Onsite Report How we can help

Yusuke Sakai
4th year student at the School of Sport Sciences
Captain of Rugby Team

The Waseda University Rugby Team has taken a variety of actions to provide aid for the recent earthquake. For example, the 3 universities of Waseda, Keio and Meiji joined together to hold fund-raising activities on the street in Ginza. Also, at the Minami-Soma charity bazaar held in Suginami Ward, our team held a rugby school for children who were victims of the disaster. Other activities include holding a Waseda, Keio and Meiji charity match to collect aid money at the stadium, as well as volunteer participation for shoveling mud in Ishinomaki City.

Among these various activities, our volunteering to shovel mud left a particularly striking impression on team members. Through these volunteer activities, we traveled to the disaster site and witnessed conditions with our own eyes.

The volunteer activities took place at Fusei-ji Temple in Ishinomaki City. We removed mud which had accumulated beneath the floor of the temple. We were overcome with emotion when we heard that restoration of the temple was urgent in order to quickly pray for victims who had died in the earthquake. Team members positioned themselves beneath the floor and formed a relay line to pass buckets of mud. It was really difficult work that was taxing even for the brawny members of our team.

During our lunch break on the second day of the volunteer work, we were visited by two rugby team members from Ishinomaki High School, which had been damaged in the disaster. The two students traveled more than one hour by bicycle in order to see us. Afterwards, we were able to include the students in a short rugby practice session supervised by Coach Tsuji. Although the two students appeared nervous at first, a single rugby ball created a feeling of unity among us all. We spent meaningful time with the students, and I will never forget the smile of the two students as they returned home.

After completing the volunteer activities, I felt satisfaction at having removed all the mud from the temple after two whole days of work. Conversely, from a different perspective, I felt disappointed that we were able to restore only the temple after two days of working. I realized the difficult of work performed through human labor. To facilitate reconstruction, money is required to contract heavy machinery and to employ drivers. I hope that the money from the aforementioned charity match and fund-raising activities can be utilized for reconstruction. Compared to immediately after the earthquake, our lifestyle is beginning to return to normal in recent days. I feel that the depth of emotion towards the disaster is starting to wear thin. However, completing the reconstruction will take a great amount of time. In the future, I believe that it is important for each of us to consider and implement methods of long-term support.

(June 2nd, 2011)