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As discussed
in this
AikiWeb Forums thread, the recent earthquake in Sumatra has
devastated an aikido dojo in the city of Padang, as chronicled in
recent news, when the earthquake struck during their practice,
completely flattening the building in which they were training:
I just received a nice message from Hiroaki Kobayashi sensei who
collected the donations for the Padang dojo in Indonesia and went
there personally to deliever the donations. In the end, 1,200,000 yen
was collected through donations -- over $13,000.
Kobayashi sensei's message can be seen below in this post as well as
on their website (which includes links to more photos, a video of the
presentation, and more):
Once again, I wish to thank everyone who helped support this donation
effort both here on AikiWeb as well as around the world.
Best,
-- Jun
Appreciation for the Indonesia Earthquake Donation
On behalf of Aikido Kobayashi Dojo, I would like to thank you for your
donation for the rehabilitation of Padang dojo in Indonesia. Thanks to
your generous support, we were able to collect 1,200,000 yen in total,
from more than 500 people.
At the beginning, we started to collect donation for the people in
Padang to rehabilitate the dojo. However, later we found out that the
chief instructor of Padang dojo, Mr. Tomiyono, was killed by the
earthquake. Therefore, we decided to give 400,000 yen to
Mrs. Tomiyono, and the rest, 800,000 yen to Padang dojo for their
rehabilitation efforts.
The donation was presented at the Aikido seminar held at the capital
of Indonesia, Jakarta, on November 29, 2009. Before the seminar
started, we held the ceremony. More than 300 people were there and,
when I announced that this donation came not only from Japan, but from
all over the world, the gymnasium was filled with a storm of
applause. Then, I handed the donation to the widow, Mrs. Nel Tomiyono,
and the current representative of Padang dojo, Mr. Mayzalyan.
Mrs. Tomiyono said, "Thank you for everything, sensei. Please send my
regards to everyone." Mr. Mayzalyan strongly said, "I will cherish the
will of Mr. Tomiyono and make best efforts for the future." I, then,
as a return, received a commemorative shield from Mr. Muri of
Takiotoshi Nagare Budokan which Padang dojo belongs to.
We put up the information about the ceremony on our web site. Please
check out.
On this opportunity, we would like to start deepening the relationship
with Indonesia. We have a plan to visit Indonesia as a group in
2011. We hope that we will be able to establish cordial relationship
among members by having aikido practices together. You are welcomed to
participate.
Again, thank you very much for your generous support.
Hiroaki Kobayashi
Fuku-Dojocho
Aikido Kobayashi Dojo
http://www.kobayashi-dojo.com Friday, November 6, 2009: The donation drive was a great
success, owing to the generosity of folks in the US, Norway,
Singapore, Germany, Russia, and beyond! We managed to
raise $1,855 total and was able to send out 165,000 yen (about
$1,824 after PayPal fees, etc) to the Kobayashi Aikido Dojo in Japan
to send over to the devastated Padang, Sumatra dojo in Indonesia.
I received a wonderful e-mail from Hiroaiki Kobayashi sensei with his
appreciations for everyone's donations. He will be heading over to
Indonesia later this month with the collections.
Special thanks go out to Ms Hiroko Tojo who facilitated the transfer
to Kobayashi dojo's bank account.
Thank you, everyone, for your support for this donation drive!
(Note: The donation drive is now over!)
The Aikido
Kobayashi Dojo, of which the Padang dojo is a member, is
collecting donations to send to the Padang dojo (as
written here in their Japanese
language blog (translation courtesty of Google
Translate here).
AikiWeb wishes to assist in this donation effort by collecting
donations to send to the Kobayashi Dojo. Donations will be
collected through October 31st, 2009 to ensure that the collected
amount may be sent to Japan in time for their November 15th deadline
for collecting donations. Donors will be listed below.
Please help out if you can. Every little bit helps. Thank you.
-- Jun
(Please note that donations made through AikiWeb will be charged
PayPal merchant fees (2.9% + $0.30 USD per donation) which will need
to be subtracted from our collected donation.
Please let me know if you wish
for your donation to be anonymous).
As discussed
in 