We lost our friend Ivy Terasaka and her young family at Phuket, Thailand in the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. That Grecian horse was a housewarming gift from her.
The tragedy of that tsunami was far-reaching. We made 1000 cranes to deal with the sadness and grief and had them blessed at a shrine. The cranes hung in our house for many years. We hoped to take them somewhere.
After the March 11, 2011 East Japan tsunami, Students Rebuild offered to donate money to Japan for every crane mailed to them. They made their quota early but continued to accept cranes.
I cut a string of 100 cranes from the 1000. Then we made 100 new cranes for Japan and strung it with the rest of the cranes that honored the Indian Ocean victims. I had to separate the string of 1000 cranes to fit them in two boxes. Big Sister and I mailed them to Students Rebuild. At the time it made sense. We are united in grief.
Students Rebuild-- Japan Challenge
poster
100,000 cranes came to Japan! Check here.
P.S. I will add photos later.
What a great initiative of the students and artist and how wonderful that you sent 1000 cranes, too. Here in Nova Scotia students were at our local farmers' market shortly after the earthquake folding cranes and accepting donations. I'm not sure if they were part of Students Rebuild, but the response here was incredible and local banks matched people's donations. My daughter took some pictures of that day and I have decided to post them after reading your touching story.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear of your friend and her family. The losses of these events are so devastating and overwhelming it's hard to say anything that even comes close to being adequate. But, still, hugs to you.
As the New Year approaches I want to thank you for this blog. I often visit here during the times of year when I become homesick for Japan, and I always find something to warm my heart and make me feel a bit closer to my second home.
May this year be not quite so interesting as last, and a whole lot calmer.
Happy New year!
Thank you so much for your comment. I'm glad to know of the efforts in Nova Scotia for the Japan tsunami. I'll link to your post!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too!