i’ll never forget Naomi-san’s chilling story about her 10 year old son running to the roof of his elementary school when the tsunami came. if he was on the 3 floors below, he wouldn’t have made it. they stayed here over night in the freezing cold weather wondering when help would arrive. i got goose bumps that day we all went up there, and i get goose bumps every time i look at this photo matsu took.
this is Minami-kun who was one of the fortunate ones to make it to the roof. a strong kid with a brave heart!
we met the Naomi-san and Minami-kun on mission 4 where they shared their stories. it was hard to hold back the tears and hard to comprehend what had happened to this normal family on the day or march 11, 2011. not a day goes by without thinking about them. Naomi-san’s husband, and Minami-kun’s father is still missing to this day. while our team was trying to hold in our emotions, Naomi-san explained the hardships of the people in ishinomaki following the tsunami. the government built temporary housing for the thousands that lost everything. the good thing is it gives families a roof over their head. the bummer thing is the housings were built far away in the mountains and far away from the city. so to go and shop for basic necessities is hard to do. most people lost their cars, and the elderly have no way of going into town to shop. on M5, Naomi-san told us about her dream to open a market to provide the daily necessities for the people living in the housing. back then, it was a dream, NOW, IT IS REALITY! i was told that the market is moving forward and will open in the next month or so. and guess what they named it? “We Are One Market.” i got goose bumps again, i’m emotional again, and i’m excited to support their mission to the end! i can’t wait to go back to see our friends, or should i say, family!
want more goose bumps? remember Saito-san from A-Wave Electrical company in tokyo? yeah, he came to donate and help us load up on our first mission to tohoku. since the very beginning, he wanted to help in any way possible so guess what he’s doing? Saito-san is doing all the electrical work for the We Are One Market. they actually started yesterday. isn’t that so cool! things are moving forward and that’s good news. thank you Kanae-san for sending me this photo. i’m so happy!
when i went to talk to the kids at Mid-Pac about our missions, one of the kids asked me “how did you get so many people involved in our We Are One missions? Our big family and viewers of Go-Naminori all stepped up when help was needed. we know that we are all in this together and if it wasn’t for this website, nothing to this level could have happened. so once again, i want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. it’s good news like this that makes all the effort worth every minute! We Are One!
