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In the fall of 1954, there was an article
in a local newspaper in Michigan about
a
Japanese Fulbright Exchange student
who was
studying Rural Sociology and Adult
Education
at Michigan State University. A KEEP
supporter
read the article and mailed it to Paul
in
Japan. Soon afterwards I started receiving
letters and articles from Paul Rusch
about
the New Village Movement. At the end
of each
letter, he always wrote, gWhile you
are
in Michigan, visit dairy farmers and
see
the way they live. When you come back
to
Japan, come and see me at Kiyosato.h
It
was a sweet love call.
In the summer of 1957, I visited Kiyosato
for the first time. In those days the
trains
on the Chuo Line still had steam locomotives.
The trip from Shinjuku Station to Kiyosato
by overnight train took seven hours.
Since
we traveled through many tunnels, my
face
got covered with soot. I still remember
the
stunning natural beauty that greeted
me when
I arrived at Kiyosato Station early
in the
morning. Surrounded by mountains, Mt.
Fuji
loomed splendid in the distance. I
walked
one mile up on the mountain trail,
and found
a red-roofed cabin. The Japanese flag
and
the Brotherhood of St. Andrewfs flag
were
fluttering on a flagpole in the front
garden.
Paul had prepared a hot bath and breakfast
for me.
All day long, in his energetic way,
Paul
kept telling his first visitor about
KEEP
and his vision for the future. He had
a warm
smile on his face, and his charming,
dreamlike
narrative fascinated me. gJesus Christ
fed
people when they were hungry. He healed
the
sick. When people were in despair,
He gave
them faith and hope for the future.
I am
following what He taught me. When Jesus
Christ
told His disciples, eGo ye to the
world,f
I trust, both His arms were raised
high,
and His 10 fingers were pointing to
the world.
That is why I want to build 10 outreach
stations
in the villages. I want you to work
there.
Put to use what you have seen, heard,
and
experienced in America. Break out of
the
academic world of books and theories,
convert
your acquired knowledge to wisdom,
and use
it to help needy people.h
I stayed at Seisen Ryo Lodge for several
days, helped at the Yatsugatake village
festival,
and participated in its events. I felt
warm
when Paul greeted village people, saying
gYo!h which was fine for them. During
my
stay, whenever Paul found me among
the villagers,
he would say over and over again, gIf
you
can spare one year for KEEP, it would
be
superb.h Later, I discovered that
gone
yearh were the magic words that hooked
Paul
years ago. I was planning to teach
at my
alma mater, but very few schools hired
female
instructors in those days, and approval
from
the board of directors of the university
was not forthcoming. So I thought that
living
in the village would be good for my
research,
and accepted Paulfs offer for just
one year.
Without knowing what kind of future
lay ahead,
I devoted myself to two projects: adult
education,
and the improvement of the living and
working
environment in the villages.
By the time I joined KEEP, the facilities
that Paul had dreamed of: St. Andrewfs
Church,
St. Johnfs Nursery School, a rural
library,
St. Lukefs rural clinic, an Ohio-style
dairy
farm with 120 Jersey cows, and the
Seisen
Ryo Lodge, equipped with a hotel and
assembly
hall, were already in operation. The
institution
was established with the good will
of and
contributions from many people in America
and Canada. It was time to make good
use
of them. My job was promoting educational
awareness in the villages. I went to
villages
almost every day, staying overnight
with
the villagers. I visited dairy farmers
with
milking cows, farmers in the pastures,
and
young and old mothers at village meeting
places, who were washing dishes and
vegetables
with water from the creek. I visited
teachers
at elementary schools and played with
children.
I tried to gain their acceptance and
become
their friend. Every day was like a
surprise
party for me, a woman from Tokyo who
had
just returned from America. To me,
Tokyo
then seemed 15 years behind America,
and
there was another 15-year gap between
Tokyo
and the Kiyosato villages. At first
I could
understand neither the Yamanashi dialect
nor the Nagano provincial accent. In
the
villages that hadnft had access to
a medical
doctor for a long time, the villagers
told
me that gseeing the doctor here is
like
meeting the Grim Reaper.h A cow or
horse
was a precious asset, and lived under
the
same roof with the family that owned
it.
