The ship loading 90 wheelchairs left Tokyo port early in the morning of August 26, 2021, and arrived at Port Kelang on September 6. Then our longtime partner in Malaysia, Mr. Syed of Aleps Dream Factory(ADF), let us know that he would get wheelchairs from the container at the port on the afternoon of September 11.

  We sent wheelchairs undone this time as Mr. Syed had asked us to by saying that it’s possible for him to refurbish wheelchairs at his factory though it’s not possible to go around under the corona crisis. Now he’s starting refurbishing work and he’s going to deliver them to children after he has finished the work. I’d like him to spend enough time working and make every wheelchair complete.

  Mr. Syed came to Japan in 1988 as an overseas student of Look East Policy, the modernization policy promoted by the ex-prime minister Mahathir in Malaysia, which encouraged young people to learn the groupism and work ethics of Japan as it had made a high economic growth after World War Ⅱ. His intention was to introduce Japanese discipline and loyalty to the workplace and cooperation between unions to companies in Malaysia. Look East Policy includes strengthening of workers’ skills with the help of Japanese companies and sending students to Japan, and lots of students have come to study in Japanese colleges every year.(The number of students coming to Japan is said to be decreasing recently).

  It was 1988 that Mr. Syed came to Japan through Look East Policy. He learned Japanese for one year first. Next he was admitted to the third year class of NATIONAL INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY（KOSEN）, NIIHAMA COLLEGE in Ehime prefecture to learn mechanical engineering and graduated in 1992. After graduation, he returned to his country and entered a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. in Malaysia, engaged in manufacturing microchips.

  Then he started a regenerating diesel engine business with his friend in 1997 and also made a success in running a restaurant.(Unfortunately the restaurant is now closed due to the corona crisis.)

  Our NGO started donating wheelchairs to children in Malaysia with the cooperation of Alumni Look East Policy Society(ALEPS). Mr. Syed joined this activity and began working in earnest as the president of ALEPS(2011~2015).

  He has launched a factory in which he can refurbish wheelchairs by himself, got necessary machines ready on his own, and made efforts to deliver wheelchairs across the country if asked. He has received more than 1,500 wheelchairs for 15 years from our NGO.

  Mr. Syed has noticed the importance of children’s wheelchairs and has grown to be able to produce wheelchairs in his own factory. I am really impressed by his true passion.

September 17,2021      Hirokazu  Morita

〇 Wheelchairs to the warehouse.

Mr. Syed starts refurbishing wheelchairs and then delivers them to children.

  On September 10, 2021, we went to Saitama Prefectural Miyashiro Special School to receive 23 wheelchairs for children. There were teachers and PTA members waiting for us and helping us load them into the truck.

  Before loading, we put a sticker which says “Miyashiro special school, Sep. 2021” on every wheelchair. With this sticker we can recognize which wheelchair goes to which country and report it on our website.(Click the photo to enlarge.)

  We were moved to see all the wheelchairs covered with a plastic sheet. It was the teachers who had done it so that they would not be covered with dust while putting them in storage. How considerate of them! With their warm heart in mind, we are sure to deliver these wheelchairs to overseas children.

  Thank you everyone in Miyashiro Special School.

September 14, 2021       Secretariat

〇About Miyashiro Special School(From the school website)

(Click the above photo to move to the website of Miyashiro Special School)

 Miyashiro town, where Miyashiro Special School is located, is in the eastern center of Saitama prefecture, and there are Tobu Dobutsu Koen and Nihon Kogyo University in the middle of the town.

  The school has 135 pupils in total as of May 2021, 66 in elementary school, 34 in junior high school, and 35 in senior high school. As the photos show, large school buildings stand in the spacious land and the school is fully equipped with facilities such as gym, playground, heated pool as well as swimming pool, and outdoor training ground. The above photo shows a big garage for large-sized school buses.

〇Loading wheelchairs.

The wheelchairs were outside, waiting for us. They were all carefully covered with plastic sheets.

We checked which type each wheelchair was and loaded them into the truck, putting down how many they were.

The truck leaving school.

(Left) Photo taken before loading work(We asked them to take off their masks only for this moment).
(Right) Photo after finishing the work. The man on the right in the back row(in the right photo) is Mr. Kasai, teacher of the school.
Ms. Saito, the chair of PTA, is the second from the left in the front row(the same photo). The men on the truck are Tanabe brothers, who were in charge of transporting this time.

Thank you, everyone! We are sure to deliver these wheelchairs to overseas children.

  The ship loading 90 wheelchairs left Tokyo port on February 24, 2020, and reached Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, on May 4. It was on August 25 that the wheelchairs were unloaded from the container, though. In Paraguay, too, wheelchair delivering work had been restricted due to the corona crisis.

  A year has passed since the unloading and wheelchairs have been delivered to disabled children. As a token of their gratitude, National Secretary for the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SENADIS) and the Paraguayan ambassador to Japan have sent us testimonials with photos of children on their wheelchair.

  It’s all thanks to the support of Tokyo Akishima Rotary Club, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. and Ocean Network Express Co. Ltd., (ONE), and the Paraguay embassy in Japan that we are able to keep delivering wheelchairs to such a far-off country as Paraguay. I feel really thankful for this great support.

September 12, 2021          Hirokazu    Morita

Testimonial from SENADIS                       From the Paraguayan ambassador
　
　　　　　(Click them to enlarge and see the Japanese version.)

