Like this post? Help us by sharing it!
Hello again from Ishinomaki. Today I thought I’d share photos of life in the It’s Not Just Mud volunteer house.
It’s very much communal living here, with around 20 volunteers staying in two neighbouring Japanese style houses. It’s been amazing to get to know volunteers from Japan, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand and the US in just a few short days. Some people are short term volunteers like me, while other have been here for a month to a year. I had the pleasure of working with two deaf Japanese ladies and their sign language interpreter. My Japanese is pretty basic and involves a lot of gesturing anyway, so it was really fun to learn the official hand signs for the Japanese words I already know. Such lovely, lovely people.
The main entrance to the first volunteer house. In the next few weeks the volunteers will be moving to another building.
The communal kitchen.
The volunteers take it in turns to cook and the food so far has been gooooooood…
My room – not always this messy! I’m sharing with two girls from Germany and the US. They’ve both been here a month so are showing me the ropes.
This is the main room where everyone gathers to eat and socialise in the evenings.
The all important noticeboard assigning tasks, teams and start times for the next day.
For short term volunteers there’s plenty of equipment that can be borrowed, from overalls to boots…
…to very useful gloves.
Finally, this is the loo! Very nice and clean. I’ve been so impressed by the lack of hierarchy here. Everyone simply pulls their weight to pitch in with chores, keep the house clean and work hard and with enthusiasm on all volunteering jobs.
Every good house has a cat, of course 🙂
If you would like to donate to ItsNotJustMud and their great work, please follow this link – http://www.justgiving.com/insidejapantours-ishinomaki