Phyto-remediation is one technique that will contribute to ARI’s efforts of removing radioactive matter from its farmland. Tested in Chernobyl, it uses plants such as sunflowers and leaf vegetable that can absorb cesium. The video here was edited by the United Church of Canada. ARI staff member Steven Cutting explains in more detail about how ARI regards its relationship and responsibility towards working with nature.

 

 

An EFARI member and current staff at ARI, Fujishima Itsuo, created a gallery to illustrate how has life been during the past six months since the earthquake hit and the radiation fear began.

 

 

This collection of moments that help us undersand how it has been to go through the nuclear crisis in a rural community like ARI. These images show us some of the usual activities at the farm, distorted by the ghost of nuclear contamination. We recommend paying special attention to the captions, they help getting a broader undersanding of the story behind the shot.

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Thank you Fuji. ありがとう。

The last EFARI meeting was held in Vienna on the weekend of March 26th to 27th.

Administrative issues were solved and formal positions were reassigned. We also had an important discussion over the situation of the Asian Rural Institute after the earthquake and the nuclear crisis that is not yet over. We had the great pleasure to talk via skype with Steven, Tomoko and Fuji who are currently living at the Seminar House in the ARI Campus in Japan. It was touching to have the chance to directly hear from them about the current situation of the community, the state of the buildings and daily life under the threat of radiation.

 

Steven has written a couple of reports on the situation at ARI and the perspectives for the future of this year’s training program. You can find the first of the in AFARI’s blog.  The most recent one is online too, also in the AFARI’s webpage.

 

 

 

Another skype session was held with Frauke, now in Germany after being sent back by her sending body. We were very encouraged by her enthusiasm. On more practical terms, a lot of work was done folding the volunteer and general brochures.

 

 

 

Frauke Gier, who until some months ago was a volunteer at ARI, was interviewed by a local newspaper last week and asked to talk about her experience during the earthquake and nuclear crisis. She is now in Germany, hoping for the things to calm down and to be able to go back to Japan.

 

Frauke Gier from Lohne in Lower Saxony, Germany experienced the earthquake in Japan. She was working as a volunteer at the Asian Rural Institute, which is located 100 kilometres south from Fukushima. Now she is back home and wants to return to Japan as soon as possible to help. She told Journalist Volker Kläne about last week’s tumultuous experiences.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

“On Friday, ten minutes to 3 o’clock, the earth is shaking in Nishinasuno. This is nothing out of the ordinary in Japan.  This time, however, the earthquake becomes stronger than usually, much stronger. “It just didn’t stop. I was on the first floor when it happened. A Japanese co-worker shouted: “We have to get out of here!” but an Indian staff member and I couldn’t make it out in time”, remembers Frauke Gier. The twenty-year-old has no time to think but does the right thing.

“We hid under our desks. Once we had done so, the earthquake became stronger. I didn’t see much. It felt like a giant had picked up the house and was shaking it. Furniture was hopping and it was incredibly noisy.” Computers, books, drawers, shelves – everything crashes to the ground. “I just hoped it would be over soon.  The desk hit my forehead and I panicked, thinking the whole building would crash down on us. I could only scream.” After one and a half minute that felt much longer, the earthquake lessens. She and her colleague free themselves from heavy folders, boxes and books scattered on the floor and escape – unharmed.

Frauke Gier was a volunteer in Japan. She was working at the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) in Nishinasuno, a big model-farm where rural leaders from Asian and African countries are being trained in sustainable agriculture. Before the earthquake, the twenty-year-old told our local newspaper enthusiastically: “The atmosphere at ARI is very friendly and family-like. Working on the farm twice a day with other volunteers, staff members and participants is a lot of fun! Feeding the pigs and chicken, collecting eggs and harvesting, sowing and cleaning of sheds – I really enjoy all of this. When a woman from Sri Lanka tells you about the hard work at tea plantations, or a man from the Republic of Congo about the consequences of the war for farmers, this is when you realize how much you can learn at ARI. During the day, I work in the office and help in the Admissions Section. I write e-mails, call airlines, contact embassies and take care of applications. This way, I get to know many NGOs all over the world, read about lives of people from places like Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Thailand and the Philippines.”

