Leaiving for Tahoua

On Monday night, we had a reception and I got to know American Peace Corps. Actually I am going to participate an activity which will be organized by Peace Corps. It is a campaign for HIV/ AIDS and we are going aroud some village by bicycle. I am sure that it will be good experience and I can get some ideas for my own activity in Tahoua.

Soon, I’m leaving.
I imagine there so many challenges, but I’m not afraid of taking risks. This is my big chance to know the world, people and me.
Surely, I’m going to learn so many things, that is very grateful.
I think I will be back to you in December when I come up Niamey again.

Picture; My group, we came here together. In the JICA office

Thank you for reading.
Love you all.

Home stay in Tahoua

From 26 October to 30 October, we had a home stay as a program to learn Nigerian culture and life.

I visited Tahoua where I work. It took 9 hours by bus. The road was not very good, so it was like an attraction in an amusement park.
I got to know my future colleagues. They are really nice and very enthusiastic about their work. I think I will use a room where is setted up for Japanese volunteer and do some classes for chidlren and young ladies. Here in Niger, there are so many children who can not go to school and also there are lots of young ladies who stay at home with doing nothing. After I discussed with the director, we made a plan like that and hopefully I will be able to do some class: English,Health (HIV/AIDS), Japaese culture, painting, and volleyball(here it is very popular among young people) etc. I am very excited about starting my work.
My host was very nice. There were many children and they were good language teacher for me. I had to say that I was very surprised about bathroom and toilet. It was in the outside under the sky. When I took bath, my host mother prepared water in a bucket. It was a bit hard for me to wash my hairs and body with one bucket. And I felt how much water is important here.

It was very good experience for me and I can’t wait to go back. I hope to be able to Hahousa soon, so that I can communicate with people well.

Pictures; Children in Tahoua

The language training

From 28 September ~ 24 October, we had the language training. As I wrote before, I studied Hahousa. It was the first challenge for me. Learning Hahousa was harder than what I thought. In Hahousa, usually the subject changes depend on time and context.
And also there are the feminine and the masculine like French. But, lucky I had a great teacher. He is really nice and had always tried to make the class better.

During the training, we learned not only the language but also cultures and religions in Niger.
In Niger, almost 90% is Islam. They pray 5 times a day. I prayed once with my teachers. There are so many things which are written in the Koran and it is very interesting to learn about Islam. In addition, there are so many ethnic group: Hahousa, Zaruma, Towaregu etc. Each of them has each language and different customs.

I really have to mention that there are so many great dancers here in Niger. Most people are very good at dancing. Especially children are very good. I was amazed when I found young boys dancing in the class room at mid night. They invited us to dance with them. It was lots of fun!! I love dancing! I decided to learn African or Nigerian dance while I’m here.

When we had time, often we went around the village, Kollo. It is quite small, but it has great nature. We saw the rice filed like Japan. Honestly I couldn’t believe here was Niger, Africa. And when we were at top of the hill, we saw a great view: huge land and the horizon, very beautiful. Plus, people were very kind. They always greeted us so warmly. And as I said so many times, children were very very sweet. I think it is the same in the world.

It was only 3 weeks, but I felt very long time, just because there were so many things which is new to me and made me very surprise and amazed.

Ｈｅｌｌｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏｏ！

　It has been a really long time since I posted last time. Now I’m in Niamey again for final orientation. And it has just finished the day before yesterday, and I’m leaving to Tahoua in few hours. At last, my work will start! Excited I am!

　There are so many stories until now, so I would like to share my experience with you. I really wish I could write every single moment, what I saw or what I felt. Well,I will try.