Monthly Archives: 4月 2019
Micro loan project is now going on!
Hello. I’m Sakura.
Today, I want to inform you about microfinance project.
We’re conducting the same project project in the Piardoba Colony.
Nearly 70 people are living there.
They own a bit of land for living.They have a little job from government,but the income is not enough for making a living.
In our microfinance project, We lend some money to colony people who want to start new business or make their business more bigger .
The biggest reason why we decided to conduct it in Piardoba is because when we interviewed the residents there, we found out that some people have been taking out a loan with high interest rate.
Now, 4 months have passed, their income has increased by 3 times.
When I have visited the Piardoba colony, I asked one question.
“If you earn much money in future, what will you spend the money on?”
the answer was
“I want to buy a new house.”
“I want to support my son’s dream.”
“for my child education!”
“I want to help colony people.”
I really want them to realize that dreams !!
We will collect all the money from them and will spend it to other projects.
This means that we can keep supporting for providing their employment opportunities as much as we can.
Thank you for reading! See you again!
↓↓ If you want to know about other employment support, please check below ! ↓↓
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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TOTO project is now going on!
Hello! I’m Yuka.
It has been hot these days in India and I miss AC…
Today I want to tell you about our employment support in the Bishnupur leprosy colony.
“Rental TOTO project” is going on there now.
TOTO is a electric three-wheeled vehicle which is now popular in India as a means of traveling a short distance.
TOTO is very nice car for the following reasons.
First, it has a maximum capacity of 9 passengers.
Second, it’s easy to operate.
Finally, TOTO is very eco-friendly because it runs on electricity.
In this project, we rent TOTOs to some colony people and they work as TOTO drivers.
some of them had worked as a cycle rickshaw driver before, but their unstable wage ($1.4- $2.2 per day) was not enough to make a living.
Surprisingly, their wage has increased by 3 or 4 times!
That’s wonderful!
Now we rent 7 TOTOs to 7 men.
They work hard from morning to evening and they are very good at driving safely!
We hope they will use TOTOs with attachment and care.
We provide TOTOs with them for a fee, not free of charge .
This is one feature of this project.
We collect the rental fee from them, and it will be used for other projects.
By conducting this project, we can help not only the Bishnupur colony people but also the other colony’s people.
We will keep supporting the leprosy colony people in such a way.
In 2019, we will start the same project in the Manipur leprosy colony!
Please keep checking our posts!
First Workcamp with Indian college students!
First of all, I would like to thank all who supported this project.
From starting up till now I got so much help. Without their help,
we could never accomplish this.
Thank you so much!
1st Workcamp with Indian college students has been conducted in Chakdola leprosy colony in Bardhaman district
from 13th to 17th March 2019 with 9 Japanese students and 4 Indian students.
Japanese students were already in the colony from 4th March for workcamp.
Indian students are all from department of social work, Visvabharati University.
They have got permission from school to attend this workcamp and spent 4 entire days in the colony.
What we have done
①Home Visit
We made 4 groups mixed with Japanese and Indian students and talked with villagers.
The objective is to get to know well about the villagers themselves and their life,
and seek what we can do for them with micro aspect.
②Awareness Programme
Through the programme, we told all villagers appreciation for accepting us for 2 weeks in the colony.
At the same time, we have invited people who live near the colony to the programme to show
and prove that the leprosy colony is not a dangerous or scary place,
but it is rather the same as any other place they live.
We performed Japanese dance, Indian dance and a Bengali song.
A girl from the colony danced Bollywood on the stage with Indian students.
To be very honest, it was not easy to conduct workcamp with Japanese and Indian students.
The reason why it turned out to be meaningful is that we all shared the same passion to contribute to the colony.
I would like to share some episodes with Indian students during Workcamp.
“Is it safe to stay in a leprosy colony?”
Though I have told them several times that people in the colony are totally cured,
on the first day, 2 girls asked me whether they should take any precaution not to get leprosy.
It was obvious they were shocked when they first saw the deformity caused by leprosy.
In the orientation we had on Day 2, again I have told them how weak the bacteria is and that people are cured so we have little chance to get it.
They seemed relieved after that and started to interact with people who are affected by leprosy.
The girls themselves did not have a clear idea about leprosy
though her friends were more concerned with the image of dangerous disease.
When they told their friends that they will stay in a leprosy colony,
the reaction of them was not supportive by asking them why they want to visit such a dangerous place.
At that time they could not give a convincing explanation, though now they can.
They have understood the disease and how the colony is.
What is more, they really liked the place and people!
“ We will definitely come back.”
During workcamp, we have to sleep on the floor with thin mattress, take bathing in open air…
It is far from what we feel comfortable.
Though with beautiful nature which the colony possesses,
generous people who accepted us as a part of the family, we could not feel more comfortable ever.
That was only for 4 days, but the 4 days certainly changed the girls mind toward leprosy.
The colony is not the scary place anymore.
The colony is where they belong, where they will go back in the near future.
The workcamp with Indian college students is to be expanded.
Those who are interested in the activity, please do talk to us.
We welcome you the most!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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A festival and god in India. (Sakura)
Hello. I’m Sakura!
Today is so hot in India. How about your country?
By the way, Rama Nabami Puja held in india on last saturday.