The earthquake changed everything. The buildings at ARI are a mess. Taps have been ripped off the walls, there are cracks in the ground, from which water emanates because water pipes have been broken. Power lines could fall down because of the ongoing aftershocks. There is no electricity anymore. Everybody gathers at a safe spot and it turns out that nobody is hurt, luckily. But everybody is shocked and even many  Japanese say they have never experienced an earthquake this strong before. The situation is serious and tense, but at the same time the Japanese try to keep up everyday life so that mail is delivered by an unimpressed postman half an hour after the big earthquake. Frauke Gier informs a friend via e-mail from her cellphone about the situation and that everything is okay.

But nothing is like before. The following night, ARI community spends near campus at Nasu Seminar House, which is the safest building around.  At 4 a.m. electricity returns; thirteen hours after the earthquake. In the afternoon, while people start to clean up and assess the damage at the buildings, news about problems at the reactors in Fukushima prefecture spread. Two weeks before, ARI community went skiing in this prefecture.

ARI director Kenichii Otsu leaves the decision of leaving or staying at ARI to each person. Frauke Gier and many others decide to stay. In the evening though, news on TV show an explosion at one of the reactors. This is when panic starts to rise. Frauke is being  told to pack her things immediately. “Two jeans, some shirts, tooth brush, laptop, handy, camera”, Frauke sums up. “I left all my other things.” Along with two Japanese and one American volunteer as well as two Training Assistants from Liberia and the Philippines, she flees down south to Saitama by car to take shelter at a friend of ARI’s place.

It’s Sunday. Frauke Gier writes countless e-mails and facebook messages to friends in Germany and Japan. “At that time I didn’t know I would have to go back to Germany”, she recalls. Later she joins a Japanese friend and goes to Tokyo.  The metropolis is barely affected by the happenings up north.  All the channels on TV show news, around-the-clock. Frauke Gier is shocked by how the international media report about the situation in Japan. “News shows in Germany claimed that the Japanese people wouldn’t know what is really going on in their own country. This is just not true. People don’t want to spread panic when it is unnecessary. The Japanese show solidarity and feel that they have to master this situation together. The Japanese media mostly reports in a quite objective way and keeps calm, whilst the international media tends to exaggerate and spread information based on presumptions.  Of course the situation is dangerous. But the Japanese people coped with it pretty well so far.”

Her Sending Body, SFD Kassel e.V., did not want to take a chance and orders Frauke Gier on Monday evening to return to Germany. She wanted to stay. But her family urges her to come back as well. The next day, she goes to Nagoya by Shinkansen to take a plane going to Frankfurt via Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night. The flight costs 1400Euro but other airlines such as Lufthansa demand a higher price, up to 3000 Euro, Frauke Gier remembers.

On Thursday the young woman is back in Lohne. So far she still needs to realize what happened.  However, she hopes that the workers at Fukushima nuclear power plant will be able to get the situation under control. She is worried about her friends in Japan who feel a lot of stress and anxiety.

Above that, the level of radiation is slightly raised at ARI as well, even though it is not health threatening yet.  Frauke Gier wants to return as soon as possible. “ARI needs help to rebuild the campus and not being there right now feels like abandoning them”, she says. Therefore, she wants to collect donations for ARI. If you want to support her and ARI, please send her an e-mail (F.Gier@gmx.de). “As soon as the situation calmed down, I will go back”, emphasises  Frauke. It’s ten to twelve and just  a week ago, everything was still alright.

Frauke Gier, current volunteer at ARI since september 2010, wrote this report on saturday 12th, the day after the earthquake. It was initially posted in her blog but she kindly translated it to english for us.

“Long story short, we are not at ARI anymore, but in Saitama.

ARI is nearly deserted I think.

On Friday at around 2.50, an earthquake of M.6 hit Nishinasuno. Fortunately, it did not destroy buildings but just messed up everything – after two earthquake waves and several after shocks that still continue, electricity went down and water pipes broke, windows shattered and you could see cracks in the ground.

ARI is just a big mess;  papers, boxes, broken glass, shelves, just everything fell to the ground, furniture crashed down, glasses broke, books are scattered on the ground. It looks like ARI was hit by a bomb. Waters coming from the ground like little wells because the pipes broke. After the first shock we stayed outside since there were many, some pretty strong, aftershocks and the buildings were not safe. We stayed at Nasu Seminar House, which luckily wasn’t affected by the earthquake at all since it is a very new and solid building and in the morning at about 4 a.m, electricity returned. We had the radio going all night, reporting from tsunamis, more earthquakes and many missing and dead people.