Photos of children on their wheelchair.
(Click them to enlarge.)

The wheelchairs sent to Paraguay in 2020 are from schools and individuals below.
– Chiba Prefectural Sakuragaoka Special School
– Ryokuseikai Seiikuen Commuting Center
– Tokyo Metropolitan Shikamoto Gakuen
– Tokyo Metropolitan Tamasakuranooka Gakuen
– Yokoham Municipal Kamisugeta Special School
– Other individuals

Thank you again for your support.

  The August issue of EUROBIZ Japan runs an article of our NGO, how it started and what kind of activities we do.

  EUROBIZ Japan is the official monthly magazine of the European Business Council in Japan(EBC). It is the largest distribution reach of any English-language business magazine in Japan, with an estimated readership of 70, 000.

  We had got a request from a reporter for EUROBIZ Japan to introduce our NGO in the magazine. Mr. Morita, our president, thought it’s good to get people in various countries to know about our NGO, as well as people in Japan, and we wrote for the magazine.

  In the article, how Mr. Morita started to send used wheelchairs to overseas children after he got diagnosed with a cancer, how we collect, refurbish, and deliver wheelchairs abroad through overseas partners, and the importance of those partners are written. There are also a report of the Global Citizenship Award and a comment that it is all thanks to voluntary members that we have been able to continue our activities.

  We appreciate the reporter having interest in our NGO and carrying the article. We also hope that our activities are known to people both in and outside Japan and that we get more supporters.

September 4, 2021    Secretariat

     The article introducing our NGO              The front cover of the August issue
　　
                                (Click the pages to enlarge)

  Our new overseas partner, Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development(RICD), Thailand, has told us that they finally received wheelchairs.

  The ship loading 175 wheelchairs had left Tokyo port on July 20, and reached the port of Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, around August 5. What with the corona crisis in the country and the procedure of tax clearance, however, the wheelchair container finally arrived at RICD on August 27.

  The wheelchairs delivered are all undone, so RICD staff will start refurbishing them from now. The refurbished wheelchairs are to be provided for disabled children who are fit for each wheelchair’s size. RICD is a solid organization and we are happy to have them as our partner and send them wheelchairs.

August 30, 2021     Secretariat

« At RICD »

RICD wheelchair project members taking out wheelchairs

               Wheelchairs with RICD project members

  We were looking for a country where we can send wheelchairs undone since it’s not possible to do refurbishing work under the state of emergency. Then, Mr. Syed of Malaysia Dream Factory, our longtime overseas partner, requested us to send wheelchairs undone, saying “It’s not possible to move around due to the corona crisis, but we can refurbish wheelchairs in the factory.” So we decided to send him wheelchairs undone.

  On the morning of August 26, the ship with 90 wheelchairs left Tokyo port for Malaysia, expecting to arrive at Port Kelang on September 6. The total number of wheelchairs donated to Malaysia so far is 1,513 with this transport included. Please refer to the donation record graph.

  Malaysia is also reported to have a serious situation of the corona infection. After the container arrives at the port, it will take more time than usual to go through customs clearance and get the wheelchairs delivered to Mr. Syed’s factory. We just hope the container reaches the factory smoothly and they can start refurbishing the wheelchairs right away.

  We’d like to send as many wheelchairs as possible to overseas children in various ways. Thank you for your kind support in the future.

August 26, 2021     Secretariat

«  Scene of loading wheelchairs  »
  Prior to the departure of the ship from Tokyo Port, we loaded 90 wheelchairs in the container on August 18, though it was raining hard on that day. We did it on the site of Tama Packaging Industry Co., Ltd., our activity base until last year.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　Loading work in the rain.

(Left) Covering with a wooden frame to prevent the load from collapsing when the container is opened.
(Right) The truck towing a 20-foot container departed for Tokyo Port.

  The new corona virus infection has increased so rapidly that the state of emergency is extended until the end of August and we cannot have any meetings for refurbishing wheelchairs for the meantime. Under this situation, however, children’s wheelchairs have been offered to us from special schools in the Kanto area. Our NGO, entrusted to send them to overseas children, is groping a way of delivering them abroad.

  We sent 180 wheelchairs to our new partner, RICD, Thailand, last month from this viewpoint. When we deliver wheelchairs abroad, it’s essential that the overseas partner is capable of refurbishing wheelchairs. As it is almost impossible for us to refurbish wheelchairs and send them under the present conditions, receivers are limited to those capable of refurbishing work even though we send wheelchairs undone.

  “Malaysia Dream Factory” in Malaysia, which Mr. Syed Putra Syed Mokhtar, ex-vice president of ALEPS^＊, founded with our NGO’s support for both producing and refurbishing wheelchairs locally, is that very partner.
    ＊ALEPS:Alumni Look East Policy Society

  Malaysia is in a similar situation with COVID-19 and there are severe restrictions of activities, Syed says. Even so, he wants wheelchairs, saying “We can refurbish wheelchairs. Send us wheelchairs undone, it’s OK.” We held an online board of directors in a hurry and has decided to send 90 wheelchairs undone to Malaysia. We have outsourced packing, too. We expect to ship 90 wheelchairs around the middle of August.

  We hope to send lots of wheelchairs to overseas children in various ways. We’d like your continued cooperation in the future.

August 3, 2021     Hirokazu Morita