Staff member Hiroka Yamazaki spends many weekends in Sendai volunteering at temporary housing units. She writes about some of the people she has met and how Samaritan’s Purse is meeting their needs.

When the tsunami washed families’ houses away, the school gymnasium became their shelter. Normally the children went out to a playground or a friend’s house after school, but those places were washed away as well. Volunteers visit the shelter to entertain the kids with arts and crafts.

There is no air conditioning or personal refrigerators in the shelter, and we had a very hot summer this year, so we served ice cream cones to the people living there. The children were very excited.

You can tell the students’ hearts are deeply wounded. One junior high school student shared with us: “We lost three students by the tsunami in my class. It is painful to live. I have to study for the high school entrance exam but I have a hard time concentrating.”

Many of the families moved from the shelter to temporary housing units over the summer. Samaritan’s Purse helped by distributing housing kits to the families. It was greatly appreciated since the kits included essential items for their kitchens and bedrooms. As the winter is approaching, we are now helping churches distribute heaters, gloves, and hot water bottles to keep families in the temporary houses warm.

People living in the temporary housing say to us, “We are happy to have a private space.” However, the house is very small; the total size is approximately 250 square feet, with a kitchen and a bathroom included. Families of six live in these units.

The government tells them they don’t have to pay rent for two years so they can save up money during this time to find a new place to live or to move somewhere else. But how can they save money when they have lost their jobs?

Please continue to pray for the people of Japan as there are still many suffering from the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. Although many are living in temporary homes now, we seek to encourage them that they can have an eternal home through faith in Christ.

Samaritan's Purse , Japan , An Eternal Home

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