Orderly Calm

 

Our trucks and van drove through the town of Ishinomaki. It was a bright clear day.The damage was layered. Low line areas were flooded heavily. Then areas of slightly higher elevation looked nearly untouched. Turn one corner or up a street and it was another world. The areas at the port and seaside looked like a war zone. We continued through town and turned into a parking lot between two closed commercial buildings. One was a dry clean shop whose owner was killed. The other a shutdown restaurant. Another group had arrived before us to set up a makeshift soup kitchen. A long line had formed with people waiting for hours for a meal. Our vehicles arrived and unpacked. We had come today with groceries, water, and essentials. It took over an hour for our distribution area to be set up. As they saw us, a line formed near our station. In a dignified manner they gathered and waited patiently. These people looked very weary and many had not had regular meals for days. Some still had not been able to wash for weeks. The ones with new clothes, likely were wearing donated ones. Many walked for hours to get here. A few had bikes and fewer had cars. Most if not all in our line had lost either a friend or family member. There was a heaviness that I sensed that was hard to contain. We had two stations arranged. One was for sanitary products, household goods, clothing, and essentials. The other was for groceries. When they finished with one station, they were able to go back in the long line for the next station. There was no cutting in line, no yelling, haggling, and or disruption. Perfect orderly calm. When each group reached the aid station to receive their items they were able to take as much as and whatever they liked. What amazed me here was that each person and group took only what they needed. Although the lines and the day was long. No one walked away empty handed. No one took more than they needed and we ran out of people before we ran out of things to give. I can say is that whatever aid is sent here, it will likely never be wasted, hoarded, and most importantly it will be graciously received. In the next few blogs I'll share some of the stories and experiences from a few of the people in line. I'll remember some of these for the rest of my life.