On January 21, 2022, the pre-emergency measures was put into effect in one metropolitan area and thirteen prefectures owing to the nationwide, rapid increase of the new corona virus infection, following Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, and Okinawa, which had the same measures on January 9 in advance. Moreover, it will take effect in eighteen more areas, that is, thirty-seven in total out of all forty-seven prefectures.

  We will discontinue mini-meetings during the period of this pre-emergency measures and will let you know as soon as we’re able to restart our activities.

【Our present activity status】
  About collecting wheelchairs, we got more than 400 wheelchairs from April 2021 through January 2022. When we went to schools to get wheelchairs, PTA members and teachers encouraged us by saying “Keep up your activity! Stick to it!” There are also parents who came a long way to bring their child’s wheelchair, saying “We just can’t throw away the precious wheelchair our child was riding. Please let overseas children use it.” It’s thanks to these people who provide us with their wheelchairs that we can continue our activity.

  As for refurbishing work, we were able to hold mini-meetings until December 2021 for cleaning and refurbishing wheelchairs. I’d like to say thank you to people who joined mini-meetings.

  For now we’re sending wheelchairs to the overseas partners who can refurbish wheelchairs by themselves, but there’s also another barrier. The corona crisis has caused a sharp rise in the container fare and lack of ships for a long time. So, though both 90 wheelchairs for Paraguay and 90 undone wheelchairs for Malaysia have been packed already, they’re all in the warehouse waiting for containers. All we can do is wait for ships and containers.

  Under these circumstances, it was a great joy to send wheelchairs to the Vietnamese and Ghanaian Paralympic Teams in the wake of Tokyo Paralympics held last year.

  We’re having a hard time due to the corona crisis, but we’d like to deliver as many wheelchairs as we can to overseas children with your support.

January 26,  2022      　　Hirokazu   Morita

  Looking back 2021, people both home and abroad were greatly influenced by the new corona virus infection and needed to change their way of living. Our NGO, too, had difficulty sending wheelchairs to overseas children since we couldn’t have regular meetings throughout the year. Also, there were no smooth container arrangements and the transport charges became high. These situations got our warehouse full to capacity with wheelchairs brought in from special schools.

  Under such circumstances, though, we had joyful activities as well. Tokyo Paralympics, held in August 2021, gave us a chance to donate 5 wheelchairs to the Vietnamese Team and 20 to the Ghanaian Team. We’re happy to have a new recipient country like Ghana.

  On the other hand, the overseas partners we were able to send wheelchairs were only two countries, Thailand and Malaysia, as they are capable of refurbishing wheelchairs by themselves. From now on, we cannot help holding only mini-meetings and getting a small number of refurbished wheelchairs. Also we intend to send wheelchairs to the partners who can refurbish by themselves, giving them precedence, which means limiting the recipient partners, though. We’d like to try what we can to send wheelchairs to children who’re waiting for them.

  Let us go forward with your support. We’re looking forward to your continued cooperation this year.

January 1, 2022      Hirokazu  Morita

The first sunrise of the year 2022 from the Ohiso beach, Kanagawa
(by a Yokohama resident, Mr. Mimuro)

  Our wheelchairs, 20 in all, are to be sent to children in Ghana. This project was born from friendship between a member of Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Organizing Committee, Mr. Akiyoshi, and the secretary-general of Ghana Paralympic Team, Mr. Peter Adjei. They got to know each other at 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games held in August 2021, and talked about what they could do to Paralympians in Ghana. They thought of sending them wheelchairs and found an NPO, “Wheelchairs of Hope” on the net. Mr. Tani, chairperson of the NGO willingly agreed to donate them wheelchairs. Then Mr. Adjei told Mr. Tani his another plan of sending wheelchairs for children in Ghana who’re aiming to be Paralympians. Mr. Tani introduced this project to Mr. Morita, our president, who accepted this request thinking that our wheelchairs would be used with care, since the recipient is a national department of Ghana.

  The handover ceremony was held at Biblical Church of Tokyo, the base of Wheelchairs of Hope, on November 30.

  The ceremony was held connected with Ghana in Africa through Zoom. The attendants from Ghana were Mr. Adjei, secretary-general of Ghana Paralympic Team and Mr. Henry Larbi, Principal for the Prosthetic and Orthotic Training School in Adoagyiri (Eastern Region of GHANA) and Ghana Paralympic Committee Board member. The attendants at Tokyo Church were Mr. Nana Kusi Magrabi from the embassy of Ghana, Mr. Akiyoshi and Mr. Kobayashi from Tokyo Olympic & Paralympic Organizing Committee, Mr. Tani from Wheelchairs of Hope, Mr. Morita from our NGO, Ms. Oyama from Biblical Church of Tokyo, and others.

Mr. Akiyoshi started the ceremony as a moderator and translator.

Mr. Adjei expressed his gratitude and explained how he and Mr. Akiyoshi started this project and told us that Mr. Nana Kusi Magrabi have supported him in various ways.

  This is how we came to donate 20 wheelchairs to children in Ghana as well as 20 wheelchairs for grown-ups from Wheelchairs of Hope to Ghana. So we’ve donated 8,837 wheelchairs to 25 countries so far.

  The wheelchairs we donate to Ghana are from the following schools and others.
    -Fuchu Keyakinomori Gakuen
    -Saiatama Prefectural Miyashiro Special School
    -Itabashi Murasaki Aiikuen
    -Wakabadai Special School
    -Tokyo Metropolitan Machidanooka Gakuen

We are grateful to everyone involved with this project.

November 30, 2021　Secretariat

All the attendants at the ceremony.