Thank you for always helping and praying
for us with a generous heart.
Here is a
summary of bulletin No.19 of “Walking Together”.
Page 1 is a photo of a happy Sr.
Shirahata surrounded by many children. She is back in Lunsar after 2.5 years. The photo on the
right is Sr. Shirahata with a 205 cm Spanish volunteer.
On pages 1-2 is a report from Sr.
Shirahata titled “Sierra Leone Is My Home”. She expresses her happiness of
being able to come back to Sierra Leone after 2.5 years of medical treatment.
Upon her return, the plan was to teach music in elementary schools, but Sr.
Shirahata currently is in charge of taking care of the library, and at the same
time is active in teaching younger sisters piano, visiting elders in the village
and carry the Blessed Sacrament , etc. She closes her report with the
following:
I want to spend the rest of my life focusing on being thankful and to be
giving. I feel strong support from the people who are with me throughout my
journey. I pray for each and every one of you.
May God bless
everyone.
Sr. Shirahata, happy to be back in Africa
Starting on the right column on page 2,
is a “Sierra Leone Visit Diary” from 5 people. The first is a report from Marta
Tanaka, who is on the headquarter staff. “Sr. Shiahata Is Back!” talks about
Tanaka-san traveling together with Sr. Shirahata to Lunsar. Tanaka-san helped
strengthen the relationship between “Walking Together ”and Sr, Adriana through
this trip. She also explained to the new district manager Sr. Adriana, the
thinking of “Walking Together”.
The
title “Sr. Shirahata Is Back!” expresses
how the people in Lunsar were happy to see Sr. Shirahata come back. Tanaka-san
says that she was surprised to see Sr. Shirahata get back to work the day she
arrived and to see the sisters who were also busy in their activities. She ends
her report as follows:
Before going to
Sierra Leone, I had an understanding of what the country was like and what kinds of activities the sisters had been
doing. However, I learned that there is still a struggle with limited resources
such as water and electricity.
But
I felt that the support that we give has been of help to Sierra Leone through
interacting with the sisters and the children. I felt the importance of
continuing our support from Japan.
Starting from the second half of page 3
is a report from Ayako Fujita titled “The Long Awaited Visit to Sierra Leone”.
Fujita-san is a member of the Catholic Azabu Church, which is where Sr.
Shirahata used to be, and Fujita-san has admired the work that Sr. Shirahata
has done and has wanted to visit Sierra Leone. She expresses her happiness and
joy of being able to make her dream come true. The photo on page 2 shows
Fujita-san on the right and Sr. Shirahata (center), and Tanaka-san (left).
The photo on page 4 is a mother carrying her
baby using a long cloth. This is a photo that was most influential to
Fujita-san during her visit.
When Sr.
Adriana introduced the elementary school, Fujita-san heard that during the
rainy season the school yard becomes a big puddle and is dangerous in terms of
sanitation. Fujita-san donated money for drainage construction after she
returned to Japan.
Page 5 is a report from Yasuhiro Kawashima, a
doctor who returns to Sierra Leone to volunteer again in clinics such as the
Mile 91 Clinic. Doctor Kawashima visited Sierra Leone with his daughter, and
his report touches on the worries and joys from a parent’s perspective. Doctor
Kawashima (second from right), and his daughter Ranasa’s (fifth from right) photo is on page 5. They
visited Mange, which is where Sr. Yoshida is, and met the Mexican priest for
the first time. Kawashima-san talks about how impressed he was seeing the priest interact closely with
the people of the area. Sr. Yoshida must be supporting them too.
Last year Doctor Kawashima mentioned a need
for oxygen tanks, so there were some this year, but they could not be used
since there were not enough peripheral devices. It takes many small steps to
achieve certain goals, but we sure have felt the progress with Doctor Kawashima
visiting every year.
Page 6 is a report
from Doctor Kawashima’s daughter, Ranasa-san. Ranasa-san is the first high
school volunteer to report on the activities in Sierra Leone. She experienced a
care worker role in a completely different environment compared to Japan. She
talks about almost fainting when she saw a nurse take blood and blood pouring
out from the injection needle. She finishes her report with the following:
After returning
to Japan, I feel a little sadness about returning to my ordinary life, but I
feel blessed to be able to study, to eat, to have my parents who give me love,
etc. Through this volunteering experience, I wish to be able to give to others
and also to be able to show the love and glory of God in the future.
According to the report from Doctor Kawashima,
Ranasa-san is saying that she wants to go to Sierra Leone again next year. The
photo on page 6 shows Ranasa-san with a Mexican volunteer, who she became friends
with through this visit.
“The second visit to Sierra Leone” is a report
from Minako Teranishi, a student from Hiroshima University Graduate School, on
page 7. Teranishi-san reported on her first visit in Bulletin 17. The main
objective of her visit was for research to use for her master’s thesis, but her
visit came after a big rainstorm that Sierra Leone had never experienced
before. She took part in helping the country recover and talks about her
experience.
There
are so many differences between Japan and Sierra Leone. Since I have been
studying about war and peace building activities, I feel that the biggest
difference is how the two countries see the impacts of war – which Japan has
not experienced in the last 72 years and Sierra Leone is still trying to
reconstruct itself from the war that ended in 2005. However, natural disasters
are common for the two countries, as well as every other country in the world.
The experience that I had has made me realize how scary a natural disaster can
be.
This year she will graduate and will be
working for a company that deals with overseas development. We hope her
experiences in Sierra Leone will help in her future. Page 7 is a photo of
cleaning up after the landslide disaster. The top photo on page 8 shows
Teranishi-san (left) with the children of Mange.
The report on page 8, comes from Kako
Komura, a 7th grader from Fuso Middle School in Fuso, Aichi. Through
studying about Africa in school, she became interested and started to research about
Sierra Leone and learned about this country’s sad history and poverty, and that the average
longevity was the shortest in the world. Looking for ways to help this country,
she came across the website for “Walking Together” and started taking part in this
charity. She also got her school involved and has helped send support funds.
This is a great example and believe that what is taught in school is coming to
life. The photo on page 8 (bottom) is the charity activity that is being done.
The second half of page 8 is “Voices
from Supporters" and a bulletin from headquarters.
(Copy:Katsujiro Kanno,
Translation:Ayako Nokuo)