The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducts “Smile for All in the World Program” to collect excess products related to sports, culture, education, and so on for donation in the countries where JICA volunteers work.
Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper that owns a professional baseball club, cooperated with JICA to collect usable excess baseball gloves, bats, and balls from Japanese citizens and provide them to those who need them in other parts of the world.
Former JICA volunteer, Shohei Nakamoto who worked for Alexandria Sporting Club participated in collecting baseball tools for the Egyptian Baseball and Softball Federation established in 2015. He successfully collected 55 gloves, 218 balls, and 20 bats.
JICA was supposed to provide those tools to the federation in March 2020, however Shohei Nakamoto was forced to return to Japan due to COVID-19 outbreak in Egypt. The federation suspended its activity as well.
As the federation has resumed its activity since August, JICA has decided to resume the programme although Sheohei Nakamoto terminated his assignment as JICA volunteer in July. The event took place on 18 December.
