Before coming to Japan I engaged myself in a variety of activities as a volunteer at Dong Da Blind Association, while studying at the University of Hanoi.

I arrived in Japan on August 31, 2005 as one of the trainees of the 7th Duskin Leadership Training. It was my first visit to Japan. I felt very shy when I met other trainees and kept quiet, thinking it best to remain silent rather than talk. But as we spent everyday together, I began to feel less shy and became friends with them. I also met many people and made friends with them which made my life in Japan so much more enjoyable.

I learnt Japanese for approximately three months, starting on September 5. I was quite anxious because I could not write or speak Japanese before coming to Japan. Every morning, we practiced Japanese and sang Japanese songs together, and in the afternoon we learnt Japanese Braille and listen to Japanese conversation on tapes. As Japanese was very difficult to learn and has many new characters, we had to do homework every night: we had to read Japanese books, listen to the Japanese radio, talk to other trainees in Japanese and write weekly reports in Japanese. Teachers were very good at teaching Japanese to people with disabilities. Our Japanese gradually improved, and we were able to read and write Japanese Braille and speak Japanese. Japanese classes were always fun. I grew to like Japanese and wanted to learn more. After studying Japanese very hard for three months, I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test on December 4. This made me happy and I would like to say thank you to my Japanese teachers.

On December 28, I went to the home of Ms. Asami Ishikawa in Aichi Prefecture, for a home-stay. The family consisted of Asami, her sister, father and mother. I had great fun going shopping by car with Asami and her mother and cooking and visiting famous sites with Asami and her friends. My Japanese New Year with the Japanese host family had many memorable moments including having the traditional new year’s meal ‘Osechi’, and ‘Ozoni’ and hearing much about Japanese culture. Asami’s home was in a small town where everyone in town was friendly and kind. I would like to thank Asami and her family.

Japan was full of new fun experiences. The ski training was the most fun and wonderful of all.

For two days from January 27, I had the opportunity to ski in Niigata Prefecture. It was astonishing; as far as I could see, there was snow everywhere! I felt strange when I first touched the snow. The first day, three volunteer instructors explained to us about skiing and we practiced skiing together many times. As it was my first skiing attempt I fell over many times and my body was sore, but gradually my skiing became better and better. On the last day we enjoyed taking photographs and playing in the snow. Skiing was such a great experience. I will never forget it. Thank you everyone for teaching us so much.

The individual training started on January 5. The trainees took their training in different places depending on that they wanted to study.

My longest training took place at Slash, where I spent two months studying how to use computers. Everyday I held a white cane, got on a train by myself and went to Slash. Slash was an organization that taught people with visual impairments how to use personal computers: I learnt Word, Excel and how to create webpages. I could not use computers at all beforehand, but after the teachers taught me kindly I learnt to do various things using a computer and I was very happy. When I go back to Vietnam, I would like to establish a computer class like Slash, for people with visual impairments.

I spent one month training at the Nippon Lighthouse Welfare Center for The Blind to learn activities of daily living. At first I was lonely, spending a lot of time alone in my room, but life soon became better as I started to spend more time eating with others in the dining room, chatting, and joining in my favorite club once a week. Everyday I learnt rattan and paper craft, sewing, orientation and mobility training, Japanese Braille, and once a week I went to the Information & Culture Center for the Blind (ICCB), for training. Since I was interested in guide dogs, I also asked the center to let me watch the guide dog for the blind training, and also walked with a guide dog for the first time.

I spent two weeks at ‘KOYUKAI’ to learn rehabilitation methods and services for people with disabilities and the new TV phone system to support blind people. It was a great learning experience. Ms Noriko Igarashi gave me a kimono --. I love kimonos! The kimono teacher also put makeup on my face and took photographs. It was extremely touching.

As I was interested in Braille libraries, I had a period of training at General Support Center for Visually Handicapped Chiba. Everyday I walked about 30 minutes with the aid of a white cane, from the dormitory to the station to get the train to the center. Mr. Takanashi, Ms. Takahashi and other staff kindly taught me about Braille libraries, Japanese laws concerning people with disabilities and about volunteering methods. I also visited Chiba prefectural Chiba School for the Blind. It was very interesting and great to learn about the diverse activities of people with disabilities in Japan.

I would like to tell my friends and persons with visual impairments in Hanoi about my experiences in Japan over the past 10 months. I would also like to start a school that teaches computer skills to persons with visual impairments.

The 10 months of training from September 2005 has ended. I was very fortunate to have been selected to participate in this program. I enjoyed learning various things everyday. I could do what I wanted to do, and I made many friends. I was also so happy to be such good friends with other trainees.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of the kind people at the program host the Duskin Ainowa Foundation. Thank you also to everyone at JSRPD, who were working very hard and gave us such care and advice and made me feel like I was part of their family. These people include the respectable Ms. Okuhira, the lovely Ms. Takizawa, the beautiful Ms. Nasu, the kind Ms. Nakatani, the funny Ms. Baba, the gentle Ms. Wayama, I am very grateful. I am also extremely grateful to all the staff at the training places who kindly helped me during my training. Also, I will never forget about other trainees, we were always together and shared everything like a family. I will keep all of this kindness in my heart. I look forward to the future, I would like to think of a possibility to build a great future with friends in my own country. Thank you once again everyone.