自我介绍

After spending nearly two years backpacking through Africa and other parts of the world, my wife and I moved to Osaka in 1998, just before our first child was born. When our 5th child was on the way, we knew we had to move out of our typical 3 bedroom apartment and find a larger home! After two years of waiting and looking, we found and bought this place and fixed it up. We love it! However, a year and a half after moving in, when the earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan on March 11, 2011, we knew we had to help. After months of working with our network of friends to gather relief supplies, lead volunteer teams and help out in Tohoku, we made the decision as a family to move to Ishinomaki City, in Miyagi-ken, to live and work for a season as people continue to recover. One of the projects our team currently leads is a sports center/hang-out for kids after school and teens and adults in the evenings. We also run a social enterprise called Nozomi Project (Search for nozomiproject for more information). Nozomi means 'hope' in English. This project is bringing sustainable income, community, dignity and hope to women in Ishinomaki by training them to craft high-quality jewelry products featuring broken pieces of pottery left in the wake of the tsunami and other up-cycled pottery. We love and miss Osaka, but we feel privileged to be a part of people's lives in this hurting community.