Writing
This is a disaster for which there are no words. But process it--and help--we must. Please use the comments on this post as a space to share links to writing, links to organizations in need of donations, and words for our fellow She Writers based in Japan.
For starters, please check out this post by She Writer Marie Cooper, "Hearts with the Japanese". Marie mentions Sachiko, a blogger from Japan with family there, who is using her blog Tea Rose Home to implore the public to help in whatever way they can. As Marie writes, "Financial contributions to reputable organizations seem to be the most efficient method of assisting. Even donations as little as $10 are welcome." Read Marie's post for links to charities organizing relief efforts, or see the list below.
She Writer Hollye Dexter has posted a beautiful "Prayer for Japan".
And New York Times writer Marie Mutsuki Mockett wrote a heartwrenching piece yesterday, "Memories Washed Away."
Japan, our prayers are with you.
Relief orgs:
• Cruz Roja Española
• Canpan Fields (a Japanese nonprofit organization)
• Save the Children
• Non-Believers Giving Aid
• NGO Jen
• International Medical Corps
• Association of Medical Doctors in Asia
• Canadian Red Cross
• American Red Cross
• Doctors without Borders
• The Salvation Army
• Oxfam
• Global Living
• Care
• ShelterBox
Image: Signalnoise Store
Just donated to Save the Children UK - they have a team on the ground helping with practical relief and emotional support for thousands of displaced children.
Life can change in a heartbeat. Our hells and our heavens can be so few inches apart.
Praying for everyone who woke up to a day that no one should ever see. Thank you SheWrites community for your compassion in everything you have shared here.
Cx
Good cultural commentary by my friend and colleague Jane Harrigan here:
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Thank you so much for referencing my post. It is such an overwhelming catastrophe and ours is, really, such a tiny planet. The Japanese are us.
In today's New York Times I left a comment following a piece on how best to aid Japan. I told of my grandfather, a New York City police officer, who had the highest regard for the Salvation Army. After decades on the force and countless disasters, he observed the Red Cross had high visibility and gave out good coffee (he had a wry wit), but for quietly getting in and getting the job done, no one could beat the Salvation Army. Just a thought.
Thanks for putting this up.
--I'm afraid there will be no more Tokyo. And Japan is such a small country too. . . . All the no-nukers from my childhood are having no delight in being right, I'm sure. Who cares to say, "I told you so," when there is so much suffering and devastation involved? My tiny little spiritual-environmental effort to make an (infinitesimal) dent in this fuel/power problem that we have was to recently switch my electric over to all wind-generated.
They are worried about the reactor unit that's got the Plutonium. The half-life of Plutonium is 50,000 years, if I'm remembering correctly. WE ONLY HAVE ONE PLANET. And who do you know who has that kind of time? It looks like Armageddon over there. It's tragic and it PISSES ME OFF. These politicians who never listen. After the H-bomb fell that should have been IT for nuclear power. These men in power all need to be put on a time out!
K9sardog.com is a search and rescue operation
Internationalministries.org/items/221 is a Christian affiliated group and this link will take you directly to a site dedicated just to quake/tsunami victims.
The list of relief organizations should include the Japan Red Cross: http:/
Anyone can organize a reading and take donations at the door to send to a relief organization.
Pat
Here's part 10 of a series of poems responding to the Poets & Writers series, The Time Is Now. This post deals with the difficulty in writing about the situation in Japan, ending with a poem that attempts it.
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Here's another set of links: 7 High-Tech Ways to Help
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Thanks for the info Maureen. I posted the auction link to my facebook page as well. Hopefully that will help get the word out.
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I noted this yesterday on my FB page: Authors for Japan
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The auction continues to the 20th.
Another people should know about is Google's People Finder and the many, many other resources listed here:
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I've tweeted a lot of relief aid groups and information.
Thank you Deborah, so much. It means the world to my inter-cultural family to see Americans reach out to Japan. I think that most of us feel overwhelmed, almost paralyzed by the devastation. Thank you for bringing awareness to what positive steps we can take.