HAITI – Two years ago, a devastating earthquake ripped through the nation of Haiti—changing it forever. Since then, so many of you have made such a significant impact in these communities that we wanted to share just a few of the things your support has accomplished over the last two years.

• Clean Water – At the height of our relief efforts, 35 water purification units provided safe drinking water to more than 100,000 people…every day. We also drilled more than 30 wells and have been producing and distributing enough chlorine to hospitals and orphanages to disinfect millions of gallons of drinking water each day.

• Medical Care – When the quake hit, you helped us ship millions of dollars worth of medicine to Haiti. A few months later, we were among the first responders to the deadly cholera outbreak. We also distributed more than 3,000 wheelchairs to those in need and constructed a new surgical unit and emergency facility at St. Luke’s Family Hospital.

• Food Distribution – Immediately following the earthquake, we shipped cargo containers of emergency food supplies to feed hundreds of orphans, children, and families in need. Today, we are giving poverty-stricken families a source of income and high protein food source through fish farms.

• Orphan Care – We joined hands with Partners in Health to open Zanmi Beni Children’s Home for orphans and special needs children. Today we are continuing to improve the home through a new dormitory and even growing tilapia to provide a source of protein for the children.

In 2012, we are looking ahead to even more exciting initiatives for Haiti including being able to significantly increase the number of wells we can build each year thanks to the purchase of a new well drilling rig.

We humbly thank you for your compassion for the people of Haiti and the suffering around the world.

ERCIS, Turkey – Operation Blessing disaster relief teams are on the ground in Turkey working in partnership with Humedica, a German medical team, to bring relief to earthquake survivors.

Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

MINAMI SANRIKU, Japan – Even though seven months have passed since the tsunami along the Tohoku Coast, Operation Blessing teams are still finding opportunities to help survivors in need of eye glasses. A recent request for eye exams came from the parents and coaches of the Utatsu Middle School Kendo Team.

Kendo is a traditional martial art of swordsmanship developed during Japan’s feudal days hundreds of years ago. Today it is a major sport offered in Japanese middle and high schools, using bamboo swords and protective gear. Team members like Nobuto Hatakeyama are survivors of the tsunami. In the disaster, Nobuto’s family lost their home and their seaweed cultivation business. And Nobuto lost the special glasses the he usually wore for Kendo. Without the glasses, Nobuto said that everything was a blur and it was difficult to compete.

Nobuto’s coach had heard of OB Japan’s eye clinic and asked if it would be possible for Operation Blessing to provide Nobuto and four others on the Kendo team with the special glasses, which are designed to stay secure during competition and absorb shock. So our team invited Nobuto and his teammates to attend our next clinic the following week.

Operation Blessing was able to deliver Nobuto’s brand new Kendo sports glasses just in time for a major competition to be held in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture. To everyone’s surprise, Nobuto won each of his matches.

“The glasses have really worked well for Nobuto. The way he was competing, was national competition level,” said Nobuto’s coach.

Even though Nobuto still lives in temporary housing and his father, who lost his seaweed business, is now working part-time for a construction company helping in the cleanup effort, Operation Blessing was able to help provide this family with a glimmer of hope for the future.

Another “Kendo mom” we met was Utako Abe. Utako had also lost her home and her glasses and is now living in temporary housing with her son. Our Operation Blessing team was able to provide her with new glasses.

So far, Operation Blessing has conducted eye clinics at 21 locations along the Miyagi and Iwate coastlines and helped more than 2,500 people. Our recent clinics have reached as far north as Miyako where the highest wave of 120 feet was recorded.

Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

KESENNUMA, Japan – Our recent eye clinics have been in the city of Kesennuma, a decimated major fishing port in the northern eastern corner of Miyagi Prefecture. At our first clinic here we met the former mayor of Motoyoshi Town, which had merged with the city two years ago.

He was so impressed with what we were doing that he asked Operation Blessing to also come to his part of the city where fishermen and their families are reeling from the devastation to their homes and livelihood. Through his local contacts he quickly arranged for two more clinics and even set up accommodations for our team.

The eye clinics provide opportunities for Operation Blessing to not only supply glasses but also to hear the stories of how people managed to survive the tsunami and learn about their needs. During the most recent clinic, held at a local meeting hall that also housed evacuees, Operation Blessing met with the local fishermen’s guild leaders and city officials, who represented nearly 1,000 fishermen.

The guild office near the fishing harbor had been completely destroyed. Mr. Onodera, the head of the guild, barely managed to escape the tsunami before it hit the office. He and his assistant had first helped others in the office escape to higher ground after the tsunami warning had been issued. They tried to return to the office to check on the situation, but as he saw that trees near the ocean were beginning to fall, he knew they had to get back to higher ground immediately.

