Who decide?

We had the Ibasho’s board retreat today. I am so grateful to have such wonderful board members and friends who gathered to discuss how we can achieve our goal of “creating socially integrated and sustainable communities that value their elders.” During the discussion, a question was posed “What does Ibasho do that others don’t do?” Some may think that “Isn’t Ibasho café the same as senior center?” I have sit down in a quiet place and thought about it for a while… Looking through my notes and all the pictures from our projects, I can clearly say that “We believe in elders’ wisdom and experience to reinvent our communities. We […]

Where is our hope?: 2 years after the Eastern Japan Great Earthquake Disaster

“We need a hope, otherwise, we cannot make sense out of our loss. We were motivated to bring our normal life back, but it is getting so hard to keep motivating ourselves lately. We just need tangible changes that we can see to keep us motivated to bounce back.” A Japanese woman who donated her old farmhouse for the Ibasho cafe project quietly spoke to me one day. She lost 8 family members as well as her house at this incident, and living in a temporary housing ever since. She and her husband are rebuilding their house, but it has been delayed for a long time. I have also heard the […]

Am I making elders work in the Ibasho cafe????

A comment that surprised me today… “I cannot believe that you are making elders work at the Ibasho cafe in the disaster area in Japan! Your project is not kind to elders.” I was simply shocked to hear the comment. I seriously believed that “Ibasho cafe is giving opportunities for local elders to be useful to others. They can share their valuable wisdom and experience regardless of their physical and cognitive capacities.” Almost all the elders whom I talked to at the disaster area said that “I am thankful for all the support that we have received from all over the world. However, it is getting a bit too much for […]

Ibasho sozo project- not for profit organization is formally approved

The first ibasho cafe in the disaster area in Japan is under construction now, and we have another exciting news. Elders in Massaki area in Ofunato city Japan formed a not for profit orgazation to operate this cafe as a community initiative. On February 28, this organization was formally approved by the city. Who said “older people cannot start social enterprise”? We belive that their wisdom and experience are critical part of the recovery process in the disaster area. We are confident that those elders will be great resources for younger generations in this community. We are opening the cafe on June 13th, 2013, so will be busy for the […]

Construction starts!

We have just received good news from Japan that we were waiting for a LONG TIME! Building permit for the Japan Ibasho cafe was finally approved! Thanks to all our talented team members who have been generously supporting this initiative. We still have a lot to figure out before the opening, but I am certain that we can make this project truly a community project for the local people in a disaster area. This is one big milestone to reach that we should simply cerebrate! We will keep working hard to reach the next milestone… Journey continues.

I lost everything by the Tsunami, but we still have each other

“We should create the place where our grandmothers will not feel being served all the time, otherwise they will not come back to the gatherings. Then, they will stay inside the temporary house without socializing with others…” “We should build the cafe where our elders are the ones to serve tea, rather than being served. They like to do be useful to others ” The Tsunami victims who live in the temporary housing communities, repeatedly, made these comments. Although the contexts are different, it reminded me of the elders in long term care facilities in other parts of the world. I have been pondering about “what does it mean by […]

Driving through disaster area in 11 months

We arrived in Ofunato, and drove through Tsunami affected areas (as you can see in the video clip). As you can see from the video, the devastation caused by the Tsunami was so severe and wide spread, and I could not comprehend what I was looking at from the car window. All the open space in the video was high-density area with multi-story buildings, and 70,000 mature/large pine trees were there at the beach side before the Tsunami. All the pine trees exept for one were vanished instantly… Although the magnitude of this Tsunami was so devastating and many lives were lost, local residents were amazingly resillient and inspiring. They […]

Ibasho cafe at Tsunami disaster area in Japan

I am going to Tsunami disaster area from today, and work on a project: creating an “Ibasho cafe,” partnering with OperationUSA. We will visit disaster area and meet with people who live in temporary housing community, and work together to create an “ibasho”. This cafe is NOT going to be a “senior center” where elders have scheduled visits to socialize with others and receive care, but the place where elders are involved in design, construction, and operation by providing their wisdom, experience, and compassion to the community. We envision this cafe to be a social hub where people of all ages will come and spend their time as they wish. […]

Dear Friends in the Ivory Coast

Many people in Ivory Coast are suffering from the current conflict. One of our friend, an Ivorian catholic priest sent me several images (with his comments). These pictures were taken at a large cathedral in the center of Abidjan. This cathedral was such a beautiful building located in a serene site when I visited last year. People in the city are evacuating to this cathedral and this place is completely overwhelmed. As you can see, even the church is not necessary the safe place for them. They are worried about the gun shots and debris from the bombs. Many friends of mine have reached out to me and express their […]

Ibasho Team is back from the Ivory Coast

We had such a wonderful and productive trip to Ivory Coast. Thanks to our team member’s commitment and patient, we have accomplished so much with local community. Throughout this trip, we have met so many people and exchange our ideas to come up with the better approach to create a socially integrated community where elders in Ivory Coast are valued as vital assets for others. Of course, we faced various challenges to overcome but we were able to establish much stronger shared vision among all the people who will be involved in this project through this process. We were originally planning to organize the ground breaking ceremony on the site, […]

Ivory Coast Day 2

We had a productive meetings all day. What amazed me the most was people from the community clearly shared our vision and values for this project. I am feeling more confidence about making this dream a reality. So much to talk about our day, but I am a bit too tired to write my blog with French key board now. More later, Bon nuit….

We have arrived…

After the long flight, Ibasho team has safely arrived in Ivory Coast a very warm airport welcome. Two of Bernard’s brothers and many members of the community we are working with us met us in the very crowded airport. Father Raoul Mambo even made his way past immigration to smooth the way for us. We have already found them incredibly gracious hosts and they prepared a superbly delicious traditional meal (more on food later). We are heading to bed tire and excited about the days to come. Emi is excited to be back in the country and of course Bernard cannot stop smiling in his home country again. Ann, Cheryl, […]