Between 1981 and 1994, Father Fumio Goto fostered 14 Cambodian child refugees, and since 1995 has built 17 schools in the country. Now, at 84, his passion to support Cambodia's disadvantaged children shows no sign of waning.
Next March, his seven-staff nonprofit organization, AMATAK ("eternity" in Khmer), based at Kichijoji Catholic Church in Musashino, Tokyo, will celebrate the completion of its 18th elementary school in impoverished Cambodian rural villages.
Located in Pailin province in western Cambodia near the Thai border, the Hun Sen O'Chra Primary School accommodates about 150 students in three classrooms and is equipped with a teachers' room and a bathroom — the typical configuration of schools built by AMATAK.