Besides the loss of many boats, fishing supplies, and various shellfish and seaweed cultivation equipment, one need that emerged in our meeting with the guild leaders was for computers to restart guild business, gather information, and communicate with the outside world.

We had already seen how providing computers to a fishing community such as the guild on the Urato Islands can leverage the aid provided to tremendous levels. Because of the computers and WiFi connection Operation Blessing had given back in April, the fishermen on the islands had a means to communicate to the mainland and around the world. Some of the younger fishermen put together a webpage and came up with a scheme whereby people all over Japan could invest in helping the island fishermen. In return they would be entitled to receive seafood product such as oysters and seaweed when they are eventually harvested.

Through this effort, they have managed to raise almost $2 million on their own. Operation Blessing’s provision of computers and commitment to providing needed supplies had given these fishermen the hope and will to fish again; it empowered them to help themselves.

We knew that for this new guild we had to act quickly, so Operation Blessing purchased five laptop computers in an inland city to present as a surprise gift to the guild. We told our friend and former mayor, Mr. Chiba, and the city fisheries official of our plan and had them call the guild head for “more talks” with Operation Blessing.

Mr. Onodera, the guild head, had no idea what the new meeting was all about. He was overjoyed when we presented him with the computers. With tears in his eyes he said, “Shinjirarenai!” (I don’t believe it!) A local newspaper reporter was also there to witness Operation Blessing in action and commented that this kind of speedy response is “mezurashii” (very unusual).

Mr. Chiba sent us a very touching fax in which he thanked Operation Blessing for providing the local survivors with glasses, which were a literal “blessing from God.” He expressed that the donated computers were a “beacon of hope” for the fishermen who had lost all their earthly possessions and are struggling to regain their livelihood.

We are continuing talks with the guild and member fishermen to learn more of their specific needs for boats and other gear that will get them going again.

Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

KESSENUMA, Japan – There is a general impression that most evacuees staying in emergency shelters are now being well supplied with basic needs such as food and water by the government. We were surprised to receive a sudden call from a pastor in the area telling us that the city of Kessenuma was sending out an “SOS” for more rice and dry foods.

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So Operation Blessing swung into action. Because we already had a rice supplier on standby, we were able to quickly arrange to take another load of 3,300 pounds of rice to this heavily damaged fishing port city where 10,000 of the 70,000 people living in the city rely on food provided by the local government.

Delivering this truckload of rice has opened more doors to Operation Blessing, and we were able to schedule another eye clinic in this city for later this week; we will also be meeting with leaders to discuss how Operation Blessing can be a blessing to the fishing community.

Today was the big day that evacuees from the decimated fishing town of Togura received the glasses that had been prescribed for them almost two weeks earlier. Were heard many excited comments on the glasses as individuals put them on: “Bacchiri!” (perfect) and “Saiko!” (excellent). Once again Operation Blessing had brought hope and a fresh outlook for the future.

All these people continue to sleep on mats on the hard floor of the facility gymnasium while they wait for a chance to move to one of the temporary housing facilities being built by the government. However, without a job the prospect of moving into temporary housing can be a nightmare. There, the families pay for their own utilities and upkeep.

Many have lost their jobs because their workplace was either swept away or damaged by the tsunami, or their company is struggling to survive in the aftermath. So some families have decided that it would be best to pass up the opportunity for temporary housing and stay in the shelter where basic food and water are available without charge.

After delivering glasses to Togura in the morning, the Operation Blessing Eye Clinic team headed towards the Minami Sanriku coastline to a resort hotel that has been turned into an evacuation center. The hotel is situated high on a cliff overlooking the Minami Sanriku Bay area. However, the first two floors of the hotel reach down near the water and had been inundated by the 30-foot-high wave that hit the hotel.

In contrast to many other buildings in the Minami Sanriku area, the hotel remained intact, and it now houses 460 evacuees, some of whom are employees of the hotel who lost their homes. We learned that the water supply system for the Minami Sanriku area was inundated with saltwater and will likely not be back on line for another six months.

To maintain a supply of water, the hotel has 80 tons of water delivered each a day by huge tanker trucks. However, a hotel manager told me that this is only a fraction of what their usual water needs are. It helps that they receive bottled drinking water, which is then rationed to one liter per person each day.

One man who visited the eye clinic today was a captain of a tour boat; he had left his glasses on his boat that had been washed out to sea. He said he was so happy to hear of the glasses clinic not only because he needs glasses to drive a boat, but because he also drives busses and trucks. Though he has lost his job with the boat company, he has volunteered to drive a two-ton truck owned by the hotel to help deliver supplies to surrounding villages. He said that he figured it would be better to be doing something rather than just sitting around waiting.

Another young man grateful for a pair of glasses was Shota Oikawa, 22, who had been a worker at a scallop processing plant. He left his glasses, which he needs for driving, in his car that was then taken out to sea by the tsunami, along with this home and workplace. He managed to escape the tsunami with only the clothes he was wearing (none other than a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt!).

