| Yukiko Altman
5-4-22-B102 Minami Aoyama
Minato-ku Tokyo 107-0062
Email: Yukiko
Altman
Yukiko Altman has been under appointment as a missionary with
the PC(USA) since 1972. She now lives in Tokyo, where she is assigned
to the United Church of Christ in Japan. Since 2000, she has been
a caseworker with the Asian women's shelter HELP (House in Emergency
of Love and Peace), a refuge for non-Japanese women who have escaped
from the sex industry. HELP also serves the survivors of domestic
violence, both Japanese and non-Japanese.
Yukiko is the widow of Dr. Harry Altman, also appointed in 1972.
Harry died in a mountaineering accident in the summer of 2000.
As a caseworker with the Asian women's shelter, she has learned
to "be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those
who weep." She says that most of the non-Japanese women at
the shelter have overstayed their visas and cannot get access
to various social services. "Most of the survivors of domestic
violence come with their young children," writes Yukiko.
"Mothers and children need legal help as well as psychological,
physical or/and medical help. I, as one of staff—we have
a director, five full-time workers, and three part-time workers—work
as a caseworker, a counselor, a baby-sitter, and staff the hotline."
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