November 9, 2007

Right after participants arrive at JICA Tokyo, the secretariat interview the participants and one of the questions is related to a wheelchair. We ask each participant if he/she would like to bring a used wheelchair back to his/her home country.

This year all the participants who use wheelchairs or need wheelchairs whenthey travel long distance answered “yes!”.

The secretariat dialed Friendly Life Community (FLC) to ask for collection of seven used wheelchairs and then students of Kanagawa Institute of Technology, who belong to Wheelchair Repair Circle (KWR), fixed and conditioned them. Both FLC and KWR are located in Zama City which is about one and half hour drive away from JICA Tokyo.

 

After the lecture a presentation ceremony was organized to hand over seven wheelchairs to the participants. Mr. Shotaro YAMAGUCHI from FLC and three students from KWR had to use two cars to bring seven wheelchairs to JICA Tokyo. They even rented one car for it.!

There are many countries, where majority of people have never seen a wheelchair. In such situation, people who have mobility difficulty are forced to stay in a house without receiving proper education or any other opportunities to participante in a society. The participants will bring back a wheelchair not for their own use but for other people in need of wheelchair. These wheelchairs given today will go over the oceans and will change the life of persons with disabilities in other countries.

Special thanks to Friendly Life Community and Kanagawa Institute of Technology!

 

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