Freshly prepared meals for people living in evacuation centers

In March 2023, employees of Zensho traveled to the areas affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and participated in providing meals to the victims.

On February 6, 2023, a massive earthquake with a magnitude exceeding 7 struck southeastern Turkey. It is estimated that more than 50,000 people died and more than 9 million were affected. Many houses, especially older buildings, collapsed in the affected areas, and many people are still living in tents or temporary housing.

Immediately after the earthquake, Zensho began collecting donations at its stores for emergency relief. They also contacted PARCIC, a non-profit organization with which they had previously collaborated on fair trade projects and which had already begun providing support in the affected areas, and held numerous discussions about what kind of support could be provided for the victims.

In March 2023, one month after the earthquake, Zensho decided to provide direct support to the affected areas, as relief efforts were continuing there. Six employees traveled to Turkey with the desire to "contribute to stabilizing the lives of the victims on the ground."

Upon arriving in Turkey, Zensho employees were based in Gaziantep province, near the epicenter, to investigate the extent of the damage and potential recipients of aid. Together with local staff from Parsic, they visited Kahramanmaraş and Hatay provinces, which were severely affected, as well as organizations providing assistance to the victims, to conduct interviews to determine what kind of support could be provided directly and what kinds of relief supplies were lacking.

Amidst this situation, we learned that "Şahinbey Belediyesi Aşevi," a soup kitchen run by the Şahinbey district of Gaziantep province, was providing meals in Adiyaman province, one of the areas most severely affected by the disaster. Since we also learned that they would need extra help with cooking and distributing meals during Ramadan, which was just a few days away, Zensho employees decided to assist with cooking and distributing meals at this location.

*Ramadan... The ninth month of the Islamic calendar. During this period, people fast from sunrise to sunset.

Following the earthquake, this food distribution organization dispatched a kitchen car to Adiyaman district, which was more severely affected than Gaziantep district, and provided approximately 5,000 meals per day to evacuation centers where disaster victims were living in tents.

Most of the staff at the soup kitchens that prepare and serve the meals are Muslim. Even during the time when Muslims cannot eat during Ramadan, Zensho employees worked diligently alongside the staff, helping to serve and package the meals.

As evening falls, people sheltering in the park line up in front of the food trucks, and meals begin to be served. The meal offered is called "Iftar," the first meal eaten after sunset. Ramadan is a time when families and friends gather to enjoy a meal together after sunset. To help those experiencing a Ramadan different from previous years due to the earthquake enjoy their meal, I handed them the food while saying "Enjoy your meal" in Turkish, which I had learned from the staff.

Furthermore, while providing meals, Zensho employees received information from local staff that "while food and hygiene supplies are being adequately provided, there is a lack of toys for the children to play with." At the time, schools in the supported areas were closed, and children were spending most of their days in evacuation centers, yet the relief supplies mainly consisted of daily necessities and did not include toys for the children. Therefore, during the support period, Zensho employees, based in Gaziantep Province, procured items that children could play with in the evacuation centers, such as coloring books, colored pencils, puzzles, and darts, and distributed them directly to the children.

The staff of the soup kitchen said, "Not only did you give strength to the people living in evacuation centers, but your smiles gave us hope. We are grateful for your support until the very last day of your activities."

A Zensho employee who participated in the relief efforts returned to Japan and commented, "Not only did we provide indirect support from Japan, but we also got involved in distributing food on-site and saw people smiling. I feel that we were able to give some encouragement to the victims, even if only in a small way."


Furthermore, in July 2023, five months after the earthquake, Zensho distributed wheat flour in the disaster-stricken areas of Kahramanmaraş district through PARCIC.

PARCIC's local staff, based in the severely affected Kahramanmaraş district, visited Gyoksun, a northern region located more than an hour's drive from the district's urban centers. Upon hearing that food supplies being distributed in areas closer to urban centers were not reaching the surrounding villages, and that the recent rise in prices, coupled with the earthquake, was making it difficult for residents to afford food, the local staff decided to distribute food. Based on the residents' requests, they used funds from Zensho to purchase wheat flour, the raw material for bread that locals eat daily, and distributed it to a total of 241 households.

When the staff of PARCIC's Tokyo office visited them later, the residents of Gyeoksun expressed their gratitude to the staff for traveling all the way from Japan to visit their village, and said, "We are grateful to the people of Japan who noticed that we were not receiving enough support and who donated wheat flour to us."

Zensho will continue to provide support to disaster victims while standing by them, based on the actual situation understood through on-site observation.