A Message from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees
 |
 |
The roses in the background of my picture are Anne's Roses |
Facing this severe reality―the devastation of the triple tragedy that hit Japan on March 11, we are at a loss for words. We express our deepest condolences to the people in disaster areas and pray for a speedy recovery. We should not waste a minute in starting every possible support for our students living in affected areas.
In Romans 5:3-5, Paul says "Tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint." My heart has never been touched so strongly before, by reading this scripture. Good can come of this. We can have hope.
Also, there is an old saying, "Time is a cure." In the healing process from the tragedy, perhaps it might be better for the victims to let them weep and endure first instead of calling out "Ganbare ! " to them immediately after the disaster. People usually start to think, "Let's move on." after a certain amount of time passes. So students, hang in there, and let's face this situation with hope.
Looking back on 3.11, each school of our community was supposed to have commencement during the very next week. (3/15 for ICJH, 3/16,17 for Kindergartens, and 18 for university.) We had to cancel them and faculty and staff were flooded with confirming the safety of students and their families, as well as checking on buildings and facilities of our campus.
At the same time, immediately after 3.11, we started to do what we could in our area. Under the Christian Center's direction, IC has established two relief funds for victims of this Triple Tragedy. "Be a Neighbor" fund provides financial support for people in the affected areas through disaster relief organizations. "Life Together" fund assists individual students of IC and their families, so that students can continue their education. The fund also supports volunteer activities to the affected areas coordinated by IC. We are thankful for the starting of these projects.
On March 15th, a Christian disaster relief organization, CRASH JAPAN（Christian Relief Assistance Support Hope）, asked us to provide a base and accommodations for their volunteer teams going up north. Their request was to use part of IC campus as a base camp to unload supplies from containers from abroad to take them to the cities of Kita Ibaraki and Iwaki. We welcomed them with full cooperation. CRASH JAPAN was started by an American missionary, during the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Volunteers come from all over the world, people from many walks of life, such as pastors, medical doctors, firefighters, etc. I was amazed at the promptness of the launch of the group, their process of securing base camps, and their long-term approach with a multifaceted view. We truly appreciate and honor their well-organized management.
Up to the present on campus, IC students, faculty, and staff have also been doing what they can do with one heart. Students always help in CRASH activities of loading and unloading supplies, university and high school choirs present fund raising performances at the train stations, the institute of counseling offers free telephone counseling by trained counselors, and many more countless individual activities. The "Spirit of Diligence", which spares no effort in doing things, and the commitment of "Life Together", which cultivates individuals who are compassionate and able to help others, are the core of our IC school motto, and these are the goals of our education.
Anne Frank's roses are now beautifully in bloom at our chapel building, Kiara-kan. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but she later exiled to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with her family, to escape from Nazi persecution. Later, the persecution was expanded to the Netherlands, so they had to live in a hiding place. After two years, they were found and arrested by Nazi and taken to a concentration camp. Anne got typhus infection because of the unsanitary living environment, and passed away at the age of fifteen.
Anne did not seem to get along with her mother and her sister Margo, because they were always fighting each other. However, according to her diary, her relationship with her father was different. "There is no one else I love except my father." He, Otto Frank, was the only survivor of the family when the war ended. Otto could not forget the scene of Anne sitting by the window, looking at roses outside with her chin resting on her hands. Then Otto asked a gardener to create a new kind of roses to commemorate Anne, and named it Anne Rose. Years later, the descendent of this rose was brought to Japan, and to IC through churches in Japan. Every year, the roses delight us, and we give 20 grafted plants raised by a local gardener to groups that apply, such as schools, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. These groups are both in and out of the prefecture. This year, after the devastation of the Great East Japan Earthquake, an elementary school in Minami Sanriku, Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst Tsunami affected areas, applied to receive a plant and we gave it to them at the Anne Roses Chapel held on our campus in June.
Anne Frank was a lively girl who always liked to make people laugh and enjoy time together, even when she had no food, nor even a change of clothes. No matter how desperate the situation was, Anne did not give up her hope. That is our desire for all affected by the triple tragedy…don't give up your hope!
June, 2011
Hitoshiro Kanayama, Chairman
