Nishimachi International School

Nishimachi Relief Efforts

The Internationalist, vol. 47, Spring/Summer 2011

Joanne Elliott
Teacher, Grade One
Elementary School Advisor for the Nishimachi Earthquake Relief Committee

As soon as teachers and students returned to school on March 28 this year, after a two-week-plus break following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, it was clear that everybody’s thoughts were on what they could do to support the people of Tohoku. During the long hiatus, many students and members of the Nishimachi staff were left feeling somewhat limited as to how to find meaningful and effective ways to get involved. Then school re-opened, and we rejoined our community and reconnected with others. We realized that together our ideas for making a contribution to relief efforts could easily become a reality. A disaster relief committee was formed the very day we got back to school, and we began to coordinate the first of many activities to which teachers and students could dedicate their time and energies.

Our first project was a mini-library book drive, held in conjunction with UNICEF and coordinated by Chiharu Ito, the assistant librarian. UNICEF’s objective was to set up 100 mini-libraries at the shelters in Tohoku. Ours was to ask everyone to contribute one book of fiction that could be enjoyed by the children now living under difficult circumstances. Exceeding expectations, this first project set the precedent for things to come, with so many people doing what they could to make a significant contribution: 700 books were collected, packed, sorted, and delivered to UNICEF by Chiharu Ito and the grade five StuCo representatives.

We realized that working with other relief organizations in Tokyo also meant we could take advantage of their networks and resources to identify what was urgently needed and ensure that our donations would reach the people of Sendai. This was the motivation behind the TTT Project (toothbrush/toothpaste/towel), held in conjunction with Hands on Tokyo. Everyone in our community was asked to contribute towels, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. Donations were collected across the school during the month of April. Coordinated by Aldo Venturo and his grade nine students, with the help of elementary school StuCo members, the drive produced huge quantities of toothbrushes, towels, and toothpaste, which were boxed up and delivered to Hands on Tokyo for onward transmission to the city of Souma and other nearby places.

Students and teachers also found ways to make cash donations, which we channeled to the Japan Red Cross. Two students who put a lot of effort into this were Sho Flores and Koa Kellenberger. The fourth graders put together a proposal to collect “coins, coins, and more coins,” and on three consecutive Fridays did just that, raising 153,037 yen. Amazingly, at that point, there were still more coins out there to be collected, and the grade fives swung into action with their annual “one yen can make a difference” community service campaign, directing this year’s coins to the Japan Red Cross. Funds are then transferred to local government distribution committees created for that purpose in the disaster-affected prefecture. The money will be spent on items the evacuees desperately need.

Ideas from students kept on coming, supported by Nishimachi Earthquake Relief Committee middle school advisor Chika Keough. Reiniel Cayabyab and David Mataitoga in grade seven are in the middle of their campaign to raise money for the Japan Red Cross through I ♥ Japan -私 ♡ 日本 T-shirt sales. Five hundred yen from each T-shirt sold will go to the Japan Red Cross; as will the money raised from the bake sale held on May 18 and the middle school StuCo hotdog sale held on May 25.

Grade eight advisors and students Maya Brauer and Emily Lemmerman led the eighth graders in organizing an exciting Easter egg hunt. The courtyard was full to bursting with eager Nishimachi students on Good Friday. Each student paid 300 yen to participate, and the proceeds went toward getting food, rubber boots, gloves, and masks to the earthquake-affected region through the Nagagutsu wo Todokemasu Project team. Keough-sensei, with support from her students and fellow teachers, managed to make 800 paper cranes in a very short time, in response to a call for cranes from the Bezos Family Foundation, which was donating $2.00 for each crane received to Architecture for Humanity’s reconstruction efforts in Japan.

Beloved pets were not forgotten. We all recognized how heartwrenching it was for people to have to give up their pets when they were no longer in a position to care for and feed them. We wanted to support the good work organizations were doing for displaced animals. Vandy Tam and the fourth grade Girl Scouts collected pet food for ARK Bark, an organization that looks out for displaced pets.

At the same time grade six, supported by Peter Hennigar, grade six advisor and science teacher, collected school-wide for Second Harvest Japan, which will deliver boxes of dry food and eating utensils on the school’s behalf. Collections within Nishimachi continue and will continue as long as we can provide and assist. These will include helping affected schools and collecting rubber gloves and room slippers for Hands on Tokyo.

There are no doubt Nishimachi students and teachers are committed to multiple relief efforts. Those might involve buying a toothbrush with pocket money, contributing coins at the gate, or simply drawing our best picture to send a message that we care. Kindergartners and first graders put their hearts into a message they sent recently to Kadonowaki Elementary School, a school in a district greatly damaged by the tsunami. The students there, many of whose families lived near the industrial port of Ishinomaki and whose homes were destroyed, are now studying in borrowed classrooms in a nearby junior high school and the Kama Elementary School. More than 20 of their classmates lost their lives to the tsunami. Knowing that they received (and that their spirits were lifted by) Nishimachi letters of kindness and caring means so much. With the help and involvement of every member of our community, we can be sure that Nishimachi’s contributions will continue to reach our Japanese friends for as long as they need them.