|
 |
 |
A Hectic Year
I thought I was busy before, but this year probably beat all
previous years. I spent New Year's Day in a Sri Lankan village
devastated by the tsunami. Soon after I found myself in Aceh,
Indonesia. "Trauma teams stand by at Schiphol Airport to
assist journalists," the editors at my newspaper told me,
"so be careful". No such luxury at Asian airports...
I had just returned to Japan when Cherry's mother collapsed at
the airport. They were on their way to Australia where Cherry
was going to study. Mieko hit her head real bad and ended up
spending three weeks in hospital. Within days I was in Australia
helping Cherry to settle in. It was terrible for Mieko of course,
but I was extremely grateful for the wonderful time I could spend
with Cherry. Three weeks together!
I was back in Japan by early March. Just in time to catch up
with loads of accumulated work and the terrible train accident
in Amagasaki. I was called early in the morning and jumped straight
into a taxi. Turned out the accident happened just 15 minutes
away from me. The previous night I had been shopping in that
neighborhood. Scary stuff.
I spent most of May searching for the ex-husband of Schapelle
Corby, a young Australian woman who was caught in Indonesia with
4.1 kg marihuana in her bag. It took me a month, but I found
the husband who allowed me an exclusive interview. The resulting
article was major news in Australia. For days my phone rang off
the hook. Everybody wanted to know how they could contact him,
and how I had found him. I had no idea that the story was so
big in Australia and it caught me by surprise.
In June I walked a few days of the Shikoku pilgrimage. It was
enlightening. The nature was fantastic and the demanding walk
through the mountains cleansed my soul. I have decided that I
will walk the whole route one day. Quite a challenge, as it takes
over a month.
Summer had me do articles and radio documentaries on the Second
World War, which ended sixty years ago. Soon there will be few
people to interview, so this may be one of the last times to
do such extensive work on it.
October brought another disaster in Asia, this time a huge earthquake
in Pakistan. Without doubt it was the most demanding assignment
I have ever had. Both physically and mentally. I tore a calf
muscle and was only able to walk with very strong pain killers.
Worst was having to see the terrible plight of all the children.
Many had limbs amputated, because doctors couldn't reach their
isolated villages and treat their simple wounds. They got infected
and hospitals were just not ready for that.
I also ended up extremely sick from the Pakistan trip. Even now,
more than two months later, doctors still don't know what I have
and I am receiving a whole battery of tests. For the past two
months I have had the worst diarrhoea of my life, and it has
siphoned off a lot of my strength.
This made it quite difficult when I returned to Indonesia in
December to cover the commemoration of the tsunami. I also discovered
here how much the tsunami coverage had affected me. When I returned
to the places I visited last year, my chest tightened and stress
ran through my veins. I felt very depressed.
But all the horror also brought some good news. Photos that I
donated to aid organizations in Japan, the USA and Germany have
helped in collecting a lot of money for the victims. It feels
very good to know that I have been able to help a few people
in 2005. I will try my best again in 2006.
Through this all, Tiger
spent a lot of time by himself. Many thanks to Myranda, Mieko
and Kazuko for taking care of him. He is very grateful! |
|
|
