We are sorry to say that the new coronavirus is still spreading across Japan after Emergency Declaration was issued, and Japanese government has decided to keep the declaration effective through the end of May. We already cancelled our monthly meetings in March and April in accordance with the declaration. Now that “Emergency Declaration” is in effect for one month more, we have decided to cancel our meeting on May 17. We have also stopped accepting wheelchairs and other activities.

  We’d like to restart our activities after the number of infected people has decreased and things have calmed down. We hope everyone to stay home and take care in order not to be infected by the virus. We’re looking forward to seeing you again.

May 5, 2020    Hirokazu Morita

  The new coronavirus has been spread worldwide. The monthly meeting, our main activity, has a risk of virus infection as lots of people gather to clean and refurbish wheelchairs, though it is held outdoors. That’s why we cancelled the monthly meeting in March and April and noticed about it.　

  Japanese government issued Emergency Declaration on April 7, and it’ll be effective until May 6. That makes it difficult to expect whether we can have our monthly meeting in May. On the other hand, many wheelchairs have been provided for us by special schools as usual. We are supposed to make the annual plan of sending these wheelchairs and deliver them to overseas children, but we can’t even make the schedule now. Also, our warehouse is filled with wheelchairs since we have been unable to refurbish or send them for two months. Unfortunately it’s not possible for us to accept any more wheelchairs now.

  We, like anyone else, have difficulty expecting the future situation. We hope to restart our activities and also accept wheelchairs after things have calmed down. We wish you to stay home and take care of yourselves not to be infected by the virus. We’re looking forward to seeing you again.

April 9, 2020    Hirokazu Morita

  An occupational therapist named Haruka Kato has sent us an email asking for wheelchairs for children. Ms. Kato, a member of JICA, working in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, found our website.

  “I’m working at a rehabilitation center in Ho Chi Minh City, where 150 children with disability come daily. About 40 of them need a wheelchair and they can use a wheelchair made in Vietnam. However not all the wheelchairs are fit for each child and their backrest is right angle (90 degrees). As these children spend most of the day at the center, I have long wanted to provide wheelchairs with tilting or reclining function. People around me have never seen such functions and it’s not easy for them to understand the necessity of them.
  I’m wondering if you could send some of your wheelchairs to our center. If there are some, I hope it’ll be possible to make similar wheelchairs.”　

  At first I thought it quite difficult to send wheelchairs on our own because of the severe import restrictions for used goods to Vietnam, but I wanted to do as much as I could. Then luckily one of our NGO’s members introduced a Vietnamese, La Van Phuong, who runs a trading company (Raifuku-Boueki) in Japan. Mr. Phuong offered to transport wheelchairs for nothing.

  I called a few members to meet right away. We cleaned, refurbished, and packed five wheelchairs and sent them to Raifuku-Boueki in Nagoya. I hear it takes one or two months to deliver wheelchairs from Nagoya to Ho Chi Min City. Though it takes a long time, I’m happy that we can donate five wheelchairs to the south of Vietnam, where we have had no opportunity to deliver our wheelchairs.

March, 2020    Hirokazu Morita

Five wheelchairs waiting for transport