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Movement News #45 (2000, December 17) "Letters from Father Bruno" Letter #1 2000, 11/10 Letter #2 2000, 12/3 -A thank you letter from the children of Nigeria: here is one of many letters that we received. -A thank you letter and a picture from Mexico (From Floresilla school in Chiapas, where Indio children are learning) Read this also: Declaration of resolution by Masaaki Sato, Representative of the movement. Today, I would like to express my feelings as the representative of this movement with some candid advice. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank all of you who have made contributions up until now, the end of the 20th century. No words are enough, but I can do nothing more than repeat the phrase, "Thank you." However, I asked myself if there could be some other concrete way to express my feelings, and made postcards with some of my paintings, which I will enclose as a symbol of my gratefulness. Although it is merely one card for each of you, please keep in mind that in all, I have made more than 800, and accept the little that it may be. Before stating my resolution, I would like to touch on a few points that have been making me feel uneasy. I continue to receive many letters and brief notes on the transfer slips of the contributions, and in those I feel that there are about three points that are misunderstood concerning Sierra Leone. I ask you please to read over the newsletters more carefully. First of all, the civil war in Sierra Leone is not an ethnic conflict or a religious conflict. It is caused by the greed and egoism of Sankoh, the pseudo-revolutionary, and Charles Taylor, the president of Liberia. Please don't jump to the wrong conclusions. Secondly, I would like to comment on the tendency to stop making contributions because the confusion in Sierra Leone is too hopeless for us to make a difference. I think that there is also a misunderstanding there. Of course, the affairs at the government level are out of our reach, and that has never even been our goal. But even if our aid and assistance is aimed for a small region/area like Lunsar, our grass root aid that connects us directly to the people there can encourage them. And is that not where the meaning of a small aid organization like ours lies? Thirdly, I would like to say something to the opinion that we should pool money to places where they need it more. Now, I would like to ask you instead to tell me if there is another place that needs more aid than Sierra Leone does. My stance is to sympathize with and encourage assistance to other places that are in need and respect the activities of organizations, at the same time as carrying out my responsibilities to my own places of need, which happen to be in Sierra Leone, Mexico, and Nigeria. We cannot respond to all needs, no matter how much we want to... Now, I would like to declare my resolution. As you know, our assistance to Sierra Leone began through Sister Leticia Negishi. Without her, Lend A Hand Movement would not have existed. Therefore, the fact that she has been transferred to Russia is a very heavy blow for us. However, the assistance is not for her, but for the people of Sierra Leone and for other places where people are in need of help, so it is my belief that even without her, we must continue as long as the need is there. And I think that that is Sister Negishi's opinion as well. Sadly, after she left for Russia, the number of those who have stopped for various inevitable reasons such as old age, sickness or economic reasons is increasing. Participation is voluntary, so nobody can force others or prevent them from leaving. Thus, I think of the words of Job in the Old Testament that he said when he lost everything: "The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!" (Job 1:21.) And so, I decided to say the same, since I was alone when I began the movement. Even if I end up alone again after people leave one after another, due to Sister Negishi's absence, I am determined to continue to lend a hand to the wounded person that I have encountered on the path of my life (=the people of Sierra Leone) like the Good Samaritan, as long as I live, even if that may be of very little help. The wounded traveler was more seriously wounded than I expected, and it is taking years to heal. If we abandon him now, what happens to the effort that we have put in up until today? If you understand what I am trying to say, I ask you please to continue lending your hand into the 21st century. May you have a blessed Christmas and a magnificent beginning of a New Year and century.