Every person who comes to the OB Eye Clinic has their own story of how they lost their glasses. All have gone through the trauma of narrowly escaping the tsunami and losing all their possessions. The Operation Blessing Eye Clinic is not just about supplying glasses, but is also an opportunity for traumatized survivors to have a bit of fun as they try on the different frames and be shown a little attention and care. Hope can be delivered in various ways, and this is one way that Operation Blessing is sharing hope—helping each individual as they work to rebuild their lives and their community.

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Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

HIRAISO, Japan – We spent another day delivering long awaited glasses, this time to the survivors of the small fishing village of Hiraiso. We had conducted an eye clinic there some 10 days previously. Once again, tsunami victims were excited to be able to see properly again.

After we finished the delivery, Ms. Satoh (our main contact in the village) and her sister led us through more devastated fishing villages, and then sent us to Toyoma Town. Toyoma is an inland town where the people of the wiped out fishing village of Togura had evacuated to, and where Operation Blessing had been invited to come and set up our free eyeglass clinic.

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Our main contact was Mrs. Kondoh, a colleague of Ms. Satoh from the local general hospital in a nearby town that had been completely destroyed. She is living in the shelter with her husband, two teenage children, and her parents. When the quake/tsunami struck, the family members were all in different places. Somehow, each of them managed to escape to a nearby evacuation center, but it wasn’t until five days later that they all found each other and were reunited in the same shelter.

Ms. Kondoh expressed to us how happy the people were to receive this kind of personalized eye care. She described life in the shelter as being very busy; each of the 200 people in the shelter has some sort of task to do. We have found the Japanese shelters are organized very quickly, and all are expected to pitch in and help with anything that is needed. They do their own cooking, cleaning, and taking care of each other.

Tomorrow we head for the village of Oosu, to conduct an eye clinic in another decimated fishing village just north of the also heavily damaged major fishing port of Ishinomaki. Operation Blessing continues to be on the go, bringing hope, and a new “outlook” for the future.

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Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

URATO ISLANDS, Japan – Today our team delivered to the Urato Islands eyeglasses that had been prescribed individually to the islanders at our eye clinic over a week ago. Mr. Taketora Nishimura, the optician working with Operation Blessing to provide this service, said that it always gives him great satisfaction when the people try on the glasses he has prepared, and exclaim, “Mieru!” (I can see!)

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Mr. Yoshinobu Utsumi, an oysterman on Katsurajima (the largest of the four Urato Islands), could not stop exclaiming that he could now see so clearly. His glasses along with his whole house and livelihood had been completely washed away by the tsunami.

Now that Operation Blessing has brought hope and light to the islands through delivery of generators and eyeglasses, our next project is to provide equipment needed by the Fishermen’s Guild to help people like Mr. Utsumi get back to work cultivating oysters again.

The local gazette published by the Shiogama City Office (and delivered to every home in the city) recently published details and photos of the damage to the city and the Urato Islands. It also included a special feature on Operation Blessing’s activities in the community. The article expressed gratefulness for all that Operation Blessing has done and noted that it is reassuring for the people of the city to have an organization like Operation Blessing working with them to provide relief during this phase of recovery.

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Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

URATO ISLANDS, Japan – We finally received the go ahead from the barge operator this morning, and Operation Blessing was able to deliver the long-awaited industrial grade generators to three of the Urato Islands.

The barge left the Shiogama dock laden with our generators, drums of fuel to power the generators, and several pieces of heavy equipment that the city was sending over to the islanders. Our first port of stop was Katsurajima.

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Here Mr. Chiba, the head of the local fishing guild, greeted us and thanked us for providing so much encouragement to the islanders and the fishing community. The generators were unloaded from the barge by hanging them on the end of a power shovel.

Then locals took the generators in their little light trucks to various locations on the islands to install at shelters and other facilities.

Generators were also taken to Nonoshima, where they were installed at the hilltop shelter and local community center. On Sabusawa Island, the generators were installed at the local shelter and at the fishing guild office.

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom on the islands today, and provided a beautiful backdrop for the work being done. All of this effort by Operation Blessing was for one purpose: To bring light and hope to those struggling to regain their lives.

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Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

SHIOGAMA, Japan – On Friday we held our fourth eye clinic for the week—this time in Hiraiso Village, a small fishing and farming hamlet nestled in an inlet on the Miyagi Coast. Here, the neighboring large town of Minami Sanriku, 55 miles north of Sendai, had been wiped out by the tsunami. The village had also lost 60 percent of its houses and most of its related fishing, oyster and seaweed cultivation equipment.

