One step back, one step forward

In the last month, two distinct but opposite events impacted our local community. One was a setback when a barn and a cowshed owned by the most active farmer here was engulfed in flames reducing both to ashes. Precious cattle and agricultural equipment were also lost. A large shock in any neighbourhood but an even greater one in a community so small and vulnerable to such crises. The farmer not only looked after his own land but, only in his sixties, he is the 'young' backbone of the village helping out his elderly farming neighbours plant and harvest their crops. At this stage how he and, consequently, the community recover is as yet unclear.

Yet around same time we brought a party of 30 middle and high school students from Hong Kong to Kunisaki and our community project, which is a stone's throw from the conflagration. Their week-long visit was a first for Kunisaki and our project here. If nothing else, the students' labour and their enthusiasm brought much need help and encouragement to a community that needs a lot of both.

Fruit-trees were planted in the forest garden; logs used for growing shiitake mushrooms were lifted, then transported and stacked uprighted into productive use; and potatoes uprooted. Besides contributing to our community project the students helped our immediate neighbours, a local farming couple, not just with their hard work but also with their infectious enthusiasm.

Walk Japan has been bringing students to Japan for over 15 years. But this was the first school tour of ours to visit Kunisaki. We are planning on bringing many others here to learn about rural issues, make a contribution with their efforts and, hopefully, leave a lasting and worthwhile legacy. However, it was not all hard work throughout their stay with us. The students also made soba buckwheat noodles; were entertained by a taiko drumming group; walked in the beautiful surrounding area; learnt about the ancient, esoteric buddhism of the locality; experienced sitting meditation in a temple; worked bamboo into ornaments to contain ikebana flower arrangements and stayed with local farming families. The whole experience was rounded off with a visit to a sumo wrestling tournament before returning to Hong Kong.