“Ojakko Nomi” from Oshika Peninsula

　Up to the end of September, we are close to ending aid distribution.

JEN, going forward, give research for picking up even tiny demands from people who live in temporary dwelling area, and continue developing long term supporting activities for them based on their opinion.

This is the first time that people get together and talk about their live there.
It is called “Ojakko Nomi” in the temporary dwelling area at Oshika Peninsula.

“Ojakko Nomi” in Ishinomaki is that getting together in neighbours to enjoy chatting with tea, sweets and pickles.

<Photo: Lounge chat room in the temporary dwelling area.>

<Photo: Everyone is sitting in a ring and enjoying “Ojakko Nomi”.>

People, who moved into this temporary dwelling area, came from different peripheral districts.   Approximately half of the residents attended the “Ojakko Nomi”.

“It is the first time to meet with everyone like this” said grannies.   They performed singing and dancing each other with showing a bit of shyness.

It has been one month since they moved into here, and people have gradually settled.   However, they still clearly remember about the earthquake and the living in evacuation shelters, and seldom talk about stories of those days.   Despite of the facts, “Ojakko Nomi” is a kind of trigger to put them in a positive state, and they started giving their opinion such as…
“We had better organise a neighborhood association.”
“We need some rules for living here”
“We would like to have a manual labour something like needlework together”

When JEN left the place, they gave greetings that, “When will you come next time? What shall we do for next “Ojakko Nomi” and sounded like looking forward to JEN’s next visit already.