In the early morning of Tuesday, March 26, 2024, a container ship loaded with 90 wheelchairs bound for Paraguay left the Port of Tokyo. It is scheduled to arrive at its destination, Asuncion, Paraguay, via Pusan, South Korea, on or about May 22.
The recipient is the Asunción Villa Morra Lions Club, based in Asuncion, Paraguay, as last time. The club is a group that operates various medical facilities and mobile clinics, including pediatrics and ophthalmology, and we are sure that they will take good care of the wheelchairs and provide them for the children.
Our project for Paraguay started on October 22, 2023, and it took four months to end. We had eight maitenance meetings during that time, completing about 20 units per month. It’s all thanks to lots of volunteers.
As in the previous project for Paraguay, ocean transport was provided free of charge by Ocean Network Express Pte(ONE). We are grateful for this ocean transport support to send wheelchairs to a distant country on the other side of the globe.
The wheelchairs for Paraguay were provided by the following special schools. In addition to those listed below, we have also received donations from companies and individuals. We would like to thank them again.
Chiba Sakuragoka Sch Kitatsunashima Special Sch Funabashi Special Sch
Shikahama Special Sch Murasaki Aiikuen Sch Saitama Himawari Sch
Bokutou Special Sch Funabashi Natsumi Sch Tama Sakuranooka Sch
Kawashima Hibarigaokoa Ryokuseikai Seiikuen Sch etc.
With this shipment of 90 units to Paraguay, the total number of units donated to the country is now 692.
Please click here to see the graph of donation results.
March 28, 2024 Secretariat
Prior to the ship’s departure, the container loading took place on March 18 in Hamura City.
(How to see the photos)Click on the photos to enlarge them and see them consecutively.
(Left) Wheelchairs already on pallets waiting for the container to arrive.
(Right) The container arrived exactly on time at 9:00 am.
The wheelchairs were immediately loaded into the container using a forklift. In this case, there were many large wheelchairs, and there was a risk that the container would be full, so we carefully stacked each wheelchair one by one as we placed them in the container.
Finally, a wooden fence is attached to prevent the load from collapsing, and a few wheelchairs are loaded over the fence.
Somehow we managed to load all of them. The doors are closed and sealed, known as “sealing”.
(Left) A member of Sagami Women’s University, Chairperson Morita, and staff members with the Paraguayan flag in the background.
(Right) The truck towing the container headed for the container yard at the Port of Tokyo.