On September 11, 2022, we had a mini-mini meeting instead of a usual mini meeting with Sagami Women’s University group and Vietnamese group.

  We had planned to have a mini meeting under the condition of less than 5,000 Covid-19 infected people in Tokyo, but the number announced on Sep. 9 was 9,240. Though this number was decreasing day by day, it’s still nearly 10,000. So we told the two groups we’d give it up.

  Our plan, on the other hand, is to send wheelchairs to India and Vietnam, 90 units respectively, by the end of fiscal 2022. As of the end of August, 21 wheelchairs were finished in refurbishing and packing, ready to go. There were no meetings in August. Cancelling a meeting once again would make it hard to send wheelchairs to the two countries. We hurriedly decided to have a meeting with five staff members available, all elderlies. Since the members had vaccinated three times, we thought there’d be less risk of serious illness.

  As a result, we finished packing 11 units, which made 32 wheelchairs ready to go. We hope to finish the rest at future meetings and we’re also thinking of outsourcing. We’d like to send out 90 wheelchairs to India in December or January next year.

September 13, 2022      Secretariat

=== Mini-mini meeting ===
Five members in all, a bit lonely?

Our partner in India is a hospital and they accept various kinds of wheelchairs. We trust them to use such equipment as below.

  In October 2020, we sent 180 wheelchairs to four hospitals under the Government Ministry Health (below) in Myanmar.
      -National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH:90 units)
      -Yangon Children Hospital (YCH:30 units)
      -Yankin Children Hospital (YKCH:30 units)
      -Mandalay Children Hospital (MCH:30 units)

  Due to the corona crisis, it was on December 22, 2020, about three months after the shipping, that the partner in Myanmar received the wheelchairs. The doctor of National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRC), who was in charge of this project, introduced three doctors in other three hospitals and said they would report about wheelchairs provision to us since then.

  Since the coup de tar, which occurred on February 1, 2021, however, we lost contact with them. Then, in December 2021, the doctor contacted us, saying that a therapist in NRH would take over making reports on the project.

  We received two children’s photos from the therapist in December that year, two more photos in February, and four more photos in August this year.

  It has taken about a year to deliver 8 wheelchairs to children. Probably it takes longer to deliver wheelchairs than usual under various circumstances. Even so, I’m glad to know that our wheelchairs are delivered to needy children one by one. I hope providing wheelchairs will proceed more in the near future.

September 1, 2022      Hirokazu Morita

～～～　Children on their wheelchairs provided by NRH in Myanmar　～～～
             (The children’s names are shown in three initial letters)

　　　　　　　　　　　＝＝Report on Dec. 21, 2021＝＝

              KZH (15 yrs. old)                                 KKL (12 yrs. old)
(Right) KKL is wearing a traditional Myanmar makeup, Tanaka. Generally, both children and grown-ups are said to wear Tanaka. It’s a kind of citrus tree and they rub it with a special inkstone, dissolve the powder that comes out in water, and apply it to the face.

　　　　　　　　　　　＝＝Report on Feb. 13, 2022＝＝

　　          CMN (7 yrs. old)                                 MKT (12 yrs. old)

　
　　　　　　　　　　＝＝Report on Aug. 29, 2022＝＝

　　              TTA(5 yrs. old)                                 KAK (5 yrs. old)

　　              ZAM (4 yrs. old)                             THS (7 yrs. old)

  Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development(RICD), our new partner in Thailand, has just told us that they received children’s wheelchairs on August 17. The ship loading a container of 180 wheelchairs had left Tokyo port on July 19 and the container finally arrived at RICD.

  According to Mr. Joey Tell, who is in charge of this project at RICD, they finished unloading and checking wheelchairs on 17 and are planning to refurbish them from 18, the next day. He also said that they have already decided who will receive wheelchairs. By hearing about their activities and seeing the photos sent by them, we realize RICD has organizational strength.

  We’d like to see children on their wheelchair next time.

August 18, 2022      Secretariat

～～～　Wheelchairs delivered to RICD　～～～

Unloading wheelchairs from the container and carrying them into the warehouse.

Taking wheelchairs out of packing.

Wheelchairs in the warehouse. Packing materials are disposed of.

Probably they’re checking the condition of each wheelchair and making management sheet.

We sent all 180 wheelchairs undone this time, so they’ll start cleaning and refurbishing wheelchairs right away at RICD.

We’ve added a new photo.

  The ship with 90 wheelchairs for Paraguay left Tokyo port on March 8, 2022(Click here for the ship’s departure). It was expected to arrive at the port of Asuncion, Paraguay, around May 18. (Click here for the details of the project.)

  In addition to the disorder in marine transport, however, it took too much time to get tax-free permission in Paraguay. It was August 11 that we got the news that the wheelchairs finally arrived at the recipient, Asunción Villa Morra Lions Club. It was about half-a-year long journey. We started this project by refurbishing the first wheelchair for Paraguay in November 2020. So it was a long term project in one year and nine months.

  Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd.(ONE), who offered marine transport for free, had made another offer of giving children some presents needed by them. They provided gloves, stationery, and other things. We put them along with wheelchairs in the container.

  From now on the Lions Club will be delivering wheelchairs and presents to children. We look forward to seeing the photos of children with joy on the wheelchair or having presents.

August 12, 2022      Secretariat

〇How the wheelchairs are transferred in Paraguay.

　
(Left)With the container door opened, 90 wheelchairs from our NGO are seen.
(Right)After transferring from the container to the truck, wheelchairs are going to the Lions Club.