When they needed to have a doctor come
from
the town down below the mountain, they
took
an animal with them as transportation
for
the doctor. By the time they came home,
the
doctor would be tired from the trip
on horseback,
and the sick person would be dying.
They
told me another spine-chilling story:
customarily,
a womanfs first child was delivered
by her
mother-in-law. But the young mother
was expected
to deliver her second baby alone, in
a storage
shed with a straw mat on the floor.
Dr. Kikue Uematsu, the head of St.
Lukefs
rural clinic and wife of the rector
of St.
Andrewfs Church, visited the sick,
treated
them, examined pregnant women and coaxed
them to have their babies at the clinic.
She was really working hard for the
villagers,
while raising four children of her
own. I
too tried very hard to convince sick
villagers
to come to our clinic. It did not take
long
to realize that the best way to solve
problems
was to gain the consent of the clan
elder.
During winter, the only heat they had
in
their homes was an open hearth in the
center
of the room. I could see the stars
through
the reeds on their roofs. Most of them
were
suffering from trachoma. Convincing
them
to wash their hands more often and
getting
eye drops from the clinic were my responsibilities.
For water, they relied on spring water
from
the mountains or their well. Every
spring
we had dysentery patients because families
living higher up the mountain would
wash
diapers and underwear in the stream,
while
the families down below would use the
same
water for cooking rice and vegetables.
I
always suggested that they boil water
first
and let it cool off for drinking, and
to
have their water analyzed at the prefectural
public health office. That was also
my job.
When I had time with Paul, I told him
about
those new discoveries and experiences.
There
was shock and astonishment in his big
blue
eyes as he listened. Immediately he
would
go and sit in front of his old typewriter;
with his two index fingers, he would
type
letters to his supporters in America
and
Canada. His knack for writing letters
was
remarkable. He knew exactly what to
tell,
and to whom to write to ask for help.
Addressing
the envelopes by hand was Paulfs job.
He
would ask us to use colorful commemorative
postage stamps ? not one, but two or
three
? to make the letters more attractive
to
recipients.
As Paul had hoped, 10 outreach stations
were
built. The first thing I did when I
entered
one was wash the black light bulbs
hanging
over the hearth, which were covered
with
soot and tar, with detergent. The women
were
amazed at how much brighter the light
was.
Later we made lamp shades from kerosene
oil
cans. We were overwhelmed with joy.
The rectors
began offering Saturday School in addition
to Bible classes. Whenever they could
spare
some time, they helped the villagers,
working
in the fields and digging ditches for
families
who needed a helping hand. Some of
the villagers
believed that the rectorfs uniform
was a
black shirt with straw hat and high
rubber
boots. I helped them with their reading
and
writing skills, using newspapers and
magazines
as teaching materials. We knit socks
and
gloves with yarn donated by my friends.
We
even washed and shampooed our hair
together
at the outreach stations. Public health
nurses
from St. Lukefs Hospital in Tokyo
held childcare
classes and gave physical examinations.
When
a youth group wanted to learn to use
knives
and forks, I asked some American women
who
had come to KEEP on vacation to help.
They
demonstrated Western-style cooking
at Seisen
Ryo Lodge, and held classes in table
manners
for young adults. We learned how to
make
cottage cheese and named it gmilk
tofu.h
What a sweet memory that is! With the
generous
support of former classmates, I organized
movie nights and mini-concerts at the
outreach
stations. When I started a Family Planning
Program sponsored by the American firm
Procter
& Gamble, the gjust one yearh
I had
promised had already flown away somewhere.
Paulfs skillful attack and clever
strategy
resulted in my marrying Ryozo Natori,
executive
director of KEEP in the spring of 1959.
I
became a permanent resident of Kiyosato
and,
from that time on, Paul was the center
of
our family life.
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