175 wheelchairs left Tokyo port for Thai RICD.*

  The ship loaded with 175 wheelchairs left Tokyo port at 16:30, July 20, for our new overseas partner, Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development, RICD, in Thailand. As for RICD, we had received a request to send them children’s wheelchairs from Mr. Tani, the chief director of an NPO “Wheelchairs of Hope.”
  “Wheelchairs of Hope,” quite similar to our NGO, is an organization which has been working on sending wheelchairs to overseas countries since 2006. Their wheelchairs, however, are for grownups only and they have often been asked for children’s wheelchairs by their overseas partners. Mr. Tani, aware of our activities, has made the above request of us.

  It took a while for us to make a decision because we couldn’t include RICD into our donating schedule right away, but we did decide to send them our wheelchairs this time. The reason is that we appreciate RICD’s posture of wheelchair management as below.
1. RICD understands that Japanese wheelchairs are of high quality and that
    even used wheelchairs are usable enough.
2. RICD are capable of refurbishing wheelchairs themselves.
3. RICD can make sure whether or not each wheelchair is fit for its user in
    providing wheelchairs for children.
4. RICD has built up a system that they can repair wheelchairs when they
    are broken or not in order.
5. RICD can provide a bigger wheelchair when a child outgrow their
    wheelchair by exchanging wheelchairs, and they can also provide such
    outgrown wheelchair for another child who is fit for it.

  Mr. Tani explained to us about RICD(click here to see the video introducing what RICD is like) and we’ve got to consider RICD as our new partner. RICD’s request was that they want wheelchairs as soon as possible, they can refurbish wheelchairs if wheelchairs are sent un-refurbished, and they will bear the expenses of marine transport. So we’ve sent 175 wheelchairs un-refurbished. The ship is to arrive at Laem Chabang Port, Thailand on August 2. The total number of wheelchairs sent to Thailand so far is 780. Please refer to the donation record graph.

  The situation of COVID-19 infection in Thailand is quite serious now. I do hope the 175 wheelchairs will reach RTCD safely and be delivered to children who need them.

July 21, 2021 Hirokazu Morita



〇Loading wheelchairs into the container.
  We loaded wheelchairs into the container at Tachihi Warehouse of Nishitama Transport Company, Tachikawa, on July 13. The 40-foot container has become full of wheelchairs.

 


    The 40-foot container leaving for Tokyo Port.

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   State of emergency issued for the fourth time.

  The 3rd state of emergency for Covid-19 was cancelled on June 20 and we’ve had a mini-meeting twice since then. However, the fourth state of emergency was issued on July 12 and it’s on effect through August 22. We’ve decided to suspend mini-meetings until August 22.

  If the state of emergency is released on Aug. 22 as scheduled, we’ll restart our mini-meeting on Aug. 29. Thank you for your cooperation.

July 12, 2021  Hirokazu Morita

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 Mini-meeting just before the 4th state of emergency.*

  On July 10, though it was announced that the 4th state of emergency would be issued on July 12, we had a mini-meeting as we had planned. We naturally took strong measures against the new corona virus infection. There were six members from Sagami Women’s University group and two from Vietnamese group joining the activity. To read more,

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 We had a mini-meeting after a long interval.*

  On July 4, we had a mini-meeting with great care of preventing the new corona infection. We held the meeting after a long interval as the state of emergency was released on Jun 20. It rained on and off all day, so we took tents from our warehouse so as not to wet wheelchairs and ourselves.
To read more,

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 We issued the 2020 activity and annual reports.*

We held an annual meeting on June 20(Sun). The annual report and 2021 activity plan were approved. The detail(written in Japanese) is from here.

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   State of emergency cancelled.

  The state of emergency for Covid-19 was cancelled in nine prefectures on June 20, but seven prefectures including Tokyo have been under the priority measures preventing prevalence. Although these measures are mainly for restaurants and diners, corona virus infection is still spreading. So we think it’s necessary for us to be strict about our behavior.

  We’d like to restart refurbishing wheelchair activity by holding a mini-meeting with a small number of people in July. The mini-meeting we assume is as follows:

    -The number of participants should be less than eleven.
    -Every participant should take their temperature before the meeting and
     should not join if they have anything unusual.
    -Every participant should disinfect their hands.
    -Every participant should wear face mask, face shield or mouth shield.
    -Every participant should work two meters away from others.
    -No loud voices.

