Sunday, December 31, 2006
2HJ’s Harvest Pantry Reaches Families and Individuals in Need
Imagine living on 200,000 yen a month as a mother of five with your youngest child less than six months old. Your rent is one-third of your husband’s salary and then there are your bills. On top of this you have to buy powdered milk and diapers for your baby and three year old. Your older three children need money for lunch, school supplies and clothing. Even when you can provide for these needs, you worry about medical costs if one of the children should come down with something. You look for a part time job to bring in extra income, but because of the children, your only option is to work from home. Every yen your husband earns is absolutely vital to your family’s survival.
Although your husband is a hard worker, his salary as a construction worker is not guaranteed. If the weather prevents him from working, or even worse if he gets injured, your family’s income disappears. Knowing that your family is just one injury or stretch of bad weather away from not being able to afford food is a constant threat to your peace of mind.
This is the case for Riza Baitan,* one of the current 40 recipients (totaling approximately 100 people a week) in 2HJ’s newest program, the Harvest Pantry. “If my children ask me for a toy,” she says, “I always ask them to wait. I will never break a promise to my children, but it takes time to save that money. We scrape by every month.” In North America people facing situations like that of the Baitan family can receive emergency groceries from most food banks. However, the Harvest Pantry is the first to bring this concept to Japan, where 650,000 people lack food security.**
Organizations such as the Japan Association for Refugees (JAR) provide 2HJ with the names, addresses, and family size of recipients. 2HJ customizes each family’s food package, considering issues such as religion, food preferences, and dietary restrictions. After three months the recipient’s needs are reassessed. 2HJ sends the food packages via a courier service on a regular basis. “We have a great contract with a courier company,” explains Harvest Pantry coordinator Michelle Ryan, “and I think this is the most effective way to reach the individuals and families we currently support.” For a cost of only 500 yen per package up to 20 kg, the courier service also allows 2HJ to choose delivery time slots to ensure the food arrives at a convenient time for the recipients.
“The weekly package of food [from 2HJ] saves us approximately 15,000 yen per month,” Riza says. It also allows the family to eat things they normally cannot afford, such as fresh vegetables, meat and fruit. Riza says her children are ecstatic when the package from 2HJ arrives. The Harvest Pantry is expected to grow in the future to provide more people in similar situations with a safe, socially acceptable food supply in their time of need.
*Name has been changed to respect privacy.
**Based on research by Second Harvest Japan.
Writer: Ryan Fay
Photo: Yusuke Wada
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Client close-up: Refugees in Japan receive food through 2HJ-JAR cooperation
Much-needed food goes out to those who need it from Second Harvest Japan to a great network of organizations. We often hear about food going to orphanages, elderly care facilities, and the homeless, but another group of recipients is nearly invisible to many of us: people who come to Japan from other countries as refugees. Contacting 2HJ through the Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), these people and their families receive urgently needed food.
Yusuke Wada, 2HJ Resource Coordinator, recently sat down with Seiko Masuyama of JAR to get a better idea of who these people are, why they need our help, and what we can do to help them. Those who are considered to be refugees based on the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees have been persecuted in their own countries for reasons such as politics, race, and religion. According to social worker Masuyama, a majority of those in Japan who fled their own countries for these reasons are men in their 30’s and 40’s, many of whom were leaders in their own countries. “Some are Burmese who were engaged in the democratization movement,” says Masuyama, “and some others are Christian converts from Islam coming from Iran.” The flow of women refugees and families is also increasing, but the very circumstances that force people to flee their homelands often leave them with no choice but to leave their families behind.
Unable to work for legal reasons or due to personal trauma, the average refugee in Japan lives on 100,000 yen per month, has no health insurance, and has little in terms of a support network. Masuyama paints a bleak picture, explaining that, “Since they fled their own countries for political or religious reasons, some can’t even meet others from the same country.” On top of this isolation, hunger is a serious concern for these people; they most need rice, meat and vegetables, and oil. Second Harvest Japan accepts donations of all of these—provided that the items are not perishable (meats and vegetables should be canned).
2HJ uses two methods to deliver food to refugees who contact us through JAR: “homebound deliveries,” where a volunteer personally delivers the food to the recipient’s home, and sending care packages through a delivery service. We welcome volunteers for homebound deliveries. Also, since the delivery service is highly cost-effective, we plan to expand our use of it. A donation of just 2000 yen could bring comforting, needed food to the tables of four families here in Japan who may not know where their next meal is coming from.
Writer: Patricia Decker / Yusuke Wada
Photo: JAR
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