Japan Earthquake Support UK Mission
BY CAROLINE POVER
BAB founder Caroline Pover was in Saipan when the earthquake hit and, driven to do something to help her adopted country, she went immediately to the UK, where she spent several weeks driving around the country collecting donations and messages of support. The following is a condensed trip report based on her blog entries while away. To get the full story, to see how you can contribute, and follow her updates, go to www.carolinepover.info/blog.
March 18: As I was tossing and turning, unable to sleep last night, wondering just what to do to help, the answer finally came to me: I am here in Saipan, but can’t stay here forever and new friends have offered me a bed in Australia. I don’t feel that I should go back home to Japan just yet for a wide variety of reasons, none of which I want to be judged for, thanks very much (I’ve been giving myself a hard enough time for not being there and don’t need it from anyone else). If I go back to Japan right now what do I do? Is anyone out there really panicking because my magazines aren’t yet out or my book about Japanese men isn’t finished? I don’t think so.
I can give speeches, I am persuasive, I can write, and I don’t like the word “no.” Those skills have to be helpful in this situation, somehow. This is what I’m doing ….
I am going to drive a truck around the UK giving talks to schools and any other communities about how wonderful Japan is and all the reasons why I love it, and fill that truck with food, clothes, toys, money, and whatever else the people of Japan need in order to rebuild their lives. Virgin Atlantic will help me get it to Japan, and I will arrange for it to get to where it is needed. This is what feels like the right thing for me to do at the moment.
March 25: What a great day today! Hitachi Capital were thrilled to be approached to lend a vehicle for this mission—they had donated 3.5 million dollars to relief funds immediately and were actually having a meeting about other practical ways they could help when my step-mother-in-law called them yesterday (I had roped her in after three days of rather disheartening attempts to get support on my own). I really couldn’t have hoped for a better result—a fully insured van for three months if I need it! They are making the signs to go on the side as well, and have their own PR team on the case, which will be really helpful, too.
Then I spent a couple of hours with seven-year-olds at St John the Evangelist School in Newbury, showing them photos of Japan and answering all their questions about the country. I started by asking them what they already know about Japan and it was all earthquakes and tsunamis so it was nice to be able to show them photos of the architecture (new and old), traditional clothes, and cultural activities, and also some photos of my Japanese friends—they were all fascinated by Mount Fuji for some reason. They drew pictures of love and encouragement (lots of hearts and volcanoes) and wrote lovely messages to Japanese people. And they were thrilled to learn some Japanese words and be featured in my video. The teachers have taken the list of items needed and I’ll collect them at the end of the trip.
March 26: I don’t have anything booked this weekend so I think I’m just going to pull up in busy parts of Plymouth and simply start asking passers-by to help. I’ve roped in my darling nieces and their friends to join me. My mother is worried about me being arrested—I think I have become a constant source of worry to her, as she has spent the last few weeks thinking about me, first travelling to Saipan on my own, then being stuck on high ground during a tsunami warning, long-distance flights with all my blood-clotting issues, and now driving around England on my own. (To be fair, the last time she saw me drive I forgot I was driving a manual and went half a mile in first gear and only just missed one of her neighbours.)
March 27: Now this is what I came here for! I collected my niece, Emily, and headed off into town to find a place to park and open up the back of the van. The Guildhall car park worked for a while—and a big hug goes to the traffic warden who turned a blind eye to me not paying for parking, and also to the lovely police officers who took my shopping list and said they’d get the station on it too, as opposed to arresting me which is what Mum was expecting them to do.
When town started quieting down we headed back to Plymstock and noticed that Morrison’s was still packed. The store manager, Ian Matthews, agreed to let us hang around the entrance for the rest of the day, and what a fantastic move that was! We ended up collecting 25 packets of sanitary products, 35 boxes of toothpaste, 34 toothbrushes, 7 boxes of cotton buds, 7 packs of nappies, and loads of babywipes, pet items, underwear, toys, socks, and food. On top of the 66 children’s toys from relatives earlier in the day this was a great result. I can tell you that this van will be full in a couple more days so I’ve emailed Hitachi to see what they suggest.
