Toshiko Mizumoto, Part 2

Many encounters have supported my efforts overseas

Toshiko Mizumoto at a market in Jerusalem, after she began living in Palestine. (March 1995)

Toshiko Mizumoto

Born in Hiroshima in 1958. After graduating from a dressmaking school, she worked at a clothing company for three years. She then started a company which produced nightwear. Since she was 25 years old, she has engaged in volunteer work, such as visiting a care center for those with Hansen's disease. In 1995, she went to Palestine. In the beginning, she belonged to an NGO and took part in a project to generate income for women. Since 2002, she has worked alone apart from the NGO. She lives in East Jerusalem.

A lot of time and encounters with many people led to the work I do today. After working at a clothing company for three years as a designer, I started my own clothing company in Hiroshima. Meetings with others then brought me overseas to pursue this work.

When I was 27, a Catholic priest introduced me to a woman who taught me about many religious matters. Most of the people in her family had studied abroad. She herself studied in the United States and had the opportunity to meet Martin Luther King, Jr. She had also lived in Italy, Israel, France, Germany, and other countries and learned the languages spoken in those countries.

She told me, "You should go to other countries and experience different cultures." I couldn't have known, at the time, how influential her words would become. Back then, I couldn't speak English. However, in 1995, I got the chance to live overseas. I was sent to Palestine by a Tokyo-based NGO.

Four years earlier, in 1991, the Gulf War had broken out. The church I belonged to launched a fundraising campaign to provide aid to the refugees. My colleagues and I took to the streets and collected a large number of donations. To make full use of the donations, I was involved in researching the conditions in Palestine. This was the impetus for my going abroad in 1995.

In the beginning, the plan was for me to live in a convent in Jordan while teaching dressmaking to women who were Palestinian refugees. I thought I could handle this arrangement, since I would be able to learn English at the convent. However, I ended up being sent to live out in the community, on the West Bank of the Jordan River in Palestine.

To lend support to my work, a group called "Salaam" ("peace" in Arabic) was formed in Hiroshima. They sell handmade goods made by women in the village of Idona. The newsletter issued by Salaam now has more than 200 readers. The group's activities provide support to my efforts in Palestine.

At first, I was planning to return to Japan after spending one or two years in Palestine. However, 15 years soon went by. I had made up my mind, a number of times, to come back to Japan because I was thinking about leaving my NGO. But my Palestinian friend advised me: "You should stay until the project is on a solid footing. That will help us establish our livelihoods." I felt she was right, that I couldn't leave Palestine before the women were able to gain the skills necessary to run the sewing cooperative themselves.

Although I haven't really felt the years pass, it's true that the level of stress has been high due to the strain and danger of life here. I feel some frustration, too, living in a place where I can't speak Japanese. At the same time, though, the many people I've met have given me their appreciation and encouragement.

I was born in a family that runs a family business where a lot of people are always coming and going. I'm the oldest and I have one brother. My mother was often busy with work, so, as a child, I played a lot but I also helped her. My cousin, who is 12 years older than me, lived with us, too, and she went to a dressmaking school. My aunt also made dresses so I was naturally influenced by them. When I was an elementary school student, I designed clothes for my dolls. When I was in junior high and high school, I made skirts from old curtains.

When I was 16, I was baptized, another influence of my aunt. I also visited a care center for people with Hansen's disease twice a year and once a week I served as a volunteer tutor for a junior high student at a facility for mistreated children.

When I made the decision to work overseas, I was 36 years old. Since I couldn't speak English, it was kind of a reckless thing to do, I think. Without my mother offering me encouragement, my brother and his family caring for my mother in Japan, and my friends and colleagues lending their support to my family, the life I live today wouldn't be possible.