What I actually do

It's been pointed out I should actually write about what I'm doing here.  My job is two-fold:  I'm interpreting for everyone and anyone and I'm doing whatever work the team is doing.  The latter is what I'll write about today.

The short version is, we mucked out a house.  Here's why.  We found out today (in this neighborhood, at least) the tsunami came in and then receded within a matter of twenty minutes.  The water came at least 12 feet into the first floor which means it brought in material caught in the wave, and then sucked out said same material as well as all sorts of familial possessions.  This is why the streets look like this.

These are the kinds of piles we see along both sides of the street.  This is half of a pile of what we pulled out of this house.  This pile contains household items, clothing, furniture, photo albums, dead fish (washed up from 500 yards away), food, dishes, windows, broken glass, wood, carpets, etc.  We're doing this again tomorrow at a different house.

We had 14 people working in this house today.  Over half were Japanese volunteers who just showed up and worked like mad.  The owner watched us take things in and out of his house and asked to do two things:  find his "stamp" (the stamp used to "sign" his official papers) and the urn containing his father's ashes.  We found the urn but not the stamp.

I smell like fish.  I'm also filthy.  I'm also torn by what all threw away.  They threw away thousands of dollars worth of dishes, personal photo albums, personal trinkets and more.  I've been told over and over it's important for those who are cleaning out their houses to make a clean break from the past and that's why everything, even items that could be washed and bleached and reused are all being tossed.  I realize everyday I don't understand their pain.  The scale of the devastation and the fact it goes on for miles and miles and from town to town means cleaning out this one house today is a small albeit very important drop in the bucket towards recovery.  We need help, people.  Please do what you can.  Sponsor a volunteer, donate to All Hands Volunteers (to feed me, if nothing else!) or find a way to get here yourselves.  If you're ready to get to dose of reality that will change you forever, this is an experience very worthy of investing in.  My two cents, of course.