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| Ruth Ghent (OMF Missionary, Itayanagi/Luke's Aunt) and Heike Messer (OMF Missionary, Kanagi) e in Post-Tsunami Ministry in Iwate |
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June 8, 2011
My fingers were covered with bread dough as I wound my way through the people, under the tent of the outdoor cafe and into the prefab kitchen. A hose was pulled through a window into the sink. The two grannies welcomed me to use the makeshift sink and try their Japanese pickles. I asked if they were originally from Otsuchi. "Oh yes" they said "just from over there. We both lost our houses Pah! Just like that we lost everything and we are poor. We only have the clothes on our backs."
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One Granny went out to interact with the people sitting under the tent. The Granny that was left seemed anxious to tell me her story. "My husband and I ran a dining hall. The earthquake shook so hard. I begged the customers to leave! "Don't take time to pay me! Just leave! Just leave and run for your lives! Hurry, Hurry!" She interjected her story with gasps of "It was so terrifying!" and groans when words didn't express what she had experienced. She acted out parts so I would know how bad it was. She continued: "I tried to hold myself up by grabbing the counter but it shook me off. I told my husband we must run-that an earthquake this bad would result in a tsunami" "No", he said "there won't be one". "I thought of quickly getting underwear but the ground shook again and I just ran. I didn't even stop to get ten yen. I have absolutely nothing. I ran and ran. I could hear a roar. I looked back to see the tsunami wash my house with my husband still in it away. The tsunami slammed the back of my legs as I reached the embankment. The grass sliced my hands as I clawed the embankment to climb up. My husband is dead. He is gone and nobody found him. It is not fair for me to be alive. I should have pulled him with me. When there is an earthquake, you run! Always run in a time like that!
She continued talking but this time about her life now: “I can't cry in front of people in the shelter. My friends have lost five family members and everything they own. They ask me why I don't cry. I tell them my eyes are slanting too much to let tears out; but at night when they turn out the lights at 9:30 in the shelter I curl up in my futon and cry alone. How could I cry in front of them because then we will all just cry and cry. So during the day I volunteer at this free cafe and it helps me get through the days. But thoughts of my husband never leave me. He doesn't come out in my dreams-he won't come out in my dreams-maybe it’s because we never found him..."
I was glad the granny told me her story but it is a little overwhelming to realize that everyone at this community cafe has a story. Everyone has suffered loss. Everyone needs to be able to talk about their stories in a safe place in order for their hearts to be able to heal and move on. I want for them to have someone to be able to listen and care about their stories. When people got into their prefab houses after the Kobe and Nigata earthquakes, many people died because of loneliness and depression because they had lost their families and their communities-they had no one to listen to their stories.
This outdoor cafe was started by a man who lost his house-he was in it when it was swept off its foundation but miraculously survived. He lives in a shelter and knew he had to do something to preserve his sanity. But it is just one little outdoor community café. There are thousands of people up and down the coast needing a place just like it to talk.
So there we were for the day-my family and a few others from our church to cook food to serve at the café. I made bread dough for hours. We wrapped it on sticks for people to roast over coals. People loved having an excuse to stand around and talk while they roasted their bread. Other people stood in line to receive hamburgers. I looked over and saw a girl, about fourth grade, crying quietly as her mother continually rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. There were no more words to say; so I pulled out a book we had brought from Lighthouse Books: You are Special. When I went to give it to her with my bread dough hands another girl saw it and begged me to give it to her. I went and got another one to give her. After we gave out all the stew, hamburgers, bread, and books, we began the long journey home with joy at having been able to serve for a day but also with a burden to meet the needs in a greater way and ideas forming in our hearts.
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| Aaron Ghent (Luke's Cousin) |
We had tried to find land in another town to start a similar outdoor community cafe but were not able to. Our coworker who had gone with us for the day to Otsuchi suggested a mobile cafe so that we can rotate between several communities. A cafe to provide a place to share stories, provide food for body and heart, literature that will point the way to the greatest gain in the face of such great loss. Jesus' story is such a painful story but ends with such hope for us.
If you would like to participate in the sharing of stories-theirs, ours and above all His story which brings hope and gain from loss please contact mrghent@gmail.com for information.
