Contents
◆Know more about MDGs Goal 3: "Promote gender equality and empower women" Women's Independence Center, Cambodia・・・・・・・・Ms. Mari HAMADA
◆Letter from East Timor・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Ms. Satoko WATANABE
◆Letter from Cambodia ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Ms. Aiko HAYASHI
◆Long-term training in Philippine for 2011 candidates of Lay missionaries・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Management
◆Buy local products and support Tohoku "Shopping Supporters" ・・・Management
Know more about MDGs (Please refer to Vol.139 "What is MDGs?")
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Women's Independence Center, Cambodia
By Ms. Mari HAMADA (Matsaubara Church, Tokyo Archdiocese)
- For the achievement of MDGs -
In the women's independence center we protect the victims of sex trade, DV and sexual abuse and support their restart of life.
Beside the shelter for them to stay temporally, vocational training of dressmaking is provided. Their cases vary. One of them came here and gave birth by herself. Her lover ran away when she told him about her having got pregnant. Others came here due to sexual abuse by uncle, violence by the owner of the house where the woman was working as a maid, DV by husband and so on. Most of them are with small children. We protect them and provide them healthcare, heath education, vocational training and literacy education for the limited duration so that they can become independent.
Ms. Satoko Watanabe was contemplating the issue "How to support" and got awareness through facing the death of the person whom she had been involved with for two years
By (Yamato Church, Yokohama Diocese)
Mr. Olivio lives near AFMET office.
He got paralyzed on one side when he fell down from palm tree two years ago. He was thirty six years old and had a catheter inserted through the urethra to pass his urine. His wife took care of his urination. He had a large body and bad mouth and he was stubborn. It seemed that his neighbors avoided him. He had seven children from one year old to eighteen. His family needed his income. His wife made coconut oil and collected candle nuts to sell and get income. She not only worked but also looked after her children, did house work, farming and laundry, and cared for her husband. She pined away day by day.
We got involved with him because he had to have his catheter changed once a month. First we thought of asking Los Palos National Hospital to handle it. But we knew that he did not have a car and the manpower was not enough. We could not expect a good care if we left everything to him. So we decided to care for him continuously. He was suffering from malaria, diarrhea, the pride as man and father laid out, the role in his family lost, ashamedness and many others.
Every time I visited his house I wondered what I could do for him. I wanted to get his ramshackle house rebuilt, make a low bed so that he could move to the wheel chair easily, provide rice and fresh vegetable once a month, and give a soft bed mat and so on. To us Japanese none of them required much money and we could implement them 
even tomorrow. However we should not help him in these ways. The effect of the financial support by foreigners would be unexpected. For example if I implement these supports, his neighbors would no longer help him. They would say, "As a foreigner is helping him, we don't have to support him." What would happen if I or AFMET leave him one day? He would be left alone in the neighborhood. As a matter of fact he had another defect. He had been a very bad person before he got injured. He stole others' farm animals and committed violence often. Even after having got paralyzed they said that he was bad. A foreigner who did not know the situation of the village was not in a position to help him easily.
But he should not be left alone. I tried to stand a step behind as a foreigner. As a human, however, I could not leave him alone. Then what should I do?
By Ms. Aiko Hayashi (Tomigaoka Church, Kyoto Diocese)
Two years have passed since I was sent to Siem Reap Church and I have gone through a lot of things. I could not handle the local language well even after completion of Khmer course and was posted as an accountant. I wondered what the missionary meant. I wanted to go back to Japan when I was depressed by small matters.... But I slowly became to like Cambodia by seeing the children's smile and feeling the gentleness of village people and kindness of the church staff. Now I understand a little local language and church work. My self-questioning and worries are endless, but I feel like staying in Cambodia for longer time. So I extend my stay for five month till the end of this year.
<New step>
Mr. Masaya Takahashi who has been staying in Cambodia for five years and Ms. Mari Hamada who started the mission together with me (2008) will return to Japan at the end of this month. On the other hand four new missionaries started to work here this month. I pray for two missionaries returning to Japan for their reverse mission and four having started new mission to have a fruitful life.
Ms. Sakiko Ishida(2010), my successor, who had Dengue fever just before starting her mission has got well. She visits the centers in Siem Reap with me and works for the church. But her most important role is being my consultant!!!