  Mini-meetings are to be held on Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. from this July. If you want to join the meeting, contact us to the secretariat. Then we adjust the schedule and get back to you. 

  The donation plan for 2021 is about 200 wheelchairs in total, much less than that of 2020. We intend to refurbish and send as many wheelchairs as we can to receivable countries by increasing the number of mini-meetings. We’d like to ask for your cooperation.

June 21, 2021 Hirokazu Morita

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 We’ve got wheelchairs from Matsudo Special School.*

  On May 19, we went to Chiba Prefectural Matsudo Special School to get 36 wheelchairs. Ms. Matsudo, chair of the PTA, showed us around the spacious school building.

  We put stickers of the school name and wheelchair management number on each wheelchair. With the help of PTA members and teachers, it took much less time than expected to finish putting stickers and loading the truck with 36 wheelchairs.
  We told them we’d send their wheelchairs to Thailand, and they offered to prepare wheelchairs for us again as they collect such wheelchairs once in two years, hoping their wheelchairs would be of help to children in Thailand.

  We’d like to express our thanks to PTA members and teachers of Matsudo Special School.

May 19, 2021  Secretariat


(Left  )PTA members and teachers helping us putting stickers on each wheelchair.
(Right)They also helped us by moving wheelchairs one by one for stickers and carrying them out to the place for loading.



Loading wheelchairs into the truck in the rain.


With a big call, “To Thailand!”
In spite of the rain, it was a heart-warming visit with a great help of people there.

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 We’ve got wheelchairs from SO Company.*

  The state of emergency for COVID-19 has been postponed until the end of May and the number of infected people is still increasing.
  Even though we’re in a difficult situation, we are glad to get some wheelchairs again. On May 8, Mr. Inagaki, who’s been doing nursing support and child support as an advisor at SO company, came over to deliver wheelchairs with his wife. He has often brought us wheelchairs which aren’t used anymore for various reasons in his workplace.
  We’re likely to get another wheelchairs from special schools from now on, so we’ll be able to collect about one hundred wheelchairs in the period from April through May. We really appreciate it.

May 10, 2021    Secretariat

The wheelchairs we’ve got was nine in total.


The logo of SO Company.

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   We’ve got wheelchairs from NGO Saboten-no-Hana.

  On May 1, 2021, Ms. Yamanaka, representative director of NGO Saboten-no-Hana in Aichi prefecture, came over to my house to deliver six wheelchairs, driving for several hours by herself. NGO Saboten-no-Hana, which Ms. Yamanaka founded, is a multi-role facilities supporting children with seriously mental and physical disabilities and providing day care for children after school. I was impressed by the spirit of their activity with which the staff have been learning and trying to create a better place together with disabled children and their parents in that area. In their activities some wheelchairs are not to be used anymore with various reasons. Ms. Yamanaka didn’t want to dispose of those wheelchairs but to make use of them and has found our group.  

  I promised Ms. Yamanaka to deliver the wheelchairs to overseas children who need them and saw her leaving off.

May 6, 2021 Hirokazu Morita



 
Ms. Yamanaka(on the left)


~~~ About NGO Saboten-no-Hana ~~~
  “CANPAN Project”, run by Nippon Foundation, is a nationwide database regarding organizations which provide public services. The following is the introduction of NGO Saboten-no-Hana in that database.

  The organization was founded by mothers who had children with seriously mental and physical disabilities and it works on the three issues below with the viewpoints of children and parents concerned.

1. Creating a place for children with seriously mental and physical disabilities
    to stay in safety and in comfort, forever in their neighborhood.
2. Supporting children with seriously mental and physical disabilities so
    that they can find, improve and show their own talent.
3. Seeking a happy community life for children with seriously mental and
    physical disabilities, their families, their neighbors, and all the people
    related to them.

〇Click here for detailed information of their activities.
   All is written in Japanese.
・NGO Saboten-no-Hana – Basic Information
・NGO Saboten-no-Hana – Home | Facebook」
・NGO Saboten-no-Hana – Blog page

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 We had a mini-meeting after a long interval.*

  As the state of emergency for COVID-19, issued on January 7, 2021, was lifted on March 21, we had a mini-meeting on April 11, after a long interval. The participants were Sagami Women’s University group and Vietnamese group.
To read more,

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