Saturday came with eerie sunshine and it revealed the damage at ARI. We assessed the situation and started cleaning up, moving food from kitchen to Seminar house and take pictures of the damage. Everything was going good and people were in a positive mood – until the news about Fukushima spread.  At first, we were not so worried and kept on going. In the afternoon, Otsu sensei  gave everyone the choice to go or stay at ARI.

We decided to stay at first and only working visitors left. After foodlifework though, the news about an explosion at Fukushima worried us a lot and within thirty minutes we packed our bags, took the Kindergarten van and left, heading down south. There was no time to think really or plan, since we just got really scared within a short period of time and just wanted to get out.

Along with three ARI volunteers and the two T.A.s (Training Assistants), we left Tochigi, headed towards Utsunomiya. After five hours we ended up in Saitama, where we stay at a friend’s house. Traffic was pretty bad, many people were leaving and we were lucky to be able to get gas before the station closed.
Tomorrow we will call staff members and see about the next days and what to do. Whether we will return to ARI – we don’t know.  If there will be participants, nobody knows as well.

Everything is uncertain.  What we know is that we were so lucky, for no one was hurt and ARI is still standing.

At the beginning of an earthquake you feel like you are dizzy and you wonder whether this really is an earthquake or it is just you. Then windows start to make sound and you the ground starts moving, things start swaying. If it’s strong, tables start to bounce and everything makes a sound, it’s just so noisy.
Everything is falling to the ground and it feels like somebody is shaking the whole house because everything is moving. You’d think that the earth is the most stable and solid thing there is, and when suddenly you cannot walk straight anymore because it’s shaking too much, it’s just strange.

We were really, really lucky that nothing worse happened and nobody got hurt. The last two days were just crazy – out of the ordinary, just weird. We will see what tomorrow brings, so far everything seems uncertain.”

Frauke is in Germany right now but she is hoping she will be able to go back to ARI soon when the situation improves.

Please visit our new gallery called “Earthquake Aftermath” with pictures showing the consequences of the Earthquake in the Asian Rural Institute’s buildings and campus.

The photographs were taken by Peter McNicoll, currently a volunteer at ARI.

As you know, Japan was dramaticaly hit by an earthquake last friday march 11th. People from all over Japan suffered from it, specially those living in the Northeast part of the main island.

The Asian Rural Institute is located south of the epicenter of the earthquake, which means the campus was not as badly damaged as other places further north. However, several buildings were damaged and can’t be used by the ARI community members. Participants are due to arrive on April 1st, and in the current situtation it is still uncertain wether they will be able to start taking classes or not, or even stay at ARI at all.

Hopefully, ARI has many contributors, friends and volunteers willing to contribute to the reconstruction of the buildings. Many are expected to come from the capital to help. But appart from hands, they will also need money to pay for some of the reparation costs.

For anyone wishing to help the Asian Rural Institute economically, there is the possibility to donate any income you consider to the European Friends of the Asian Rural Institute. We will make sure the money is transfered to ARI and used to help the reconstruction.

Here is the information of the account:

Account holder: European Friends of Ari
Account number: 80977
Bank code number: 53350000
Bank name: Sparkasse Marburg
Purpose: Earthquake
IABN: de37 5335 0000 0000 0809 77
BIC: heladef1mar

Contributors from Germany can get a tax deductions. If you donate from a German bank, and you can to deduct the tax from your taxable income, please send us your full name and adress here.

We received another report about the situation at the Asian Rural’s Institute. On the second day after the earthquake, our worries are focused on the nuclear plant of Fukushima, just 100 km north of the campus. Thanks to our AFARI friends for keeping us updated.

“Reported by Claudia Yamamoto

I just talked again to UMC missionary and ARI staff , Jonathan McCurley. No injuries.

The water is on in some areas of ARI has shut off or is not flowing in other areas.   All buildings have been badly damaged well as the live stock facilities.  It is hard to determine the extent of the damage everywhere until the after shocks have stopped and staff have a chance to look around completely.  One of the hardest hit buildings is the main building which is the “heart of ARI”  where classes, meetings, gatherings, etc. are held. They cannot get into the building now with all the glass broken from the windows and plaster from the roof. Plaster has fallen in many of the other buildings from the ceilings. Everyone spent the night in the cafeteria  with no electricity as there was concern as to the safety of the dorms with plaster falling  from the ceilings.

The overseas participants are not at ARI as of yet as they are scheduled to come at the end of the month.  It is still not determined if they can come due to  the damage to the buildings and livestock areas.

