We held the first meeting of 2024. Although the morning temperature was cold at 4°C (39°F), once the sun began to rise, it was close to 10°C (50°F) and there was no wind, making the weather mild and comfortable to work.
The participants of the day were Sagami Women’s University group, Vietnamese group, Tama Technical High School group, voluntary members, and staff: 26 in total.
We continued cleaning and refurbishing wheelchairs for Paraguay as we did last year. We were able to complete and pack our target of 10 units. This brings the total to 70. and we expect to have 90 wheelchairs for Paraguay after the two meetings in February.
It was the first meeting of the year, so we served oshiruko (sweet red-bean soup) in addition to lunch. We had a big pot of soup with 40 prepared rice cakes baked. The sweetness was just right, and the soup was a big hit with the participants, who said, “Delicious, delicious!” It was perfect for the New Year.
Thank you all for your hard work!
January 15, 2024 Secretariat
(How to see the photos) Click on the photos to enlarge them.
We started with temperature check as usual. If nothing is wrong with temperature, we fill in our name, temperature, and phone number. The phone number is to be contacted in case of emergency.
The Vietnamese group began to work immediately on the working tatami mats prepared by the staff. The group consisted of 10 Vietnamese this day, all experienced. Ms. Mai, who is coordinating the group, inquired how many participants we should have for the next meeting. We had asked her to keep the number of participants to about 10 this time. Therefore, they have received requests for participation that exceeded that number and have turned them down. We plan to increase the number of participants to about 15 next meeting onward. We are very grateful that so many Vietnamese living in Japan participate in our activities in this way.
(Left) Tama Technical High School group, in charge of packing.
(Right) K. a voluntary member, fixing some parts of a wheelchair.
Many of the wheelchairs we collect could be cleaned up with a little fabric restoration. We purchased a vocational sewing machine for the purpose of its restoration. Ms. T, a wheelchair professional, immediately put it to use and restored a variety of fabrics. On this day, we were able to repair four units and proceed to packing.
Sora, a voluntary member, and a staff member prepared for oshiruko, and it was served to all the participants. With the sweetness of the soup and the fluffy mochi, everyone got warmed.
Lunchtime. Sagami Women’s Uni group(upper left), Tama Technical High School group(upper right), Vietnamese group(lower left), and a high school student, Kaito(lower right).
Thank you, everyone. We look forward to working with you again this year.