(“Puja” means a festival in Bengali.)
The Rama is one of Vishnu avatars.
(Vishnu is one of most famous indian gods.)
Vishnu has 10 avatars. For example, turtles, fishes and Buddha.
Actually the Rama is the main character in “Ramayana”.
(Ramayana is famous as same as “Mahabharata”)
The day is birthday festival of Rama.
There are many kinds of way to celebrate him.
For example, praying to god at a temple, fasting, and so on.
I saw some people who wear something orange.
Why they did so is that Orange color is sacred for hindus (especially the sect of Vishnu)
There are many many kind of festivals in india.
when you visit to india, why don’t you join those?
Thank you for reading! See you again!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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We visited Hindu temples in Bishnupur, India! (Yuka)
Hello. I’m Yuka!
Some staff of WAPPINESS and I work hard every day.
But a few days ago, we took a little rest and went to Hindu temples near our office.
Actually, there are many temples in Bishnupur!
First, we visited Rasmancha temple, which is the oldest one among the temples in Bishnupur.
It was built in 1600.
Length and breadth of this temple is 24.5 meter and height is 12.5 meter. It’s very big!
Inside structure of this temple is like a maze and very exciting!
After visiting this temple, we also went to some other temples.
We really enjoyed that time.
My favorite finding in this day was this.
You can see terracotta ornament of dog in the middle of this picture.
The face of it looked funny and cute!
It was a nice day and we will be able to work hard again!
Thank you for reading! See you again!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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One of the attraction of india,Bengali. (Sakura)
Hello.I’m Sakura!
Today, I will introduce some bengali.
↓ Bengali:pronunciation:meaning ↓
পাগল：pagol：crazy
ছাগল：chagol：goat
ভুরু：bhuru：eyebrow
গোরু：ghoru：cow
↑ Those are a little similar.
গালা：gala：neck
যারা：ghara：horse
কালা：kala：banana
খারা：khara：dry area
কারা：kara：open
↑ It’s so hard for me to understand those differences.
So after I speak such Bengali, funny gesture game starts there lol.
However when I speak Bengali to Indian, everyone tries to understand my Bengali.
And they also teach me right pronunciation.
It’s one of the attraction of India.
Thank you for reading! See you again!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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What I think recently. (Yuka)
Hello. I’m Yuka.
Today I want to write about what I think recently.
I remember that I have written one blog on this homepage before.
I participated in the work camp at Bishnupur leprosy colony for the first time when I was a first-year student of university.
Before I went to India and joined the work camp, I wrote my thoughts on the blog.
Today, I read the blog again. It has been two years since I wrote the blog.
It seems that I were shining with hope and joy.
Today, I know what I didn’t know at that time. And I’ve had a lot of experiences since then.
However, there may be something what I lost.
So, I made up my mind not to forget what I thought at that time. That was my starting point.
There is one more thing in my mind.
I think that “WAPPINESS” changed my life.
If I had not participated in the work camp, I wouldn’t be who I am today.
So, I want to return the favor.
Thank you for reading! Have a nice Day!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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Why I’m taking part in work camp in Manipur. (Sakura)
Hello! I’m Sakura.I have joined work camp 3 times in Manipur.
There are 2 reasons why I’m taking part in work camp in Manipur.
First is that I want to solve dustbin problems. In namaste! activities, we made some dustbins at Manipur.Now the garbages on the road is decreasing because of it and some dustbins are already full.
However villagers don’t move it. They burn it to make it smaller. It’s bad for health…
And in the future the time will come to quit our activities at Manipur… So I think that when we make some facilities,we have to make some system which can run only with villagers.
It should be sustainable for villagers!
Then, Mr.Das(the chief of Manipur) and Eriko Kajita(the director of Wappiness) and some members of Namaste! conducted meeting about the dustbin problem.
We decided that Wappiness will conduct job support with TOTO(electric car) and a part of the sales will spend to garbage disposal. It was in my second time to join the workcamp.
Second is that I want to approach discrimination problems.So we conducted a research to villagers.It was about discrimination and how villagers feel about Manipur.
Most of villagers did not claim about discrimination but about their houses, health and jobs.
I felt the situation of Manipur as leprosy colony is getting better.
However some villagers, especially lady, said to me about when they tell about they are living in leprosy colony to their friend, they worry about how these friends see them.
I think it’s deep problem of leprosy.
Manipur is better than other colonies that we conduct work camp.
But there are still some problems of leprosy.
The 2 reasons are why I was taking part in work camp and will continue to go to Manipur.
Thank you for reading! See you again!!
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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Intern students join our activities!!
There is a good news!
From this March, two new members joined our team as intern students.
They will work in India for a year.
They will run and update this blog and some social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).
Don’t miss it!
<Their profile>
Name: Sakura Yagi
Undergraduate Student (third year)
Character: Cheerful
Like: Singing, Listening to music
Name: Yuka Watanabe
Undergraduate Student (fourth year)
Character: Talkative
Like: Sleeping, Singing
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It’s time to join us!
What is a “leprosy colony”?
It is a society with people who are isolated from society due to leprosy.
In the colony, people live with less than $1 per day .
We conduct several activities for their independence.
There are many ways you can support them as a team with us.
↓ ↓ Join us now from the below ↓ ↓
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