Transferring wheelchairs from the container to the truck.

Ninety wheelchairs from our NGO lined up in the facility of the Asunción Villa Morra Lions Club.

〇Presents from ONE to children in Paraguay.

　　　　　30 gloves and caps　　　　　　　　　　48 square cushion

　　　　　18 round cushion　　　　　　　　　　　30 sketchbooks

  The ship with 140 wheelchairs for Mongolia left Kobe port for Tianjin Port, China, around twelve midnight on August 4.(For details, click here.)

  We count donated wheelchairs based on the number when the ship leaves the port. Now that the ship has left the port of Kobe, the latest number donated to Mongolia is 51. The wheelchairs donated to overseas children so far has numbered 9,307.    Click here for the donation graph.

August 5, 2022      Secretariat

  On July 29, we visited Tokyo Metropolitan Oizumi special school to receive 34 used wheelchairs. The school is “a special school for physically disabled children living in Nerima-Ward and Nishitokyo-City. It has elementary, middle and high school. The number of students as of July is 42 in elementary school, 22 in middle school, and 25 in high school.”(from the school website)

  Some PTA members and teachers had already put the wheelchairs in front of the entrance when we arrived at 11:00, which are 14 units of normal wheelchairs, 10 buggy types, 3 sitting aids, 4 walkers, and 3 standing trainers, 34 in total.

  First, we put a sticker showing “Oizumi special school, July 2022” on every wheelchair with the help of PTA members and teachers. One person removed stickers from the mount and handed them to us, and another person wiped a suitable part for the sticker with a cloth. Thanks to them, we finished this sticker work in no time.

  Then we worked together again to load wheelchairs onto the truck. After that we spent some time talking for exchanging information. The chairperson said that it’s a good timing to do wheelchair pickup once in three years since not as many wheelchairs as this time are provided every year. For our NGO, too, it’s helpful from the financial aspect to gather a certain number of wheelchairs at one time.

  In answer to the question, “Which country are these wheelchairs sent to?” we said, “We’re planning to send them to India.” “To India!” They seemed to be in deep emotion. We guess they are concerned about what will become of their children’s precious wheelchairs, where and how they will be used. Their thought made us make a fresh determination to send the wheelchairs we’ve received today to the Indian welfare organization within fiscal 2022 as we promised.

Many thanks to their help in the intense heat today.

July 31, 2022      Secretariat

〇Loading wheelchairs onto the truck.

34 wheelchairs waiting in front of the entrance.

(Left)Putting school name stickers on every wheelchair.
(Right)PTA member peeling a sticker from the mount and handing it to me(=writer).

(Left)Putting school name stickers on the rear frame of a wheelchair, and putting clear seals over the stickers so that they won’t come off.
(Right)PTA member bending to wipe the part for stickers with a cloth. Great help!

(Left)Full-open load-carrying platform. First came the standing trainer as it’s very big.
(Right)All the members moved wheelchairs toward the truck.

Using a lifter.

Loading finished.

The truck leaving the school for our warehouse in Haijima.

Thank you, PTA members and teachers!

  The ship with 180 children’s wheelchairs for RICD（Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development）, our second partner in Thailand, left Tokyo port on July 19, expected to reach Bangkok around August 1.

  As for transporting this time, it took quite a long time from preparing wheelchairs to driving them to Tokyo port. It was on March 22 that we made a request for shipping in the end of April, but there was no progress during the time between April 12, when all 180 wheelchairs were packed and stored at Tama Packing Industry, and July. There seems to have been misunderstanding among the people concerned. It was July 6 that we were able to load wheelchairs into the container. It’s also a pity that taking as long as five months means paying the storage fee for the same period. Moreover the container had to wait almost two weeks before departing due to the global disorder in marine transport.

  RICD is the only organization that bears the shipping charges and they have ability of refurbishing wheelchairs completely. We are also sure that they are perfect in supporting recipient children. We’d like to accept the delay in transport this time.

  We hope the 180 wheelchairs will reach RICD without delay or problems, be cleaned and refurbished, and be delivered to children in Thailand as soon as possible.

  The total number of wheelchairs donated to Thailand so far is 960. The whole number we have donated to overseas countries so far is 9,282. The donation graph is from here.

July 20, 2022      Secretariat

Loading wheelchairs into the container.
Ahead of departing from Tokyo port, we loaded the wheelchairs stored at Tama Packing Industry into the 40-foot container.

(Left)The container pulled up in front of the warehouse.
(Right) Packed wheelchairs ready for loading.

Loading by using a fork-lift. Is it possible to put in as many as 180 wheelchairs?

Putting in bigger-sized wheelchairs at the back.

Fixing a wooden cover after about 70% are loaded so as to make it easier to put in much more and to prevent collapsing when opened. and loading again over the cover.

(Left) All 180 wheelchairs loaded successfully. There’s even room to put in more. What a relief!
(Right) Adding one more wooden cover so that wheelchairs won’t collapse when the container is opened.

(Left) President Morita has sealed the container.
(Right) The container leaving for Tokyo port.

  On July 10, we had a mini-meeting with regular Sagami Women’s University group and Vietnamese group. Although it was not so hot as the extreme heat of a few weeks before, the temperature was over 30 degrees and we felt really hot under the strong sunlight.   To read more,,,

  On Saturday, July 2, we had an extra mini-meeting with 6 employees of Bloomberg L.P.. They had contacted us, saying they got interested in our activity and were considering joining it. It was another ‘intense heat’ day,
To read more,,,