One woman actually turned up to go shopping with my website list already printed out—she brought tears to my eyes. Lots of people had been to Japan or had had relatives living there at some point, and everyone loved the chance to wave the Japanese flag and say an encouraging Japanese word. It is amazing how much the hearts of the people in England really go out to everyone in Japan.
March 30: I visited my old secondary school, Plymstock School, at 8:30am, and now I have a completely and utterly full van. This is only my second school to visit, but to be fair we did collect a huge amount of stuff on the weekend at my unplanned stop at Morrisons. The Plymstock School students and staff were just incredible—as soon as I pulled up kids came running across the roundabout area with boxes and bags for me to put in the van. Then it was off to assembly where my old Head of Sixth, Nick Johns, had prepared a quick slideshow of images of Japan for me to talk through to a hundred Year Seven students.
Then it was off to Laira Green Primary at 11am, where I had about an hour with the 11-year-olds who enjoyed looking at my images of Japan and talking about samurai and Disneyland before writing some lovely letters and drawing pictures of encouragement for people in Japan. This visit was a last-minute arrangement and worked out really well because the students and teachers were inspired to plan their own fundraising and item-collection. This is exactly what I want to do—if somehow I can inspire each school I visit to start their own initiatives for long-term financial, practical, or emotional support for Japan, then this could make such a difference to people and I will make sure whatever they do gets there.
April 1: I did my A Level Maths at Coombe Dean, and it was nice to pop back. Six hundred students piled into the gym to watch my slideshow of images of Japan. One girl asked me if she could give me some money for Japan, which I wasn’t expecting, so I asked one of the teachers to pop out to the van to get my red bucket. Back in the hall, the girl tipped her purse upside down and emptied the entire contents in the bucket. Suddenly about half of the children jumped up out of their places and ran to the front, throwing money into the bucket…it was quite unplanned and I just stood there watching them all with a lump in my throat, trying to absorb everything and somehow hope this moment could be transported back to Japan.
April 2: Today I met quite a few people who had relatives in Japan, and I met one Japanese lady who now lived in the UK. She was with her parents, who live in Ibaraki, and she had insisted that they fly over to the UK because she was so worried about them. We talked for a bit about the earthquake, refugees staying in Ibaraki, and their worries about returning. They said they still have nightmares about the earthquake every night. I told them about all the love and support the people of England had for Japan, and how everybody wanted to help. Japanese people tend not to hug, and I know this, but I am a big hugger, and I had to give them all big hugs, which they seemed not to mind. I am so glad they had seen how much English people cared.
April 5: I heard something that really amused me about one of the schools I visited last week. One of the photos in my presentation show the “free hugs” people in Harajuku—it turns out that a couple of rugby-playing sixth form boys spent the next day walking around school with signs offering free hugs, to the bemusement of the teachers who had not been privy to my presentation. I know that teenage boys will try pretty much anything to get close to girls (and actually I’m surprised their signs didn’t say “free snogs”) but I found this hilarious. And the idea that a non-hugging country like Japan can somehow encourage people in the UK to hug more really tickled me too.
April 6: “Here’s something to put in your underwear, dear” said a lovely lady in her seventies to me, as she handed me £20 just before I went to bed last night. Let me explain…
As I spent the last week and a half driving around the South West of England, visiting schools, and collecting financial and practical donations, I had very little time to get myself to a bank. Before I left Plymouth last week Mum had managed to change the roughly £800 of donations I’d collected at that point into notes, and I had to find somewhere safe to put them. You can guess what’s coming next…I didn’t want to put them in my suitcase because what if that disappeared? My camera case, my computer, my own purse— they could all disappear too. If that money had disappeared I would have been devastated. Now that I have put the money in a totally safe place I can share with you that for the best part of last week I was wandering about with £800 taped inside my underwear. There, I’ve said it. (And it’s not there anymore so don’t ask to check!)
