僕が支援している地元佐賀の認定NPO「地球市民の会」(http://terrapeople.or.jp/main/)が、県、佐賀市、他のNPOと協力し、ウクライナの避難民の受け入れを行っています。仕事でもプライベートでも、今回の件はひとごとではなく、是非バースデードネーションに協力していただければ幸いです。
Story
「この子はもう父親に会えないと思う。」
去年の夏のある日の朝、僕と娘は近所の公園で遊んでいた。すぐにやってきた女の子とそのお母さん。娘はすぐに話しかけて友達になろうとしたが、言葉が上手く通じていないようだった。「私の娘はドイツ語わからないの」。彼女の母親はすごく流暢な英語で僕に話しかけてくれたけど、時期的にも、直感でウクライナから避難してきたのだと理解できた。「ウクライナから来たの？」とは聞けない。なので、あえて「どのくらいハンブルクに住んでいるの？」と聞いた。彼女は、３日前に車でウクライナから避難してきたこと、旦那さんはプロのテニス選手だったこと、そして、言葉は全く伝わっていないけど、すでに仲良く遊んでいたうちの娘と彼女の娘を見ながら、「この子はもう父親に会えないと思う」と言った。僕は死ぬほど娘を愛しているので、いろんな感情が湧き上がってきて、涙をこらえるのに必死だった（正直にいうとちょっと泣いた。ロシアの侵攻が始める本当に前日の丸二日間ウクライナのビジネスパートナーと今後のビジネスをどうするか議論していたこともあり、すでに当時は胸中おだやかではなかった）。何かしたいけど、何ができるのかわからない。でも、何かしなきゃいけない。そういう気持ちをずっと持っていることもあり、今回のバースデードネーションです。
僕が支援している地元佐賀の認定NPO「地球市民の会」(
"I don't think she'll ever see her father again".
One morning last summer, my daughter and I were playing in a local park. A girl came by with her mother. My daughter immediately tried to talk to her and make friends, but she didn't seem to understand the language very well. "My daughter doesn't understand German," her mother said to me in very fluent English. Since it was only a month after the Russian invasion, my intuition told me that she was an evacuee from Ukraine. I couldn't ask her "Are you from Ukraine?" so I asked her "How long have you lived in Hamburg? She told me that she had been evacuated by car from Ukraine 3 days ago, that her husband was a professional tennis player, and that her daughter would never see her father again, while she watched my daughter and hers playing together (although no words were exchanged between them). I love my daughter to death, so many emotions came up and I had a hard time holding back my tears (I cried a little, to be honest. I was already a little sad because I had spent two full days with my Ukrainian business partner discussing what we should do for the future of our business, the day before the Russian invasion really started). I want to do something, but I don't know what the best way is. But I have to do something. I have always felt this way, which is why I decided to make this birthday donation.
A certified NPO in Saga (my hometown) that I support is taking in evacuees from Ukraine in collaboration with the authority and other NPOs. Due to the current situation, more and more people are being evacuated from Ukraine, and some of them have chosen Japan as their destination. Welcoming these people requires a lot of support. With grants and donations from our supporters, Saga Prefecture has been able to continue receiving people (currently 37 people).
However, the Nippon Foundation, which has been subsidizing their travel and living expenses to Japan, is expected to end its support. The cost of traveling from Europe to Japan is about 300,000 yen. Due to the difference in prices (the average monthly income in Ukraine is about 60,000 yen), 300,000 yen is a very heavy burden for Ukrainian refugees. Whether for business or personal reasons, this is not an isolated incident, and I would be very grateful if you would cooperate with the birthday donations.
