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Date: June 13, 2008 Place: Cafe & Restaurant Asuka, Tokyo * Some of the pictures are not related to the comments next to it. |
| Mr. Kazumasa Kakimi has been called, "OK baji" in Nepal. ("Baji" in Nepal means "uncle".) |
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Jora Fund: You donate 10,000 yen to a trust fund, and an annuity of 2%, or 200 yen, will be given to two children each month. The Selection Community at the school will select the candidates based on their daily needs or their talent. So far, 38 members of NPO 2050 have joined this project. The target number is 100 students for two years and thanks to this project, now 126 students go to school. |
| OK baji meets ill, injured or disabled people when he is walking around
from village to village. Sometimes, village people come to him and ask his help for their neighbors whose family members are all disabled. Even he knows what they really need, but he still asks their opinions and leads them to the right decision, which is to set up a fund for them and give them money or rice every month. |
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One day, a man was asking OK baji to come to his village. He wrote to explain
what he was asking and the last words on his letter were "Give my
son a life!" OK baji found out that the man's son had a hole in his heart and needed surgery to survive. OK baji was very moved by the last words and tried to raise money for his son. The surgery was successful and the son is now living healthy. |
| In the village, less than 30 % of the people have a futon which costs 600 rupees and 50 % of them own a blanket. They usually sleep on the floor without a futon. They prefer to put a futon over then rather than under then. Their futon is just a thin cloth and sewn up as many as they have to. Sometimes the futon gets so heavy that they cannot roll over. |  |
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One of the most popular projects, which was launched by members of NPO
2050, is a called "Book shelf project." They started this project with 100,000 yen as a fund and keep buying books from its interest. They bought 602 books for six years and 5,009 students received benefit. Now, 30,000 yen is used for buying books and 20,000 yen for shelves to start this project. |
| OK baji was commended by the local government. First he thought they admired how well he played volleyball for his age. But it was a gratitude for the contribution of Japan, who donated 350 balls to East Palpa. Because of Japan's balls, the volleyball teams of East Palpa make great progress, compared to West and Central Palpa. Some of the balls were sent by a member of NPO 2050. |  |
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For OK baji, it is not important how many people have served him. It is
important for him how many people he have served. The number of the people
he served shows that how useful he has been or how he was in need. His
interests or his tasks would be how many more people he could serve from
now. He says he would like to keep helping others with appreciation. "The greatest joy is being needed." |
| "Money is a difficult issue." He could give money and cure injured people or ill people, but also with that same amount of money, he could build a school or a health post for the entire village. It is always challenging how to spend money. It is a kind of luck for those who are in need... Mr. Kitatani, a chairperson of NPO 2050, says that if it is a matter of life or death, no need the think, money should be spent for her/him. |
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Maoist grabbed the victory of the last election. OK baji calls himself a MAO, which means... M: Mottainai/Moushiwakenai (Thank you A: Arigato (Thank you) O: Okagesamade (Fortunately) |
| Thank you. |  |
