Thank you for always helping and praying
for us with a generous heart.
This bulletin planned to focus on reports
from Sr. Elisa Padilla, m.c.p. Superior of Sierra Leone and Sr. Fumiko Yoshida,
but because they were both not feeling well and because of troubles with the
internet, we could not get their reports in time to print this bulletin.
Therefore, reports from both sisters are printed on the back of the financial
report included. (Their reports can be seen on the website blog.)
The photo on page1 (left), is Jeneba Kabia.
She is a graduate of OLG High School and also got a scholarship from “Walking
Together” to graduate nursing college. The right photo shows OLG Elementary
School children playing with volunteers from Italy.
The 2016 activities report from the
representative of “Walking Together” follows. A word of appreciation is given
for being able to have a fulfilling year as we’ve had in the past 2 years, but
also touches on the fact that there needs to be budget cuts for the 2017
activities.
The latter half of page 3 is a word from
Sr. Shirahata. The rehabilitation for her knee pain is progressing, but has not
been fully cured. However, she continues praying to return to Sierra Leone.
Based on the report from Sr. Maria Luz of “Maria Ines Vocational Center”, she
talks about how teachers and students are trying hard to live on
their own. The photo on page 4, is a snapshot
of a student and Sr. Shirahata, when she visited Tamagawa Gakuen.
On page 5 are comments from supporters.
Thank you for always sending us warm messages. It would also be great to
receive messages from those reading the English summary as well. (We will do
the translations.)
On the second half of page 5 are notices
from the Headquarters.
Page 6 is a report from Tsubasa Horii, a 2nd
year medical college student. Tsubasa traveled to Sierra Leone this summer as a
medical volunteer mainly working at the Mile 91 Clinic. While the medical
environment in Sierra Leone is nothing compared to the medical environment in
Japan, Tsubasa explains about what he learned from the doctor, sisters, and
nurses. He also expresses his desire to someday be a doctor working in a
similar medical environment.
Page 7 is a report from Chiemi Fujii, a
JICA Health Project professional who works in West African countries. She talks
about Sierra Leone after the end of the Ebola Virus during her visit as a
volunteer. She reports how people recovering Ebola are getting work training
and about the support the people are getting to prevent discrimination. The photo
on page 7 are tents set up for taking temperature and washing hands to prevent an
outbreak of Ebola.
The photo on the left column of page 8 is
from Tsubasa Horii and on the right column is from Chiemi Fujii.
Top Left : (from right) Sr. Elisa Padilla,
Sr. Yoshida, Tsubasa Horii.
Middle Left : Patients waiting for the
clinic to open.
Bottom Left : Front row left is Doctor
Sister, left standing is Tsubasa Horii, middle is a Japanese volunteer nurse,
the 2 in the back are volunteers from Italy.
Top Right : Work training for those
recovering from Ebola.
Middle Right : People bathing and washing
clothes in a river near the border of Kenya. Calm days have finally returned.
Bottom Right : A wedding at a mosque in
Sierra Leone. The bride in the middle is in attire showing her skin, but she is
Christian. (the groom is Islamic) Chiemi is on the right in the front row.
Attached report
The left is a report from Sr. Elisa. She
talks about how the donations from “Walking Together” in 2016 have been
utilized in detail and expresses her thanks.
The right is a report from Sr. Yoshida,
showing students studying hard to move on to the next grade. She also touches
on what the recent city of Lunsar is like. With the influence of Ebola, an
English mine was shut down causing the population to decrease from 36000 to
15000. She talks about how the shopping streets that were once crowded with
people are now struggling with bad business conditions. With this, there are
robberies and she worries this will impact the growth of children. She
expresses her strong feelings to work for the education of the children there.
Representative of
Walking Together
Katsujiro
Kanno
(Translator Ayako Nokuo)