I spoke to some sixth formers at St Johns Marlborough today, who were interested in learning more about Japan. It’s a really interesting school — very state-of-the-art and dynamic both in terms of its facilities and students. You could sense the energy as soon as you stepped into the building. Near the main entrance is a space that is used as a dining hall, in the middle of which I saw a tall triangular “wall.” On one side was the word “WORRY” and another “WONDER” and students had been encouraged to write about things that made them look at the world in wonder, and things that were worrying them. Sure enough, one student had written that they were worried about Japan. Another one of those many moments that have brought a lump to my throat during this trip.
I’ve been asked to visit some schools in Sendai to tell their communities about my trip and share with them how the people of England are supporting them. I’m looking forward to getting back to Japan and finding all sorts of other ways to help. It’s time to start thinking about the logistics of getting what I estimate will be about eight vanloads of items back to Japan. I think we will end up having about three tons of stuff and the nice people at Virgin have introduced me to a very helpful chap who will be able to guide me through all the procedures. I can’t wait to load it all up and get it over there.
April 8: I’ve got the go ahead to start dropping stuff off at Heathrow tomorrow! Virgin have arranged for me to work with Vantec who sort out all the details of getting stuff on and off planes and through customs. Within minutes they sent me a confirmation that I can start loading stuff for them—I hadn’t expected it to be so simple!
So I am now in Twickenham and ready for my final school visit tomorrow—with five- and six-year-olds so we should have great fun looking at cultural pictures but also pictures of Disneyland, fireworks, puppies, and sumo wrestlers’ bums(!), which always makes the little ones giggle. I had to leave a vanload of stuff in Leighton Buzzard this morning so that now means three loads in Plymouth, one in Gloucester, two in Newbury, the Leighton Buzzard one, plus another load tomorrow, I expect. Eight in total. Not bad! I’ll go back and forth between each location and Heathrow over the next couple of days.
April 9: I was expecting my last day of school visits to be a bit emotional, but I hadn’t expected to be on the verge of tears four times before mid-day. First was when Tokyo friend Sam turned up with a hundred bags she had actually made by hand, containing toys, pencils, notepaper, and a postcard upon which she had drawn the Union Jack—so thoughtful. Immediately afterwards a lady turned up with an envelope full of letters another school in the neighbourhood had written, and then it was chaos as bags and bags of donated items were handed over to us by smiling children and their parents. All really set me off, and I wasn’t the only one.
I feel really strange when Japanese people thank me. It’s kind of the same feeling I have with some of the media coverage about this trip—I am not usually uncomfortable with media interviews or anything (you can’t afford to be when you run your own business and simply have to be PR-savvy) and I know it is really necessary for the people of Sendai to remain in others’ thoughts, especially while people like Wayne Rooney take the top spot (feel free to insert your favourite expletive here with lots of exclamation marks). But I’m not comfortable with the attention being on me here—I feel no sense of pride or achievement really in doing this; there is nothing to celebrate, whereas with my books or awards there has been cause for celebration.
No, I have learned to respond to Japanese people who thank me with a simple “Please tell your friends in Japan that England cares” and I well up every time I say it.
April 12: I drove between Newbury, Leighton Buzzard, and Heathrow today for a total of five hours, and can now happily say that there are exactly 50 boxes of donated items at Heathrow ready for Japan, and still more to come! And I’ve worked out the total of money I’ve collected on this trip—£2,055. Thank you to everyone!
April 16: I just want to say a great big thank you to everyone involved: those who fed and clothed me, gave me a bed to sleep in, coordinated things with their schools, lent me a phone and a satnav, let me collect at their businesses, filled the van with petrol, donated cash or items, made my tshirts, provided media coverage, helped count and pack everything, are getting it all (as well as me) on a plane at the best possible price, gave me the lovely Japan van, and encouraged me on every part of the journey. Thank you and please look forward to the next stage of the mission—getting it all north.
To both sides of the world—I’m coming back and I love you!
