WIT Life #181: Volunteer interpreter in Tohoku
Earthquake Tsunami, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers 
Comments Off on WIT Life #181: Volunteer interpreter in Tohoku
WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
For those want to help out with Japan’s recovery effort and have Japanese language skills, here’s a great way. Please see below message regarding details of a 6-week volunteer interpreting opportunity in the disaster area, and contact Laura/Jiella directly if you are interested. For those who want to help but aren’t able to make it over, think about picking up the new Travel Guide to Aid Japan. It features some fabulous sites in Japan, some of which you might not be aware, written up by an interesting mix of celebrity contributors. All proceeds from its sales (minus expenses) will be donated to the Japan Red Cross for use toward disaster recovery efforts.
———-
Dear all,
Many of you have heard of the group All Hands Volunteers, an American
NGO that has been working in Ofunato and Rikusentakata in Iwate
Prefecture doing tsunami relief since right after the March 11
disaster. This is an amazing organization that harnesses the power of
volunteers in disaster response. For those of you who were on the
USJLP Japan trip this year, you heard about them in my presentation.
Spencer and I were up in Ofunato again last weekend volunteering with
All Hands and we continue to be very impressed – there were over 90
Japanese and international volunteers working together to clear
highway ditches and rice field drainage systems, to clean and retouch
damaged photographs, and to remove damaged materials from homes
devastated by the tsunami. This organization has made a huge
difference to the people of Ofunato and Rikusentakata, and there were
posters all over town thanking All Hands for their efforts.
All Hands is continuing their project in Tohoku until November 12 and
they are in urgent need of an interpreter for these next 6 weeks of
the project.
Food, lodging and a (small) salary will be provided, and this
interpreter will be heavily involved in the day to day management of
the project, alongside an American Project Director. The interpreter
needs to speak very good English and Japanese, and will need to
relocate to Ofunato right away for the next 6 weeks.
This is a great opportunity to make a big difference and contribute to
the recovery of Japan. Please see this link for more information
about the project: http://hands.org/projects/project-tohoku/
Please let me and Jiella Esmat (jiella@hands.org) if you or anyone you
know is interested. Feel free to pass this around.
Thanks so much for your help,
Laura (USJLP ’11, ’12, and Board Member of All Hands Volunteers)
From: Laura Winthrop Abbot
Date: September 30, 2011 20:43:01 CDT
To: usjlp@listserve.com
Subject: [Usjlp] Interpreter needed urgently: All Hands Volunteers Project Tohoku
Comments are closed.