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| Arrival at the Ishinomaki Senshu University - the main base of operations for volunteers in the area |
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| Everything looked surprisingly calm and idyllic - more like the tent city at a music festival... |
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| University track athletes continuing to train seemingly oblivious to our presence... |
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| We initially joined up with a large crew of short term (2 day) volunteers for orientation |
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| As we crossed the canal into Ishinomaki city itself, we caught our first glimpse of the damage.... |
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| ...and of the local people working to rebuild the city. |
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| The remains of an unmanned rice mill opposite our base camp |
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| We were fortunate enough to have a roof over our head courtesy of Kaska Fashion, a textile factory which was gutted during the tsunami. |
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| The ladies room |
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| After a brief respite to drop our bags we were quickly organised into work teams....under the watchful eyes of a camera crew from Asahi television, sent to document the activities of international volunteers (more on that later) |
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| The sports centre adjacent to our base camp... |
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| On our way to our first job , we witness a truck being removed from the side of a building |
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| Our first job.... |
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| ...the residence of the Sawada family |
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| ...and what was left of their garage |
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| Katie all decked out and ready to tackle the mud... |
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| Ailyn in a brief moment of respite |
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| Our first batch of mud and garbage... |
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| Sawada-san speaking to Asahi Television |
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| Part of the daily routine - the removal of the toxic sludge from all our equipment... |
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| The closest we got to a shower all week |
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| Across the road from our camp, the damaged greenhouse structure in the background has actually been cleaned out and an attempt is being made to re-seed the land |
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| The camaraderie among the volunteers made a huge difference on morale |
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| The Asahi Television crew was tasked with observing and documenting the activities of the international volunteers, including their dietary habits! |
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| We were essentially confined to our camp in the evening. Lights out was at 10pm so we found ways to occupy our evenings.... |
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| Although many were too exhausted to stay awake until 'official' lights out |
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