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That afternoon on 11th March 2011, Teacher Tan brought us to help with Grandpa ErBo’s discharge from the Welfare Hospital and to also visit BuQiong’s family. At 15:12, we received this: “Latest news: 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked North Japan; South East Asia in tsunami alert; everyone please pray together.” Teacher Tan and I remarked: Some joker made up rumours again.
In the evening, just before sending Grandpa ErBo on his way at XiNing station, Teacher Tan called me. He told me that he found out from TV that Japan really did experience an earthquake in addition to tsunami.
17:12 –– I sent a text message to my Japanese friend, MAKI in ChengDu: “I just heard that North Japan had an earthquake, I am not sure how bad it is……I will pray for the people there! Best wishes to your family and friends!”
17:39 –– MAKI replied: “Teacher Meng, thank you for your concerns, my hometown is in the south, Shikoku. I contacted my family through the phone, they’re not affected. New Zealand, Yunnan and now Japan, my heart breaks……”
For SiChuan Earthquake, MAKI has been donating money and resources, working diligently for disaster relief. Not long after Yushu Earthquake, when she found out that we did not have enough medicine supply for the injured, she bought medicine supplies and hired a car from ChengDu to transport them to us together with Mr JiChunYaDao, in addition to RMB2000 donation. In September, when she discovered that we were helping to seek treatment for seriously injured patients as well as preparing for the winter, she immediately donated RMB10000. That money was a timely help from her indeed. The birth of little MeiDuo and her medical rescue are all thanks to MAKI’s donation, which also benefited other critical condition patients. And now, MAKI’s home country Japan is hit by a massive combination of disasters: earthquake, tsunami, fire, and nuclear crisis. How can she not provide help and support to her home country and her fellow country people?
13th March 2011, 15:24 ––
I just arrived at Yushu. On the way, I received a text message from MAKI: “To everyone who’s supporting disaster relief areas, Hello! I am MAKI, a Japanese who had previously helped with WenChuan and Yushu’s disaster relief efforts. I have just thought out an initiative for the Japanese disaster victims: “Sending Encouragement Messages to Japanese Earthquake disaster victims from WenChuan and Yushu Earthquake disaster victims”. Therefore, your assistance is very much needed! Please add my QQ (1060092183), so that I could tell you more about the details, and for ease of communication in future!”
I forwarded her message to a few of my good friends and posted this on my blog. I also replier her: “Hello MAKI! Teacher Meng fully supports you! Do your best helping the Japanese. The hearts of SiChuan BeiChuan, and Yushu disaster victims are one with the Japanese!”
15:54 –– Mary replied my message with: “I will also support this, waiting for more project details.”
17:42 –– Mother TianTian replied: “Please tell MAKI, Mother TianTian will pray for the Japanese disaster victims! I will donate RMB500, Teacher Meng please give it to her on my behalf in fastest possible way.”
18:45 –– ZengLi called from ChengDu, asking for the exact details to help out with the project, and said: “I was just discussing with DaiXiang about how we could be of help……”
18:48 –– I had a phone conversation with MAKI. As the condition in disaster areas was very serious, and disaster relief efforts have been underway, therefore, we hope that through the connectivity of the web, psychological support could be provided first. The plan is this: to gather and arrange messages expressing SiChuan and Yushu Earthquake disaster victims’ gratitude to the Japanese for providing magnanimous help and support during their time of need. Especially, the encouraging messages conveyed in a language of personal gratitude to the Japanese disaster victims, to provide them with psychological support and mentally-encouraging spirit. These will all be passed to MAKI’s hands, and with the help of her Japanese friend, translate them into Japanese language. Then, the messages will all be sent to Japan through the web, and published on various newspapers and media broadcasts, so that they could be conveyed to all disaster victims, giving them timely and needed psychological support. And when the critical disaster relief phase is over, the messages will be passed once again through postcards to give them further warm-hearted support.
Human beings’ journey of life is a journey of passing between stability and catastrophe. No matter what discords have happened in the past between ethnic groups and countries, or that they have hurt each other in the past, they will not throw away their compassion and their love for life. Other than sincerely heartfelt love, nothing else could save humankind and the planet on which we are surviving upon. A Chinese saying goes: When the lip dies, the teeth feel cold, which illustrates the importance of mutual dependence. Everyone is their own person yet, if you do not show care and concern for others but you expect the same from others and more, does that make sense?! I hope that everyone will support the Japanese disaster victims just like when they supported the Chinese disaster victims! Even your sincerity is enough to help them!!
This is not just my personal initiative, but also an initiative representing all Chinese descendents who willingly supports the Japanese disaster victims! So let’s smile and let bygones be bygones! Courage in the face of adversity! It’s this attitude and spirit that makes us Chinese descendents proud and great!
Written by Teacher Meng under the hazy sky of Yushu
13 March 2011, 20:20
Adapted from:
Teacher Meng’s blog entry dated 13 October 2010
Special thanks to our translator: Ng Lai ThinChinese Version 华文版本
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