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In 2011,/after the Great East Japan Earthquake,/I joined a volunteer group in Sendai. Because schools were closed,/children had nothing to do. They looked bored. I thought/my painting project might cheer them up. I started working with these children. We painted the walls of a school.
A barber in Ofunato, Iwate,/asked me to paint a sign for his shop. I not only made the sign,/but I also painted his whole shop/in bright colors!
I had doubts/about the usefulness of my art project,/but I did not want to think/that art has no power/in the face of disaster. Money and supplies that people donate/can be of great help. But working together on a painting/and sharing the joy of creation/can also help. People can laugh and smile/even in the worst conditions.
In 2017,/I found myself in Mariupol, Ukraine. A war was going on. It was a very dangerous place. People were dying every day. I saw shell holes everywhere/and buildings destroyed by bombs.
In 2011,/after the Great East Japan Earthquake,/I joined a volunteer group in Sendai. Because schools were closed,/children had nothing to do. They looked bored. I thought/my painting project might cheer them up. I started working with these children. We painted the walls of a school.
A barber in Ofunato, Iwate,/asked me to paint a sign for his shop. I not only made the sign,/but I also painted his whole shop/in bright colors!
I had doubts/about the usefulness of my art project,/but I did not want to think/that art has no power/in the face of disaster. Money and supplies that people donate/can be of great help. But working together on a painting/and sharing the joy of creation/can also help. People can laugh and smile/even in the worst conditions.
In 2017,/I found myself in Mariupol, Ukraine. A war was going on. It was a very dangerous place. People were dying every day. I saw shell holes everywhere/and buildings destroyed by bombs.