To Uganda’s orphans from Japan with love
Oct 19, 2003
THE year was 1978, the place Tokyo, Japan. Young Yuchiki Okanazi was chatting animately with his friends. Then someone asked him what does your father do?
By Joe Nam
THE year was 1978, the place Tokyo, Japan. Young Yuchiki Okanazi was chatting animately with his friends. Then someone asked him what does your father do?
Normally, boys love to brag about their fathers and if Okanazi’s father were the chief executive of SONY or a Sumo wrester, it would probably have boosted his status in the group. But Okanazi’s answer was candid, “I don’t have a father.â€
That answer cost him his place in the group. “After that, my school mates ran away from me and I was mocked for not having a father.†From then on he became withdrawn.
“One day, I asked my mother why other children had fathers but I did not, she told me my father was in heaven looking at me all the time.
“That is when I learnt that my father had died in a motor accident when I was only two years old.â€
In summer that year, Okanazi went to Ashinaga Children’s Summer Camp. Ashinaga is a Japanese word for ‘caring daddy’ or daddy long legs.’
“At the camp, I met many children who like myself had no fathers or no mothers. I was no longer ashamed to be an orphan and made friends.â€
Ashinaga educated Okanazi up to university level. After completing law School, he took a masters degree in psychology in New York. Okanazi now 34, heads Ashinaga Uganda and is expecting his first born child with a former Ashinaga girl he married last year.
Three years ago, news about the plight of AIDS orphans in Uganda had reached international circles and Okanazi visited Nansana village in Wakiso District, on a fact finding mission. He says he was moved by the innocent Children he saw there who faced a bleak future.
They had a few friends and no play time and were sent away from school when their school fees delayed.
“What orphans need most is emotional support, they want to belongâ€, says Okanazi.
“Ashinaga Japan helped me, after I graduated from University, I decided to work for Ashinaga, they showed love, I want give it back by taking care of other orphans,†he adds.
According to Watoto Children’s Ministries, there are currently 1.7 million HIV/AIDS orphans in Uganda. It is one of the highest figures in the world and yet the number is expected to double by 2010. Ashinaga has been helping orphans in Japan for 34 years.
Most of the money is got through fund raising and charity walks in the streets of Japan and from companies there. Okanazi however, says that most Japanese do not know about the AIDS pandemic or where Uganda is located.
“I always tell my wife about Uganda, it is such a beautiful country and the people are very friendly.â€
Ashinaga plans to build a US$ 400,000 house in Nansana in April, designed with playing, reading and drawing and mediation rooms.
The NGO is currently helping Uganda AIDS Commission to train counsellors. In Nansana, 375 AIDS orphans are hosted every Saturday at the Ashinaga offices where they share their experiences and play together.
Ashinaga has also persuaded head teachers not to expel them from school as their guardians look for fees. Ashinaga also links orphans to Legal Aid clinics when their parents die to help them secure the property their parents leave behind.
THE year was 1978, the place Tokyo, Japan. Young Yuchiki Okanazi was chatting animately with his friends. Then someone asked him what does your father do?
Normally, boys love to brag about their fathers and if Okanazi’s father were the chief executive of SONY or a Sumo wrester, it would probably have boosted his status in the group. But Okanazi’s answer was candid, “I don’t have a father.â€
That answer cost him his place in the group. “After that, my school mates ran away from me and I was mocked for not having a father.†From then on he became withdrawn.
“One day, I asked my mother why other children had fathers but I did not, she told me my father was in heaven looking at me all the time.
“That is when I learnt that my father had died in a motor accident when I was only two years old.â€
In summer that year, Okanazi went to Ashinaga Children’s Summer Camp. Ashinaga is a Japanese word for ‘caring daddy’ or daddy long legs.’
“At the camp, I met many children who like myself had no fathers or no mothers. I was no longer ashamed to be an orphan and made friends.â€
Ashinaga educated Okanazi up to university level. After completing law School, he took a masters degree in psychology in New York. Okanazi now 34, heads Ashinaga Uganda and is expecting his first born child with a former Ashinaga girl he married last year.
Three years ago, news about the plight of AIDS orphans in Uganda had reached international circles and Okanazi visited Nansana village in Wakiso District, on a fact finding mission. He says he was moved by the innocent Children he saw there who faced a bleak future.
They had a few friends and no play time and were sent away from school when their school fees delayed.
“What orphans need most is emotional support, they want to belongâ€, says Okanazi.
“Ashinaga Japan helped me, after I graduated from University, I decided to work for Ashinaga, they showed love, I want give it back by taking care of other orphans,†he adds.
According to Watoto Children’s Ministries, there are currently 1.7 million HIV/AIDS orphans in Uganda. It is one of the highest figures in the world and yet the number is expected to double by 2010. Ashinaga has been helping orphans in Japan for 34 years.
Most of the money is got through fund raising and charity walks in the streets of Japan and from companies there. Okanazi however, says that most Japanese do not know about the AIDS pandemic or where Uganda is located.
“I always tell my wife about Uganda, it is such a beautiful country and the people are very friendly.â€
Ashinaga plans to build a US$ 400,000 house in Nansana in April, designed with playing, reading and drawing and mediation rooms.
The NGO is currently helping Uganda AIDS Commission to train counsellors. In Nansana, 375 AIDS orphans are hosted every Saturday at the Ashinaga offices where they share their experiences and play together.
Ashinaga has also persuaded head teachers not to expel them from school as their guardians look for fees. Ashinaga also links orphans to Legal Aid clinics when their parents die to help them secure the property their parents leave behind.