Thank you for always helping and praying
for us with a generous heart.
Here is a
summary of bulletin No.16 of “Walking Together”.
The photos on page 1 were taken by
Shunichi Ishibashi, who visited Lunsar this Apr/May. The left photo shows kids
eating mangos.
The following is a greeting from Sr. Elisa Padilla, Superior of Sierra
Leone. “With heartfelt gratitude” She
talks about her resignation and closes with the following:
“As I move out
to another position and community within Sierra Leone I am sure we can continue
counting on you. I cannot imagine a Sierra Leone without Japan. God has joined
us in His infinite goodness and I am sure He will continue taking us both by
the hand. May God bless you! Arigatou gozaimasu!!”
The article on page 2 is a report from Sr. Fumiko
Yoshida, talking about how the OLG students have grown up. She talks about her
hopes that the school girls will grow up to have a warm heart and to have pride
in themselves. The photo on the same page are kindergarten students.
Page 3 is a greeting from Sr. Kazuko
Shirahata, who has been released from the hospital after 4 months of
hospitalization and rehabilitation. Having wishes to return to Sierra Leone,
she still has more rehabilitation. The photo on page 3, shows Shunichi Ishibashi
returning from Sierra Leone, talking about Sr. Leticia Legacy’s “Gala Fabric”
On
page 4 is a report from Professor Takehiko Ochiai, of Ryukoku University
specializing in Modern African politics. He points out that with the outbreak
of the Ebola disease a few years ago, there was increased interest in support
for Africa. However, there were times when the interests did not necessarily
meet the needs of the African people, and just ended up as activity for support
organizations. He speaks highly of the Sisters for their dedication to seeking
needs by talking directly with the people and for “Walking Together” who has
supported their activity.
Taking the quote from the Epistle to the Corinthians (book of the
Bible) 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive?”, he talks about what
real support activities mean. The photo on page 4 is from when he visited
Lunsar in 2006 and met Sr. Shirahata and Sr. Negishi.
The second half of page 5 is
a report from Kako Motosugi, who visited Lunsar this February. She only stayed
for 10 days, but talks about how shocked she was and how the visit made her
think of “What is happiness?”. On the
same page is a photo of Kako with the kids
The report of
the charity concert at the Setagaya Catholic Church is on the second half of
page 6. The representative Yasushi Kishi, talks about how well the first
performance of the chorus group “Church Music Ensemble Jubilate” was received.
On page 7 are letters from supporters. A letter from A.M says “I was
shocked reading Dr. Kawashima’s report. At the same time, I had undergone a big
surgery, and my life was saved with the
highest level of medical treatment. To show my thanks, I would like to donate
the same amount of money of my surgery to the Sierra Leone charity.”
A notice from headquarters starts from the second half of page 7
asking again for support in the remaining months, The left photo on page 8 is
Sr. Leticia Legacy’s “Gala Fabric”. For each purchase, we will use part of the donation for support.
The right photo is a track and field event at RC Boys School.
Representative of Walking Together
Katsujiro Kanno
(Translator Ayako Nokuo)