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We had come to this village by special request of a local resident, Ms. Mitsuyo Satoh, a middle school classmate of Mr. Abe, our rice supplier. Mr. Abe had told her about Operation Blessing and our work in Japan.

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Ms. Satoh’s workplace at the general hospital in the next town had been completely flooded to the fourth floor by the tsunami, but fortunately she was home when the earthquake/tsunami struck. Her home overlooked the village inlet, so the waves did not reach her house, but she had watched in horror as the tsunami took out her hometown below. Eleven villagers lost their lives that day.

All of the surviving villagers are camping out in a retirement home overlooking the inlet. Because they are so far out from the larger cities/towns that have been given priority on restoring utilities, they are still without power and water, with no real possibility for them to be restored in the near future. They are surviving on supplies that are being brought in from outside the village.

The village chief, Mr. Kumayoshi Watanabe, who is a seaweed grower, was one of the first in line for his prescription glasses. His home had been flooded to the first floor. Many like Mr. Watanabe lost their glasses to the tsunami as they scrambled to run to safety.

In our conversations with the village chief, we learned that they too had a laundry issue. So, Operation Blessing did what it does best—and that was to simply go and get what the people need and had asked for. We returned the next day in our truck with three washing machines and generators to go with each. The comment that we got from the vice-mayor in Japanese, was “Minasan hayai desu ne!” (You guys are sure fast!)

Saturday was the big day that our generators were to be transported by a barge from the Shiogama Port to the Urato Islands. The generators had been kept on the fish market dock since being flown in from the U.S., where they had been prepped and awaited delivery to the islands.

However, by the time the generators were loaded onto the barge, the barge operators said that due to unfavorable weather and wind, waters outside the harbor would be too choppy to get the cargo to the islands safely. We would need to wait at least another two days.

On Monday the weather looked perfect, not a cloud in the sky. The cherry blossoms were looking great against the blue sky. We thought surely we would be able to take the generators to the islands today.

However, when we got down to the port this morning, the barge operator indicated that contrary to what the sky looked like, the waters outside the harbor were far too dangerous for the barge to safely gets its precious cargo to the islanders due to unfavorable wind conditions. We therefore would have to wait at least another day.

Part of our planned cargo for the islanders included some washing machines, and a refrigerator that had been specifically requested by the islanders. City officials quickly arranged for a fishing boat that would be able to take these items to the islanders. For these we wouldn’t need heavy equipment to load and unload as we did with the generators on the barge.

So, we did a quick trip to Sabusawa Island and Nonojima Island. We were able to deliver the washing machines and refrigerator. We pray that the weather will be just right tomorrow so this phase of our operation to the islands can be completed.

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Operation Blessing’s Japan Disaster Relief Manager, Don Thomson, shares his firsthand account of the relief efforts in Japan.

SABUSAWA ISLAND, Japan – Today was our third and last eye clinic in the Urato Islands—on Sabusawa Island. The mayor of Shiogama (the city that has jurisdiction over the islands) was on the ferry with us today. He was heading to the opening ceremony for the local elementary and middle school on Nonoshima Island, and then also went on to pay us a visit at our eye clinic on the third island.

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The clinic today was set up in a tent outside the evacuation center in the local elementary school. When we arrived at the port, we were met by several fishermen, who came to pick us up in their light trucks, which we have noticed are pretty much the standard form of transport on the islands for both luggage and people. A military helicopter also arrived at the same time, delivering essential supplies for the island.

On this island of mainly fishermen and oyster cultivators, people’s stories were very similar to those we heard on other islands. Many had lost their homes and everything they owned. Masayoshi Chonan (51) who is the head oysterman on this island shared with us how he had lost his home and all his oyster growing equipment (contraptions with floats and ropes, anchored to the seabed for stringing scallop shells on which oysters are grown).

The only thing he had left that managed to survive the tsunami was his 36-foot skiff. He was thinking about giving up on oyster growing altogether. However, after learning that Operation Blessing was working with the Fishing Guild to help people like him on the islands get back to work, he and several other young fisherman decided to get back to oyster-growing again. He looked us straight in the eye and said in Japanese, “Honto desu yo.” (This is the absolute truth!)

During the clinic, I talked to one retired man living on the island who mentioned that a major problem they were facing was laundry—by necessity they had gone back to washing by hand. It would make life easier if they could get some simple two-tub wash and spin washing machines to plug into the generators they have.

We talked to some of the women about this first, and, sure enough, the ladies confirmed that having several washing machines of the type he described would be a huge help to the community.

So along with generators, Operation Blessing will be delivering some washing machines to the islands, which will be transported on a barge in a couple of days.

Tomorrow we head to the town of Minami Sanriku. A contact of our rice supplier asked us to come set up an eye clinic for a group in an isolated community there. Minami Sanriku is another township along the Miyagi Coast that has suffered severe damage from the tsunami.

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