DUSHANBE, November 29, 2012, Asia-Plus — Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR Japan) has completed the 1st phase of its project titled “Strengthening Wheelchair Production in Khatlon and Districts Subordinate to the Center and Renovation of Facilities of Hisor Boarding School for Children with Disabilities (CWDs)”
AAR Japan held a closing ceremony to commemorate the completion of the 1st phase of the project by inviting Mr. Hiroyuki Imahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Tajikistan on November 28, 2012.
Yoshio Nakagawa, program coordinator of AAR Japan’s Tajikistan office commented that social participation and inclusion of PWDs in Tajikistan would be promoted by this project.
According to press release issued by AAR Japan’s office in Tajikistan, the project was funded by the Government of Japan with 559,355 US dollars.
Through this project, AAR Japan has supported the wheelchair factory “Dilshod” in the Vakhsh district to strengthen its wheelchair production, and improved educational environment of the Boarding School for Children with Disabilities in the Hisor district.
In cooperation with a Japanese expert in wheelchair production, AAR Japan has reportedly increased the capacity of Dilshod in order to improve the quality of locally produced wheelchairs. The wheelchairs are durable and customized for each user. Between October 2011 and November this year, a total of 104 wheelchairs were distributed to persons with disabilities (PWDs) in four districts of Khatlon province and four districts subordinate to the center.
In addition, AAR Japan has created a better educational environment for the boarding school by fixing the serious water leak of the roof, as well as by repairing one of its greenhouses, which had been too damaged to be used before. All the 318 students who are studying there feel safer and more comfortable now, and enjoy gardening activities with farmers who live nearby in the repaired greenhouse.
AAR Japan was founded in 1979 by Yukika Sohma, its first chairperson, with a mission to help refugees from Indochina, and as a civil organization without any political, religious, or ideological affiliations. It has since then grown into an international organization approved and registered by the United Nations. AAR has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations and it seeks to contribute to international cooperation through supporting refugees. Since 1997, the organization has become one of the 16 members of the Coordinating Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), co-laureate of Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. AAR is now operational in many mine-affected countries, such as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Myanmar and the former Yugoslavia.
