No.125 Ukraine Humanitarian Donation

On February 24th, contrary to expectations, Russia invaded Ukraine. When I learned that many people, mainly women and children, had begun to evacuate abroad, I felt the need for support, and decided to start collecting donations from March 1st.

Initially, we planned to transfer the money to the account designated by the embassy by March 31st, but there was an opinion that it would be better to donate at the cherry blossom and pear blossom festival venues, so it was postponed until April 3rd. Did.

After that, young people from the Inagi Junior Chamber started collecting donations at the station, and various civic groups such as the Inagi Peace Concert Executive Committee, the Inagi Flower Arrangement Association, and the Hirao Housing Neighborhood Association started their own fundraising activities. We had you go and joined fund-raising of city.

Then, we decided to make a payment once with the amount of money we had collected so far, and since it was a great opportunity, we considered visiting the Ukrainian embassy and handing it over directly. However, the embassy could not be reached by phone, and I was trying to figure out how to connect.

By the way, since the year before last, Inagi City has been holding a rice farming event with the idea of handing down the traditional Japanese culture of rice farming to future generations. Last year, a large number of Ukrainian Embassy staff helped us with the rice planting and harvesting. Especially during the autumn rice harvest, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Sergiy Korsunsky visited the rice field and had the privilege of harvesting rice with me.

In fact, due to such a coincidence, I started collecting donations immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, so I consulted with the executive committee of "Minna no FUJISAN Earth Festa WA", which is in charge of this rice cultivation event, and visited the Ukrainian embassy. I received the promise of

On April 19, I visited the Ukrainian Embassy in Nishi-Azabu, met with His Excellency Sergiy Korsunsky, and handed him a list of donations from the humanitarian aid fund-raising in Inagi City.

No matter how safe Japan is, my home country is at war, so I was at a loss as to what kind of expression I should make when meeting the ambassador. However, despite wearing a mask, he remembered my face and welcomed me with a smile as soon as I entered the room.

From my point of view, this invasion by Russia should be internationally condemned as an unforgivable act of violence. I told them that there should be no military invasion of an independent, sovereign nation, and that massacres against non-combatants would be absolutely unacceptable.

The Ambassador replied that he hoped that the ceasefire would soon come to an end and that he hopes the day will come when he can go to Inagi City to plant rice again.

We feel the same way. What the city can do is limited, but we will continue our fundraising activities and hope for a ceasefire as soon as possible.