful things left. Please come and sense those things and also help Tohoku to take lost things back.
To promote Tohoku, I think Tohoku also has its own things to charm everyone who comes there. Thing we must do now is help people know about things happening in Tohoku now. I trust that if they know about it, more and more people want to go to Tohoku for at least one time.

Q: What did you learn and what would you like to suggest to your country people in case of natural disasters that might happen in your country?
Now we don't have enough strength to prevent the big natural disasters such as tsunami but we have enough strength to overcome the lost and take everything back. So we must all stick together. We lost at a moment but together we will win in the end.

Q:Your message to the people of the world.
Now is the hard time for Tohoku. It needs everyone's help. Just do the thing you think you should do!


◆from Myanmar, Zayar Lin◆ Share
Q:How did you feel after participating in volunteer activities?
Though this is the first time I participated in volunteer activities, I didn't find any difficulty during our stay in Tohoku, Iwate. First, I would like to say thanks to ACC21 for the every detailed arrangement for us. The main reason of my participation is that I would like to help those who have suffered a lot from the disaster and see the aftermath. There are many places and things you could feel only when you are there, even though Japanese TV is broadcasting the situation there. There are many volunteers-Japanese and foreigners-helping as much as they can, and I believe they are part of the ones who are trying to rebuild the area. I really appreciate the efforts of the officials there for the safety of us.

Q: How would you describe TOHOKU to tourists?
Because the place we had to stay is far from the volunteer activity site, we had to go by bus to the site. Along the way, I witnessed that the TOHOKU is the beautiful place surrounded by forests, mountains and rivers. You could feel the different environment from Tokyo: more quiet and cold places, some local vocabularies, story about Kappa, and their smiles. I spent only 2 days, most of the time at the volunteer site; so I couldn't see and visit the more beautiful and interesting places around that area. As many volunteers around the Japan came to help in TOHOKU, they already witnessed the beauty and natural decorations there. Accordingly, they will definitely relay it to other people, insisting to visit and enjoy once the area has been rebuilt.

Q: What did you learn and what would you like to suggest to your country people in case of natural disasters that might happen in your country?
Because we can't predict when the disaster will outbreak, I think the most important thing is the precautions, immediate announcements and urgent help to the affected area. I found very big concrete blocks standing near "International Coastal Research Center" had been destroyed by the Tsunami, pointing that we can't challenge the natural disasters nor completely protect their appetite for destruction. This disaster underlined the importance of the precautions, international cooperation, and the unity of the world to one.

Q:Your message to the people of the world.
Our world is the only most beautiful and best place in the universe; but unfortunately there are many disasters out-breaking around the world. So, we have to unite in preventing them from happening. We couldn't prevent all the disasters, but we could some by caring about deforestation and "man-made" greenhouse effect.


◆from CHINA, Ma Yanna◆ Share
Q:How did you feel after participating in volunteer activities?
I was astonished by the damages that tsunami did to TOHOKU and moved by the optimistic attitude of the local people. It's my honor that I had been able to be there to support. Although we volunteers only did very few things, we think it is kind of way to show our concern to the people there. We are there to comfort them and let them realize there are still many people care about them. I was moved that some of the volunteers in our group actually lived or studied far away from Tokyo, yet they still managed to take part in this meaningful activity organized by ACC21. I remember that the second day of activity when we were in Rikuzentakata, a local came to talk with us, she appreciated so much about what the volunteers have done. Her house was totally damaged by tsunami; the volunteers helped a lot to clean it. Two days was too short and we only work for 3 hours a day. The place we lived was too far away from the activity site. We could have done more if we can live nearer.

Q: How would you describe TOHOKU to tourists?
It's still a beautiful place even it was seriously damaged. The tourist shouldn't hesitate to visit the amazing place with mountains and sea. You will be fully relaxed by the scenery and fresh air there. During the volunteer period I was amazed by the green pine tree forest in the mountain.
I think the problem most people concerned is the nuclear radiation. So first the Japanese government should convince prospective tourists that TOHOKU is a safe place, and then the promotion can be done through trust media and travel agencies.

Q: What did you learn and what would you like to suggest to your country people in case of natural disasters that might happen in your country?
We should be more friendly to the environment and stay calm when disasters happen. I learned from the local people in TOHOKU that we should still be optimistic with life even when some worse things happened. We also should aware that we are not alone; people from all over the world are care about us.

Q:Your message to the people of the world.
Please show your concern to people in TOHOKU, your little kindness like buying food that made in TOHOKU may help them a lot. Our little help can contribute more than we can imagine, don't hesitate to help either as a tourist or as a volunteer. Japan is a very safe place to travel, don't be afraid by the language barrier, the local people are willing to help and I find that actually almost all Japanese (include senior citizens) can speak some English.


◆from SRI LANKA, Medha Kumari Sabhapathi◆ Share
This was one of the most meaningful days spent in Japan because of the happiness of both giving and taking. I went to Tono with the intent of helping out and witnessing the destruction. But I came back with my mind full of the satisfaction of having done at least a little to ease the recovery for some affected people, having done at least a very little for the future productive capacity of the country, the joy of spending 3 or so fun filled days with new friends, the excitement of travelling to a part of Japan which is rich in culture and natural beauty.
Thank you ACC21 for this great opportunity!!! Thank you Shimizu Kyoko san for being a great organizer, leader and translator! And thank you Japan, of which we are a part in some way or the other, for your wonderful hospitality!
My main message: it has been more than 6 months since the earthquake; but, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done and every small contribution by volunteer workers count. A large number of people are still living in temporary accommodation and without proper means if income. The material and psychological well-being of the people affected has still not returned to normal or to a better state.
We stayed in the community center and volunteer center (school gym). It was very cold at night which reminded me how affected people may have suffered in cold and hunger. I will never forget how our group walked in the dark night through the paddy fields to the community center, joking about sleeping under the stars and making a movie out of it later.
On the first day we cleaned up around some houses and cleared up a blocked ditch. When I unearthed some small things of daily use, I felt very sad for the people whose lives have been turned upside down. On the second day we cleared up a paddy field and houses that had been turned to ruins. Somebody said he looks forward to cultivating the paddy fields in a few years when the salt water clears. I applaud this spirit even if it does not become reality. A lady from the area had a brief chat with us. She spoke of her plight and her appreciation of the volunteer's help..... her words were very moving. She said she will help out if a disaster strikes some other place. Some other Japanese volunteer too said he will help out in our countries if disaster strikes. The work of volunteers has raised the sense of helping each other out in times of need, the sense of togetherness that transcends the borders of nationality, and it feels good to listen to such words standing in the activity site itself.