April 2012

Volunteers Distribute Blankets in Ethiopia

Twenty-one volunteers from Rissho Kosei-kai and the Japan Team of Young Human Power (JHP), led by Rev. Koichiro Shimizu, head of the Financial Group of Rissho Kosei-kai, visited Ethiopia's northernmost Tigray Region from April 27 to May 6 and distributed blankets collected in Japan by the Japan Blankets for Africa Campaign (JBAC). Both Rissho Kosei-kai and JHP are member organizations of JBAC.

Some 4.5 million people live in the region, and the region's poverty rate is high because of repeated droughts, and the inhabitants are in dire straits. In cooperation with the Relief Society of Tigray (REST), a local NGO based in Tigray's capital, Mekelle, the volunteers visited four places in the region and distributed 1,533 blankets among elderly drought victims, the disabled, and HIV/AIDS patients. REST is also a partner in the afforestation program in the region, which is supported by Rissho Kosei-kai's Donate-a-Meal Fund for Peace.

The volunteers also visited families who previously had received blankets, and the site of the afforestation program.

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