on M1, we were driving along the coast and passed by a little fishing village that was totally wiped out. it was there where we met this kind fisherman named Abe-san. he came by and grabbed a sleeping bag from the supplies we had. he told us that he was going to keep it in his car just in case of another tsunami hit. he lost his boats, he lost his home, and he lost everything he ever owned. but one thing he never lost was hope. we told him that we would be back and he looked at me like he really didn’t believe.
fast forward to M2. we pulled up to the fishing village and Abe-san was the first person we asked for. when we found him, he was so happy to see us and we were happier to see him. things around the village were the same as nobody came to help with the clean up yet, but Abe-san was cleaning up around the evacuation center he was staying in. when it was time to leave, i told him “i’ll be back.” and his answer was “i’ll be waiting.”
M3 we went to visit Abe-san again. his spirit was high, but the village looked the same. then on M4, we seen him wondering down the street gazing at the debris. we stopped by to talk story and gave him some presents from hawaii. this was 5 months later and our team couldn’t believe that things were moving along so slowly. Abe-san was still living in a small evacuation center and told us that he was finally going to get to move into the temporary housing the government built. is it something to celebrate? yes, and no. it just depends who you ask.
M5 we went looking for Abe-san. he wasn’t in the village. instead, he just moved into the housing a few miles up the street. we pulled into the housing to look for him and guess what? he just so happened to walk outside to smoke a cigarette. this was the moment. a moment that made everything we did worth it. honestly, i wanted to cry. at that time, i didn’t because i’m up there to be strong. now when i look at this photo, i get pretty emotional. you can see how happy i was to see Abe-san again. it’s times like this all the emotions from the start all come back. he told us that he was waiting for us and knew it was soon that we would be coming to visit him. one of our main goals for We Are One was to support in the long term. this was 8 months later and i’m proud to say that We Are One is still striving to help the victims of tohoku. while the world is forgetting about rebuilding japan, we are trying to help as much as possible with the limited resources we have. we will never give up. we will keep strong. we will keep supporting. and we will always be ONE!
To: Abe-san,
I will see you in a 2 weeks!
