“We have delivered support supplies to the Hamamatsu Catholic Church. At the same time, we have received many donations from the Catholic parish of Kugenuma, such as food, clothes, and other basic necessities,” wrote Fr Nobyuki Tamura, Rector of the Chofu community, on his Facebook profile.
“From the students of the Salesian Gakuin Institute we've learned there are many people in difficulty, who above all needed food,” continues Fr Tamura. “Thus, the Bursar of the Yokohama community delivered the supplies collected in his school directly to us. Also, we want to thank everyone who has been able to send us supplies and who continue to send them to us in these difficult times. The supplies from this period shall be used to help the most vulnerable individuals, people who have lost their jobs or who do not have a home,” he adds.
In these difficult months, the "Don Bosco Learning Support", a program designed to support learning for children of foreign nationalities, has not stopped. The project, which takes place after school, helps those who cannot keep up with lessons (such as those of Japanese language and mathematics). The learning support takes place three days a week and the volunteers carry it out in the form of individual tutoring. The program is attended by around 20 children, especially Peruvians and Brazilians.
The food supplies received, continues Fr Tamura, are also used to prepare snacks to be offered to the children who attend the learning support program. Often, in fact, the children go to study with the Salesians in the evening and are hungry; so the religious offer them hot drinks, sweets, and foods typical of the Japanese culinary tradition.
The gestures of solidarity have not stopped but, the Salesians present in Japan still let it be known, the need for basic necessities remains high, to satisfy the requests that come in these times.
To find out more, visit the "AustraLasia" website.
