I had been frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t do anything but personal donations for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. But things changed yesterday.
The Japan Society of Northern Ireland started fundraising events for the British Cross’s Japan Tsunami Appeal all around the country. They have so far done it in places such as Belfast and Ballymena, where it could cost quite a lot for 3 of us to travel. It’s really more practical for us to donate such travel money to the Red Cross. So, we did not go. But after hearing that the society would take part in a multi-cultural event for a fund-raising at a shopping centre in my town, I decided to help them out. (My boss at work had no problem about me not working yesterday afternoon/evening. He is quite caring. My contract is “No work, no pay”, but I’m still grateful that he did not grumble about me going.)
The Japan Society placed their table at the best location inside the shopping centre, and set up an origami workshop. Ladies in Yukata (light kimono), me and non-Japanese helpers were carrying buckets for collection and trays/baskets with origami paper cranes (to give one each to people who donated money), and waiting for shoppers. Of course those beautiful ladies in exotic costumes attracted the locals. Threatened with the prospect of myself being totally useless just in a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, I decided to get my girls who were just home from school and moved my location to the entrance/exit of Tesco just across the ladies. Standing with junior-high kids and being weird with my bright red hair and blue nails, quite a few shoppers dropped coins in my collection bucket. Probably as many as the beautiful ladies in Yukata! There were quite many kids, whose parents were shopping on the way home from school runs, and they fell in love with paper cranes, and there were quite many faces I know from the town. So, the bucket was heavier than expected by the end of 3 hour collection activity.
I think that I said a year’s worth of “Hello” and “Thank you” during the afternoon. Also, I smiled and chit-chatted with people who donated money for more than 1 hour in total. So, my mouth was tired much more than my feet! Provably I could earn a lot every night if I changed my career and worked at a drinking place. (No chance with this appearances and age, of course….)
Anyway, the ladies from the Japan Society are so enthusiastic and fantastic. I usually don’t give a **** about nationality and ethnicity. But I’m very grateful that they let me join their fundraising event.
Postscript (at 19:50)
While collecting for the Red Cross, I spotted one of the eejits whom I mentioned in the post in 2006. This elderly eejit fancies only Asian girls/women (I mean, the South-East Asia and the Far East), and even stayed in the Philippines to live with young women (not much older than my big girl!), which was on TV. His brain is so hopelessly malfunctions that he clearly said on TV "It's OK to live with them (the Filipino girls who were underage)" and "Women of this part of the world knows how to look after men", which made me angry and sick. Why does the God let him live?
Anyway, yesterday he never had guts to turn his face towards me in the shopping centre yesterday, certainly because I shouted and threatened him in person never to come near me and my girls about 4.5 years ago. Instead, he was chatting and laughing with the ladies in Yukata for 2-3 minutes before putting coins in a bucket. Oh, how much I wanted to shout "He is a paedo! Run away from him!" in Japanese!!
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