Before coming to Japan, I was working at self-help organization of persons with disabilities. I also taught basic computer skills and helped with Braille printing at the Handicapped Service Center. After reading the autobiography book of Mr. Hirotada Ototake, I had a strong desire to go and study in Japan. The dream came true; on August 31, 2006, I came to Japan as one of the trainees of the 7th Duskin leadership training in Japan. For the first time in my life I sat in a wheelchair and I undertook many studies.

Toyama Sunrise is a clean, barrier-free building, located in a quiet area between Waseda and Wakamatsu Kawada Stations. I stayed there for the first three months of the training period to study Japanese.

The Japanese classes started on September 5. Before coming to Japan, I did not understand Japanese at all. I spent three months studying Japanese with the other 6 trainees from different countries in the Asia and Pacific region. The teachers taught us by letting us practice conversation using tapes, by reading wonderful poems, singing and making jokes. The Japanese class was a lot of fun. The trainees often made funny mistakes or pronounciations and the teachers couldn’t stop laughing. I studied Japanese very hard, doing lots of homework, studying by myself in my room, reading books with ‘kana’ next to ‘kanji’(chinese characters) words, watching Japanese programs on TV and writing weekly reports. This eventually enabled me to speak, read and write in Japanese quickly.

In the New Year, I experienced a home-stay in Toki City, Gifu. There are many mountains in Toki, where I saw snow for the first time. There were 11 people in my host family. I talked to the grandfather, grandmother, mother and younger sisters, and also ate, sang, went shopping and went sightseeing with them. We also went to Kyoto together. I put on the kimono with the mother and we both looked like ‘maiko’s （the famous kimono-clad Japanese girls in Kyoto who learn traditional dances and musical instruments for guests). It was the first time for me. The mother accompanied me at all times and loved me as if I were her son. I felt as if my host family was my real family. I will never forget them.

The individual training started after the home-stay. I went to many training centers for a variety of objectives.

My first training period started at the Center for Independent Living 'YAH!DO' MIYAZAKI. I was their first ever Duskin leadership program trainee. I stayed at the independent living experience room and experienced living alone for the first time. I also learnt about the concept of independent living for the first time. There is a dialect in Miyazaki, which made it a little difficult for me to understand everyone at first, but they all spoke slowly so I gradually began to understand. Mr. Nagayama, Mr. Yamanouchi, and other staff taught me a lot about independent living and Miyazaki’s movements of people with disabilities. We also went to visit the beautiful ocean, the mountains, the zoo and other sites which were all great fun.

There were heavy snowfalls in Niigata this year, as high as 4meters. 4 meters I was stunned. I put on a ski wear and went on bi-skis. It felt fantastic to ski from the top of the mountain to the bottom for the first time. The teachers helped me onto a lift and I practiced skiing down the slope a number of times until eventually I could ski very well. The ski training was great fun and a wonderful experience.

After the ski training I went to Nagoya, to stay at the AJU Center for Independent living for a three-week training. Mr. Yamada, Mr. Kinoshita, Mr. Iriya and other staff of AJU taught me in detail about AJU’s activities, personal assistant services for people with severe disabilities. I also learnt about how people with severe disabilities work at various centers; Peer Nagoya, Wadachi Computer House, Samaria House, Support J and the Helper Station ‘My Life.’ I also participated in a demonstration with the friends of AJU It was a bit cold due to the winter climate, but it was such a good learning experience.

I learnt not only about people with physical disabilities, but also about blind people at WITH. WITH is situated in the city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, renowned for tasty eels. Mr. Shiba, Ms. Kanaya and other people at WITH kindly taught me how to make white canes and Braille printed name-cards and about Braille printing and the needs of blind people. Mr. Shiba also took me to many other places for more learning opportunities.

As I wanted to learn more about independent living, I went to the Independent Living Center ‘Muchu’ in Osaka after WITH. I spent one month in training while living alone in an independent living experience room. Mr. Hirashita, Chan-san (Mr. Hirashita’s brother) and other members of Muchu enthustiastically taught me about independent living movements and Osaka’s movements of people with disabilities. They also took me to many places for learning experiences. We also cooked Osaka’s famous savoury pancake balls ‘Takoyaki,’and visited Universal Studios Japan, the Osaka Castle and the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. I learnt a lot while having a great deal of fun.

There are very few wheelchairs in Myanmar. It is also very difficult to repair a wheelchair once it is broken. This prompted me to spend three weeks at Nihon Wheelchairs co., to learn about how to repair wheelchairs. Of course it being a company, the working hours were long and hard, and there was not much talking going on at work. I also felt a little lonely at first because there were only employees without disabilities. However as I gradually became friends with the teachers and as I got to learn more about the company, the training became a lot more enjoyable.Everyday, Mr. Nomura and Mr. Kitamura taught me very patiently and I worked hard to acquire the skills. Now I can repair any kind of manual wheelchair. This makes me very happy.

After the training in wheelchair repairment, I spent eight days at Ohyata Employment Support Center to learn about webpage production. Despite the limited time, I eventually managed to create my own homepage, which made me very happy.

I went to Human Care Association to sum up my experiences of individual training. Mr. Nakanishi, Mr. Tsukada and Ms. Yamamoto gave me various information about independent living and welfare services for people with disabilities. I also formulated my future plan in Myanmar and explained it to everyone.

There was a group training session after the individual training period. Together with the other trainees, we studied many things including leadership and project proposal writing. We also visited many sites for more information. The group training was very important.

There were many good things about my stay in Japan. The best thing of all was that I organized my own life. Before coming to Japan I lived with my family and they always organized my life. By living independently in Japan, I was able to plan and make decisions about everything by myself.

When I return to Myanmar, I want to tell my friends about everything I learnt in Japan. I have three objectives.

1. Creating a workplace: people with disabilities in Myanmar have no income or disability pension, so life is very hard for them. I would like to set up a workplace where everyone can work together so that we can support the lives of people with disabilities.

2. Creating a studio for wheelchair production: I would like to start a studio or factory to manufacture wheelchairs, so that people with disabilities can be free to go out when they want to.

3. Starting a center for independent living: I would like to establish Myanmar’s first center for independent living. Just like the Japanese centers for independent living, I would like to involve many people and host many activities. I would, for example, like to teach them about the independent living I learnt about in Japan, gather volunteers, start peer counselling programs and create networks to link people with disabilities in Japan and abroad. I would also like to host IL seminars.

The one-year training from September 2005 has now ended. I feel very fortunate to have been selected to participate in this program. I was able to accomplish many studies while enjoying myself everyday. I am very glad to have been able to do what I wanted. I also made a lot of friends. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of the kind people from the Duskin Ainowa Foundation who supported this program in a variety of ways. I will never forget them. I also appreciate everyone at JSRPD working so hard for all of us and giving us kind advice and so much care. Thank you. I am also very grateful to everyone at the various training destinations who had such big hearts to help with my training and to teach me so much. I deeply thank all of you. I will build a good future with the people in my country, always holding your kindness in my heart. Thank you very much for everything I experienced during my year in Japan.