Beautiful photos and touching post - our goodies have arrived - please pop over and have a read - see if you recognise any of your crafting :)
There is a wonderful slide show at the end of the posting, scroll down and have a read. My contact over in Japan - Christina also sent me this wonderful letter -
I just got back from up north in Kesenuma where we were able to hand out blankets that the ladies here in Shichigahama made (the same ladies that received your blankets months ago and were inspired to create and help others also affected by the tsunami), and the teddy bears that you sent us!
We visited a "mothers house" which is basically a place for young children with autism to come along with their mothers and be taken care of by volunteers. The story of these volunteer ladies is extraordinary. I will have the whole story written up on the Japan Alive blog later tonight so check it out there. For today, we gave them the blankets and teddy bears to distribute fairly amongst the young children and mothers. However these same volunteers also lost everything and have their own children that they take care of so we encouraged them to also choose a blanket and teddy bear to take home.
I wanted to send you some pictures. It's really a series of pictures of just one particular girl who caught my eye! When the teddy bears came out she really looked at them all and chose carefully. You will see this in the first few pictures. She was very quiet and reserved in comparison to the other ladies. She really took this teddy bear picking very seriously. But take a look at the last couple of pictures . After about 30 mins we finally got to see her smile! And I just love that all the ladies in the last picture are pointing and smiling at the blankets but she is just happy about the teddy bear that she has chosen. You could really see how much it impacted her
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So please encourage your amazing group that they really are making a difference in all generations!
We will be passing out your blankets and other toys in another area so will forward on those pictures when they come through.
Many thanks again!
Isn't that wonderful!!!
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Tears in my eyes; it is so gratifying (hard to put into adequate words) that our efforts have made it to Japan and were well received. The teddies will be loved to bits. I think I spotted my blanket too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kate for making a difference to their lives as well as mine. It was you who rallied us into action and kept us motivated.
I can't see the picture - is it a problem my end?
ReplyDeleteWonderful xx
ReplyDeletedon't know what to say, must pick up my hook again
ReplyDelete