One year on from the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami which devastated so much of the coastal area around Tohoku, Seven Beach Aid has put together an event for Sunday 11 March 2012 at Golders Green Parish Church, North London to think about Japan and those most affected.

You Are Not Forgotten starts at 2pm and is open to all who want to attend; and being a family friendly event, there will be activities for children. We will hear experiences from those who were most affected by the tsunami and volunteers who went to Japan to help. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #yanf.

Seven Beach Aid has opportunities for all sorts of volunteers to help with our 11 March activities. The charity helps those affected by the March 2011 tsunami, in particular those who most need help. We are involved in helping individuals who have been placed in temporary shelters, by providing moral and practical help. We continue to try to indentify those who slip through the net but need help the most. We raise support and awareness through a variety of activities, including our photo exhibition ‘Dare to Hope‘, fundraising events, helping other organisations in their efforts, our appeals (for example the recent Christmas Card appeal), and other ways.

We are looking to produce a programme of activities for our Sunday 11 March 2012 event, at Golders Green Parish Church in North London, which will be one year on from when the earthquake struck. We’ll need help putting the programme together as well as organising event activities, advertising the event and putting the event on.

If you’d like to be involved and want to find out more, please contact Shiori at shiori@sevenbeachaid.org. If you know someone you might be interested, then do pass on our details to them. We’re also on Facebook!

For more information about Seven Beach Aid see our website http://sevenbeachaid.org/en-GB

We took our Christmas card appeal to churches, schools and other organisations within North London and recieved beautiful Christmas messages for families in temporary shelters in response. We also received cards from other people as far away as Scotland. A big thank you to everyone who took part!

On Monday 5th December we gathered together in our London office, where we sorted through all the cards (as well as writing our own messages) and popped them into envelops, before packing them into boxes ready to ship to Japan the following day. Once they arrive in Shichigahama later in the week, they will be delivered to many of the families living in the local shelters.

Acclaimed pianist Motoki Hirai visited Shichigahama in November 2011 playing concerts for school children as well as residents in temporary shelters. He took with him a Union Jack and a Polish flag with messages of support from the UK which Seven Beach Aid collected at recent events. He was warmly received.

Having appeared across venues worldwide, in this trip he made the Japan premiere of his new composition ‘Grace & Hope’, dedicated to the victims and survivors of the great disaster.

We are very grateful to Motoki-san for his generous support for Shichigahama, and for the joy and friendship he brought to the people there. Many thanks also to Christina Aiton for taking such beautiful pictures of the visit and to Alex Miyaji for his help with logistics and hospitality. Our thanks to our supporters who wrote messages and encourage us as we help with these projects.

A selection of the pictures are below, taken with permission from the Photobucket album:

Around 1,000 families will be living in temporary shelters around Shichigahama this Christmas. All have lost homes and possessions and some have lost family. We would like to share some of the meaning of Christmas with these people and have decided to send Christmas cards from people here in the UK! If you would like to get involved you can! All you need to do is write a Christmas card to a family in Shichigahama, send it to us (our London address is at the bottom) and we will get it delivered in time for Christmas. Easy!

We will send all the cards to Japan on Wednesday 30th November, so it will need to arrive at our office before then. The address to send it to is:

Any cards arriving after this date may not be sent in time for Christmas.

Please write something encouraging. It can be short or long. If it’s hard to think of something “My heart goes out to Japan”, or “Keep strong, we are praying for you” are some examples of what you can write. Please do not write something that would make people discouraged, but do feel free to write in English – just make sure your handwriting is tidy! (Most people will need a dictionary to fully understand what you write.)

Once the cards arrive in Shichigahama they will be distributed to the families in the temporary shelters in the town. If there are any cards left over, they will be given to shelters in other towns.

The Christmas Card Appeal 1, 2, 3:

1. Get hold of a Christmas card
2. Write an encouraging message to a family living in a temporary shelter
3. Send it to us (and we’ll get it delivered)

We’re pleased to support wool donations for Yarn Alive, a Shichigahama-based initiative bringing people together in the community centers of each temporary housing development with the aim of building community and a support network.

The project started in June 2011 and sees women of all ages who have been affected by the tsunami to come together, learn how to crochet and support one another in one of the hardest times.

You can support Yarn Alive by donating to the appeal.

Please download our review of the Dare to Hope exhibition at Hyper Japan 2011 to learn more about the success of the event:

Hyper_Japan_Review_Eng.pdf

We were privilaged to bring our popular exhibition Yet I Still Dare to Hope to Kanpa+i which took place at the Japanese embassy in London on 20th September 2011.

Guests to the charity event were treated to a selection of pictures taken by Christina Aiton focuses on the people living in the disaster-hit town of Shichigahama, which is in Miyagi prefecture of North Eastern Japan. The evening also included a video presentation by Saera.

Pastor Iwatsuka Sensei from Miyako, Iwate Prefecture visits people living in remote areas who have lost there homes and sometimes family members. He regularly goes to these hard-to-reach places bringing supplies as well as (and just as importantly) conversation, encouragement and comfort.

We would like to help Pastor Iwatsuka continue this important work. You can support him by donating.