Thursday, March 17, 2011

For Japan With Love

I am sure everyone is aware of the devastation facing Japan following the events of last week. The earthquake and tsunami have left countless dead or homeless. As someone who has loved ones living in Tokyo, it's been a stressful week, waiting for word on their situation and watching the news... sometimes actually trying to avoid watching, because the reports can be so confusing and alarmist.

I have been extremely frustrated by lack of ability to do anything tangible to help the situation. Certainly, I've been praying - and I have definitely grown in my faith enough to realize that prayer is, in itself valuable - but prayer won't instantaneously feed or shelter someone in need. God certainly tells us to bring him our needs, fears, hopes and desires. He also calls us to action where possible.

And so I should not have been surprised to see this in one of my emails tonight when I got home from our GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting The Saviour) group:

I will be honest. I considered deleting and moving on. I've never really had faith in internet campaigns to do much good. And really, what good would MY participation do? Me missing a day of posting is not exactly a rarity....

In reading further, I realized it was more than just a day of silence. There are tangible things we can do. One thing we can do is donate to Shelterbox. They were the first agency Japan contacted for help after the natural disasters and they have been there since Saturday. The actual boxes are made up of specific items most needed in the impacted areas. Typical items include, but are not limited to, disaster relief tent, blankets, water storage/purifying equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, and a children's activity pack.

If you live in Canada and you wish to contribute to the Canadian arm of this agency, check out the Shelterbox Canada.

Blessings to all and thank you for reading this post.

2 comments:

Anne Marie Hile said...

Tania, my heart goes out to those affected by this tragedy! This is a wonderful post and hopefully it will inspire someone to donate or spread the word to help those in need. The email you shared is inspiring because it truly shows that people CAN make a difference! :)

The Mama Monkey said...

Just so you know, Sami and I are making our Use It Tuesday Challenge support the Japanese Red Cross next week. :) Be sure to check it out.