My home

I got my home in Tahoua! The Nigeriane government offers me a house and I’m going to live there by myself. Actually it is too big to live for a person. I feel like I can live here with my family. So, if you want to come and visit me in Tahoua, there is always your room here!!
It has been a year since previous person left. So, it was very very dirty!!! It was nightmare! There were so many spiders net, dust, dust and dust!! Hardly have I believed I’m going to live here. I had to work so hard to clean up my home first. I’m so glad that I like cleaning. haha Also, there were some points which needed to repair, so I asked a staff from the government in Tahoua to repair. Although he is very busy but he helped me a lot. So my keys and electricity got better so fast. He looks very busy and I’ve never seen such a busy person like him in Niger. It was first time for me to see someone who is in rush here.
I had a guard man at home. For the security reason, there is a guard man at volunteers home. In my case, my guard man lives in outside in my house with his family. He is really really nice and his family, too! I’m so glad to live here with them. There are two kids, 4 years, 1 and half years boy. They are so sweets!!
First two nights, I couldn’t stay at my home because it was not clean enough to stay. So, I stayed at other volunteers home. After a week, my home got a lot better!!! Now it is really clean and very nice! Well done, Hiroko! haha Well, my guard man helped me a lot actually. He always gave me his hand to clean up, moving sofas and so on. Thanks to him, it is really comfortable to stay here now.
On Sunday, I had a lunch with guard man’s family. Usually, his wife gives me something to eat. Of course, that is not their job, but they offer me foods. They are so kind. So, to show my thanks, I made lunch for them on Sunday. I’m not sure they liked my spaghetti because their taste is different from me, but I hope they had a great time. As for me, I had honestly.

Picture: this is my house in Tahoua

Sunday, 16 November

The 1st week in Tahoua

It has been almost a week since I arrived in Tahoua. It was just a week, but there are so many things I want to write here. During the week, I had so many new experiences and I met so many people.

After about 8 hours drive, we got in Tahoua. I came here with a coordinator of JICA and a volunteer who is also going to work in Tahoua. We got so many loads for living in new place, so JICA took us by a car.
First, we went to my home. So, I start to talk about my home.

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.

Hi, everyone!!!

I’m in Kolo now!! Lucky, I can use Internet here.
It has been 2 weeks since we got here in Kollo. It was about 1 hours drive from Niamey, a capital city of Niger. On the road, I saw very typical African view, so huge land with sands. It was really amazing.
The life is going well. Actually I imagine that it would be hard to live here, because I’ve heard that usually there are problems with water, foods, shower, toilets. But fortunately rooms were repaired before we arrived and our teachers have tried to make this place better for us. I really appreciate all of their help and things I got, suitable bed, shower and good foods. Of course, I have to say it is so different from Japan and it will take time to get used to, but who can complain? I chose to be here. At night, there are lots of stars!! It is super beautiful. It was first time for me to see the Milky Way. I should wish something when I see a shooting star!!

I really have to introduce my great members. There are 11 members. We came to Niger together and we are going to work in different places. 5 of them are going to work in Niamey and others including me are going to Tahoua, Maladi, Dosso and Teraberri. I really glad to meet all of them, not only because they are just great but also because they are all different and unique. It is so funny and amazing to live together. They are so wonderful company for me. How much lucky I am to get such a nice friends.

Here, we are learning languages which we are going to use for work. As for me, I study Hausa. It is completely new language!! For example, How are you? is Ina kuwana? Fine is Lahiarou. It is quite interesting to learn and I do want to be able to speak soon. Of course, I will study hard and I will be a good French speaker, too!

Ok, let me finish this now. I will be back to you soon! There are still so many things I wanna tell you!

Thank you for reading.
Miss you all.

Love from Zara xxx ( I got new name here!)