Right now staff are deciding as to whether  they should  evacuate or not. There is concern about radiation leakage from the fire of the  Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant 100 kilometers away.  There are reports of government officials advising everyone to evacuate if they are 100 to 200 kilometers from Fukushima.   (People near the plant have already been evacuated.)  Half of the  ARI staff and volunteers  have already left .  More were leaving as Jonathan spoke to me.  Jonathan did not know if his family should leave ARI or not but is waiting for further news and praying.  They have asked for prayers.

In prayer, Claudia “

We received these reports from the American Friends of the Asian Rural Institute:

“AFARI has received a report that everyone at ARI is safe.  At the same time there has been significant damage to the buildings on campus.  Windows in Koinonia house have been shattered and other buildings have structural damage.  The extent of the damage is still not known as aftershocks continue to hit much of northern Honshu.   AFARI is in the process of finding out if ARI has insurance for the damaged buildings.  If ARI is in need of funds to deal with the damage, AFARI will make an announcement on this website and through email.

Please continue to keep the ARI Community, and the nation of Japan, in your thoughts and prayers.”

And…

“ARI Update from Shinko Takami via Kaori Natsume (daughter):

Mr. Kasai came to check on the ARI buildings the day after the earthquake.  Women’s & men’s dormitories are fine.  (At this point we are not sure if ARI has insurance against earthquake. Koinoniya House’s dining room floor is now tilted.  Broken glasses are all removed, but people are not using the building because of the safety reasons.  The main building is OK at this point, but people don’t feel safe enough to be inside of the building so they are staying away unless necessary.  A lot of clean up needs to be done in the main building. Seminar House is all fine, so people are using the facility there. The water pipe is broken so there is no water running at ARI.  ARI people come to get water from my parents’ house which has a different water system.

All the animals are safe and sound

The staff housing, Mr. Nozaki, Mr. Kikuchi, Mr. Miura’s houses are all fine.  Though minor damages here and there. ARI has many many friends & supporters living in Tohoku area where the most hit by the earthquake.  At this point I don’t know their safety.”

We also received these images showing the current state of some of the buildings:

We will continue updating about the situation at ARI’s campus in Nishinasuno and the community members. In order to read more news,  you can also check the facebook ARI’s support grup here.

We are happy to announce that one of EFARI members managed to organise a talk at the London School of Economics (LSE) under the tittle:  “Rural Development and ‘Servant Leadership’ – Is Bottom-Up the Way for Sustainable Development?”

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The event will take place on March 8th at 18.30 / 19.00 at the LSE, Houghton Street.

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Here is the official description:

“Rural Development and ‘Servant Leadership’ – Is Bottom-Up the Way for Sustainable Development?

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Steven Cutting, in charge of fundraising and international volunteers, from the Asian Rural Institute will address this question and will introduce the Institute, followed by a few case studies from the field presented by Dennis Keller, former ARI volunteer and current MPA student (LSE), and Q&A session.

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The Asian Rural Institute (ARI) is an international training center established in 1973 in Japan.

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Participants from developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Pacific are invited to study at ARI for nine months in sustainable, organic agriculture techniques, leadership and community development. ARI invites 25 to 30 grassroots rural leaders to study at Nasushiobara, Japan, every year.
ARI conducts a Rural Leaders Training Program which is designed to enable its participants to become more effective leaders in their local communities. This training focuses on facilitating the self-development of marginalized people. Those invited for training must be involved with local organizations that are already working within their communities to affect change. That is, we are training leaders who have already demonstrated through action a strong desire to serve their people.

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All ARI participants are rural grassroots leaders, such as clergy, teachers, agricultural trainers, social workers, youth leaders and NGO workers. We believe that rural leaders are a true conduit for community building as they are an integral part of their communities and know what the people really need. We place an emphasis on reaching the most marginalized, poor and oppressed peoples, especially women, tribal minorities, and those of lower castes including untouchables.

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Steven will focus on issues mentioned above and more specifically also: what sort of people come to the ARI? food aid versus training people? why train ‘leaders’ and not just farmers? what is self-sufficiency? He’s very much flexible and welcomes any thoughts, questions and issues that you would like to address.

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After Steven’s presentation, Dennis will introduce a few case studies of what ARI Graduates do upon returning to their home countries. They will be drawn from East Africa and South Asia or Southeast Asia.”

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You can also check the Facebook event and sign up if you think of attending the Talk.