She sat quietly at the corner bench. The crowd was pressing in that small omise (a videoke snack bar which draws memories from times past when entertainers/ talents came in droves to almost all corners of Japan to earn a living, in an illusive quest for a dream, most of which turned to a nightmare). But, these are different times. The omise was not for “happy hour”, rather to break the sad news that not much of control is being gained over the nuclear reactors affected by the tsunami.
The gathering’s facilitator was the consul general of the Philippine embassy, who came not just to break the news, but to sketch out the options for their evacuation. Feeling awkward with all this, he turned to me and asked me to begin the meeting with a prayer. That was easy enough although I noticed that I had prayed for all longer than usual, and almost emotionally, anxiously emotional.
She continued to sit quietly on that corner bench with me, sitting at the end of the bench, but she began to cry when the consul general did not start with her when he decided to break the ice by asking everyone to introduce themselves and say how long they have been in Japan.
Thoughts raced through my mind. Was she a traumatized victim of the great earthquake? Did she lose someone in the recent horrendous events? So, I ventured to reach out to this bench mate of mine – “why the tears?” After a few sniffles, she declared, “Oh it’s just because she was overwhelmed by what is happening now. This is the first time I am in a gathering with my
kababayans/folks from my home country.”
Her words felt like a dagger stabbing into my chest. Oh for heaven’s sake, these people have been abandoned for quite a while. I found out her name is May, 30ish, married to a Japanese farmer and with two children.
“And where do you live?” I asked her. She told me, “Next town, but in a farm.” I found out later that May got there through an arranged marriage. This drew more racing and disturbing thoughts, being a marriage and family counsellor myself.
May’s complaint was about not being evacuated from her home. She said she lives but 28 km from the reactors and the exclusion zone at that time was 30 km. Appeals to their local government officials simply got the reply – we will study it. She said life at home was miserable because of the leaks from the reactor – can’t go out of the house much (a torture for the kids) due to the radiated atmosphere, can’t drink the water, can’t eat the produce they planted. The only positive thing was that she and her husband had been able to stock up on rice, which they had planted before all the reactors were affected.
For the rest of the “town meeting,” May paid close attention to the instructions on evacuation preparation, drawing out variously her passport as if saying “I am ready to go any time,” and, enjoying the rare Filipino rice cake we brought and stew which was prepared by some of the 40 attendees at that meeting.
On his return from Fukushima, Fr Nilo Tanalega SJ reflects.
The call of Fukushima was a call for solidarity with our marginalized brothers and sisters, victims in a globalised world where many are forced by life and circumstances to become migrants. Migration is not a simple modern phenomenon – it is both a separation from loved ones and an insertion into the anxieties of living in an uncontrollable and unfamiliar world.
Reflection:
- It is hard enough to be a migrant, it is worse to feel abandoned.
- It is difficult enough to have entered an arranged marriage, it is worse to experience radiation at the end.
- The worst is when it all sinks in and one realizes that all one’s dreams have evaporated with the radiation from the Daiichi nuclear power plants.
How to be part of the solution:
- Journey with them. The people living in the area can do nothing about the radiation and the nuclear plants. Solidarity is what we can most provide.
- For these people coming from third world countries with not much knowledge or sense of the destinations they are entering into, all they have are good intentions. Our role as we journey with them can’t be simply presence. It is also a learning teaching and we can make it as a teaching moment, a formation moment.
- We can provide psycho emotional services for those who have been evacuated through debriefing. But our numbers need to increase as their numbers increase. This requires training for the existing site resources — whether government officials, NGOs, church or civil groups. And since we are dealing with people with faith, religious and spiritual coping resources can be boosted and enabled.
- For the traumatized, we need to provide professional help, both at relocation sites and back home for the repatriated. Language does matter in the provision, as it is very difficult to process intense emotions in another language.
- We need to network on providing evacuation and relief goods which evacuees really need, e.g. steel containers for extra gas for those with cars during rushed evacuations