It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sad news of the loss of our much beloved Founder Mrs. Sadako Ogata, who passed away peacefully on 22/10/2019.
Mrs. Ogata lived a life devoted to helping all generously, ensuring protection, empowerment, and solidarity with refugees, with vulnerable people in need, but most critically with vulnerable young people. She was inspired by the young generation; she worked wholeheartedly to restore and rebuild the lives of young people whose hopes and aspirations had been destroyed in their home countries due to discrimination or violence. She believed in youth as actors of positive change and in education as the best tool to mitigate the impact of conflict on youth, and lay a solid foundation for peace and development. She refused to see young people become despaired and their hopes shattered.
And so, she pledged when she founded RET in 2000:
“Education should be a promise, not a dream.”
For all who met Sadako Ogata, be it for an hour, a day, or a lifetime, she taught us how to live well through her example. On behalf of all of us at RET, I extend our genuine sympathies to her family during this period of distress. Sadako Ogata’s presence will always be missed among us. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Mrs. Ogata have lost an inspiring mentor. We promise her legacy will continue through the support RET offers to vulnerable young people around the world.
Mrs. Ogata leaves behind an organization that only she could have inspired, and her spirit will forever be the foundation of RET.
Board Members – President & CEO – RET Staff Worldwide