By
For 10 hours last Friday, Yamato Kui ’11 was suspended between hope and dread, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Kui awoke that day to numerous text messages asking if his family back home was safe. Confused, he turned on the news and learned that his native Japan had been devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. When his attempts to call his parents in Tokyo were unsuccessful, he e-mailed them. And then he waited.
“They got back to me 10 hours later saying that everyone in the family was safe,” recalled Kui earlier this week. “Those 10 hours were absolute hell for me because I felt so powerless.”
Once Kui got a better handle on the situation, he felt moved to respond in as substantial a way as possible, through his role as co-president of the Japan Club of Boston College. He contacted other club members to discuss what actions they could take, as well as club advisor Assistant Dean for Student Programs Karl Bell, Volunteer and Service Learning Center Director Daniel Ponsetto and Office of International Studies and Scholars Director Adrienne Nussbaum.
The club has set up a table on the first floor of McElroy Commons this week and early next to update students on news from Japan and collect donations; bracelets with the message “Pray for Japan” will be available for sale. Visitors to the table will be welcome to fold origami cranes, Kui notes: “There is a legend that if a thousand cranes are folded the wishes of those who folded them come true.”
Suggested sources for donations and information related to the Japan disaster
• American Red Cross TEL: 1-800-733-2767 Donate Funds page
Text-to-Donate for Japan relief efforts You can donate through one of the following organizations by simply sending a text message from your mobile phone (billed to your mobile phone bill).
The American Red Cross: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10.
Convoy for Hope: Text TSUNAMI to 50555 to give $10.
GlobalGiving: Text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10.
World ReliefCorp of National Association of Evangelicals: Text WAVE to 50555 to give $10.
• GlobalGiving
• Catholic Relief Services
• The New York Times
• Up to date information about the Japan earthquake and tsunami is available at these sites: Google Crisis Responses: 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami NHK World
Kui created a Facebook event page to encourage relief for Japan. In addition, Kui said, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College and the Japan Club will co-sponsor residence hall walks to raise awareness of Japan’s plight and solicit donations. The club also is organizing a benefit concert.
Kui praised the support he and other students with ties to Japan have received from the administration — including Vice President for Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski, who arranged to host a dinner this week for Japanese students on campus — as well as Campus Ministry, UGBC and BC’s other Asian culture clubs.
“Throughout all of this, friends, roommates and classmates have been very supportive and caring by asking about my family and friends back home,” said Kui, who notes that club vice president Shotaro Imazu ’12 is in Tokyo preparing for his study abroad program and is sending along news of the disaster and its aftermath.
“After talking to other Japanese students on campus, we are all going through similar experiences because we all felt powerless initially. Now that we know what we can do to help the situation in our home country, we are all extremely motivated to raise as much as possible to donate to charity.
“Although the Japan Club will be spearheading all of the relief efforts on campus, we are not doing it as the Japan Club but as BC men and women for others. We want as many people as possible to get involved because people in the BC community — students, alumni, parents and faculty — are affected by this tragedy.”
Six Boston College students studying in Japan this semester have been reported safe, Office of International Programs Director Bernd Widdig confirmed Tuesday. Widdig said three of the six students are currently in Japan, while three are in the United States during the Japanese spring break. The students are studying at Waseda and Sophia universities in Tokyo. Widdig said his office is working with the students and the overseas directors to determine the appropriate course of action for the students, including whether the full-year students at Waseda should continue their studies and whether the students at Sophia should begin classes when they resume on April 1.
Information on campus events and activities in support of Japan will be available here, on BCInfo and Chronicle online.