南三陸町歌津にある長須賀海水浴場で、地元の子どもたちと全国ボランティア団体TSUNAGARIの方が海水浴場を復活させるためにビーチクリーン活動を1年前から行っている。
4月13日、仙台在住で地域でのこのような活動を応援しているアーティストの太田和美さんが子どもたちと海水浴場で遊ぶ企画をするというので取材した。ビーチクリーン活動は毎週土曜日に行っているが、海岸のゴミは1回や2回片付けてもなくならず、7月15日(海の日)に海開きができるように、今も急ピッチで活動を続けているそうだ。この日は子ども12人、ボランティアの方20人ほどで活動していて、参加している歌津中学校の2年生は「冷蔵庫や枕などの家具が流れてきたことにびっくりした。活動は大変だけど、きれいにすれば必ずよくなるから、この活動は続けたい」と話してくれた。
TSUNAGARI代表の勝又三成さんは子どもたちを喜ばせよう、子どもたちと遊びたい、ビーチをきれいにして夢を叶えたいという思いで、活動を行っている。また「この機会を通して、自分たちはこれからどうしていくのかを考え、たくさんの方と協力しながら続けられればいいなと思っている」と言っていた。
太田和美さんは、このビーチクリーン活動をたくさんの方に知ってもらいたいと思い、子どもたちと遊びながら海岸を掃除する様子をアート作品にし、4月20日から27日まで仙台市のギャラリーで発表した。
「まだ震災前の日常を取り戻していない。いろいろな形の支援がまだ必要だと思う。被災地の『今』をたくさんの方に知ってもらうためにも私は作品を作り続け、伝え続けたい」と話した。
取材・文・写真:竹 愛香(東松島高校1年生)
2013/06/11
I want to play at the seaside!
Manaka Take, 1st Grade, Higashimatsushima High School
At Nagasuka beach resort in Utatsu, Minami-Sanriku, the children of the town along with volunteers in the group ‘TSUNAGARI’ from all over Japan have been doing a beach cleanup for the past year to restore the swimming area.
On the April 13, we covered Kazumi Ota, an artist who came in support of these kinds of activities, who made a plan where she and the children would play at the seaside resort. Although the beach cleanup takes place every Saturday, the rubbish will not go after one or two clean ups – so in order to open the beach on the 15th of July (Marine day), the cleanup is continuing at a fast-pace. This day, as many as 12 local children and 20 volunteers took part. A student from Utatsu junior high school who was participating in the cleanup, commented, “I was so surprised to find pieces of furniture like fridges and pillows amongst the rubbish that had drifted ashore. The cleanup is hard work, but we’re definitely making it better by cleaning, and so I want to continue. ”A representative of TSUNAGARI, Mitsunari Katsumata, says he is doing the cleanup to make children happy, and because he wants to play with children and make their dreams of a clean beach come true. He goes on, “Through this opportunity, we can think about how we ourselves want to move forward. I think it would be great to continue collaborating with lots of other people”.
Kazumi Ota wants to make sure the beach cleanup is known about by as many people as possible, and is making art depicting playing with children whilst cleaning up the beach, which will be exhibited at a gallery in Sendai from the 20th to the 27th of February. “We still can’t go back to normal life as it was before the earthquake yet. I think support from everyone is still very important. In order to communicate to as many people as possible the state of ‘now’ in the area hit by the quake, I will continue making work.” says Kazumi Ota.
(Translation: Daniel Draper, Jennifer Hikari Dixon)