Mr. Nakajima (right) holding a book bookmark made using Oya’s technique, and Ms. Ogura holding a donation box, both in Kawaguchi City.
After the earthquake that hit southern Turkey and Syria on the 6th, a circle of support is spreading even in Saitama Prefecture. Kawaguchi and Warabi are areas where many Kurds from the southeastern part of Turkey, who were affected by the disaster, live. In his home country of Turkey, his relatives and acquaintances were devastated. “We can’t overlook the damage done to our neighbors.” (Ao Ideta)
Miho Ogura, 57, the proprietor of the book cafe “Kokoshiba” in Shiba, Kawaguchi City, set up a donation box on the 8th, shortly following the earthquake. At this store, Naomi Nakajima (64), a friend of hers, has been inviting Kurdish women from the city as lecturers for the past five years to open traditional Turkish lace handicraft classes called “Oya”. At a class held on the 14th, a 55-year-old female lecturer said with a deep sigh, “My relatives were fine, but the houses in the village were all small and collapsed.” One of the participants, Ai Furukawa, 37, said, “As a resident of the same town, I can’t think of it as a single thing.”
In order to help, Mr. Nakajima started selling Oya’s earrings online on the 7th, the day following the earthquake. It was sold out in just a few days, and the entire sales amount of 220,000 yen was donated to relief efforts. The items were shipped with explanatory papers that answered questions such as “Why do Kurds need to escape from Turkey and come to Japan?” In the future, he plans to donate the proceeds from online sales of handicrafts.
The Turkish restaurant “Happy Kebab” (Shiba Shinmachi, Kawaguchi City), which attracts many Kurdish customers, also put a donation box in the store. It is said that he called on his friends to collect food and clothing and sent them to the site.
The Japan Kurdish Cultural Association, which consists of Kurds living in Japan, collected regarding 25 million yen by the 14th and sent it to Turkey as the first donation. “Originally, there was persecution of the Kurdish people by the Turkish government, and this big earthquake took a lot of lives. and Secretary General Wakkas Cholak (41). “Considering the chaos in the area and the difficulty in gathering information and the distance from Japan to transport, cash is needed more than supplies,” he explained. In the future, he would like to support Kurds living in Japan who have lost family members and relatives.
◆ Municipalities and stores are also set up
In response to the massive earthquake centered in southern Turkey on the 6th, the prefecture set up collection boxes at the prefectural office and other locations for relief and reconstruction support. Applications will be accepted until May 31, and donations will be donated through the JRCS.
Donation boxes will be placed in three locations: the Prefectural Citizen Information Office on the first floor of the Prefectural Government Main Building (Takasago, Urawa Ward, Saitama City), the Information Center on the first floor of the Second Government Building (same), and the Prefectural International Exchange Association (Kitaurawa, Saitama City).
In addition, by the 14th of this month, each local government such as Saitama City, Kawagoe City, Okegawa City, Kawaguchi City, Warabi City, Ina Town, Ogose Town, and Cainz (Headquarters / Honjo City) stores will set up donation boxes. or are preparing. In the evening of the same day, Katsunori Ono, the mayor of Okegawa, and city officials held a fundraising activity in the free passage of JR Okegawa Station. It will also be held from 5:30 pm on the 17th. (Yusuke Sugihara, Tetsuya Fujiwara)
A donation box was also placed at the Turkish restaurant Happy Kebab, where visitors put money in.