News

This year's musical was titled "The Snow Queen" and had its last show March 13, 2010. Millions of pictures are posted around Facebook for your enjoyment. This year the group build school rooms in beautiful Bau, PNG.

Last year's Musical was titled "Snow White and the Seven Samurai" and had its last show March 14th, 2009. Congratulations to all the participants! See pictures from the Niigata City performance HERE.

Stayed tuned for updates about 2010 fundraising totals and the PNG trip in late March.

Please see below for info on past editions of the Charity Musical.

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The 8th Annual Niigata Charity Musical & the Papua New Guinea Experience -

Niigata International Charity Organisation 2005

by Jessica Loh

Contributions from Johnson Kong, Mary Simmons & Nuria Giralt

Yet another season of the Niigata charity musical has come and gone but this year's final curtain is definitely far from the last. 2005 marked the eighth year of this annual fundraising project, an endeavour unique to Niigata's ALT community. It first began when a group of 10 ALTs decided to raise money for a volunteer trip to Fiji close to a decade ago by performing a musical, written in simple English, in cities around Niigata Prefecture. All money raised through ticket sales and donations would go towards materials needed for the volunteer trip. Thus, the Niigata charity musical was born, and now, 8 years later, the Niigata International Charity Organization (NICO) is still going strong. This year we had about 40 individuals involved with the production consisting of both foreign and Japanese individuals. The production was "Peter Ja Pan", a parody of the classic tale with a cultural twist. There was no shortage of swash-buckling pirates or animal-print wearing tribes people, along with some lost shogakko children, a former ALT Captain who lost his hand in a mean game of "Fruit Basket", and Wendy's little sister Na-chan who also flew with Peter to Neverland. All in all, I think a good time was had by cast, crew, and audience members alike. A great big round of applause goes to everyone in Niigata Prefecture who contributed to the success of this year's production (you know who you are), and to all of our audience members and supporters, we'd like to give you a tremendous thank you for contributing to the spirit of this cause. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

The Musical

The process of the Niigata charity musical is quite straightforward. Auditions are usually held in September along with the first volunteer trip meeting. Rehearsals occur almost every other weekend between October and December. Each rehearsal takes place in cities around Niigata Prefecture so everyone can have an opportunity to see parts of the prefecture they might not visit otherwise. Special events are sometimes arranged during the rehearsal weekends; this year we saw an Albirex game in Niigata City, had Thanksgiving dinner in Murakami, a group excursion to Sado Island, and a prop-making Mexican Night in Kashiwazaki. After winter vacation, the fun part begins…show time! The shows tour around the prefecture and go from January to March. This year we performed in 6 cities: Murakami, Shibata, Nagaoka, Joetsu, Niigata, and Sado Island. Between rehearsals and performances, after-parties and events, the musical is perhaps one of the best ways to spend the winter weekends in this notorious "snow country" we call home. Before we know it, it is early spring and the cast and crew members who contributed their time to the musical embark on the volunteer destination. This year was a particularly unique year as our organization raised money for two important causes. The people of Niigata Prefecture were thrust into a situation of need when an earthquake rocked the Chuetsu region in late October of 2004. Due to the Chuetsu earthquake, many families were left homeless or in need of expensive repairs to their property. Therefore, this year NICO decided to donate a portion of the funds raised to the Chuetsu Earthquake Relief Fund as well. The mission of this organization is simple and the people involved dedicate their time for various reasons. Whether it is for a once-in-a-lifetime volunteering experience, a way to see friends on the weekend, a method to improve English conversation skills (for our Japanese members out there), a chance to stretch one's theatre legs, or simply to play a role in a remarkable group effort to do something good, the diversity of reasons brings together a dynamic group of individuals. The common thread is the time and energy each individual dedicates to the project in order to achieve one main goal: to help others in need whether it is close to home or in a country far away.

A notice will be sent out just after the start of the new JET year (August 2010) regarding the 2010-2011 musical!

2010- The Snow Queen

2009- Snow White and the Seven Samurai

2008- Alice in Japan

2007- Shohei and the Okashi Factory

2006- A Jungle Tale

The Volunteer Trip

The charity musical is a multi-layered project with many levels of contribution from a number of different people. NICO is affiliated with the Niigata Papua New Guinea Association and PNG has been the destination for the past two years. Previous destinations also include Fiji, Vanuatu, Sri Lanka, and India. All travel costs are the responsibility of the volunteers, and the money raised by the musical this year went to building materials and education costs in remote villages in the Waria Valley of Papua New Guinea. The Niigata PNG Association works with an NGO based in Lae called the Village Development Trust (VDT). The men and women working for VDT arrange a number of projects, including those to promote conservation awareness, environmental protection, and the practical sustainable development of village resources. These are achieved through eco-tours, guesthouse/teacher-housing construction, culture conservation projects, promoting health and social awareness through drama, and so on. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.global.net.pg/vdt/. VDT arranged our transportation to Bao Village and four other remote villages in the Morobe Province. The staff and volunteers of VDT were very knowledgeable of their land and resources. Within the two weeks we spent in PNG, we were all able learn, laugh, and befriend this group of enthusiastic and remarkable individuals who were working together to contribute to PNG's further sustainable development. Embarking on this trip was an eye-opening experience as we could witness the kind of grassroots approach the Papua New Guineans of VDT are taking to empower the village people. The resources are all readily available, the people, the culture, and the environment, and VDT's efforts to guide villagers to use these to their advantage without giving in to corporate extortion is a commendable feat. It has been an honour to work with this organization and help bring them one step closer towards achieving their goals.

Reflections

Being a part of the musical has, most definitely, enriched my ALT life in Japan. Had I not been placed in Niigata Prefecture, I might not have found the inspiration or opportunity to be a part of this experience. I only wish there were enough nenkyu for everyone to make a trip to PNG just once in their lives. I have dedicated 2 years to this project and embarked on the volunteer trip, regrettably, only once. However, the mere two weeks I spent living and breathing with the people in PNG, the connections made in such a short amount of time, were far more heartfelt than any interaction I have ever experienced in less than 14 days. The people, nature, and lifestyle of Papua New Guineans has changed my perspective on life's important things in more ways than any insight gained from all the countries I have traveled to combined. This was not just a trip to spend yen frivolously in exorbitant souvenir shops or a trip to a big-name hotel to drink cocktails by the pool. This was not a trip to slap some paint on a classroom wall just to say we did something for the village children. This was an opportunity to live in a village without electricity and mirrors, concrete and cars, currency and radio waves, to see just how much more the village people have compared to us in the city. This was a chance to witness how people can help themselves and each other in order to achieve a common goal. Village life is clearly a simple life, and in it there is no shortage of food, water and laughter. They have the sea to provide water and seafood, trees for building canoes and shelter, fresh fruits available all year long, land for harvesting rice, potatoes and taro, voices for music and friends and family for dancing and games. Tied in with barefoot strolls among coconut trees from the village school to the beach, curious eyes that radiate from village children wearing oversized t-shirts and playful smiles, sparkling moonlight dancing on the sea, and Easter Mass at dawn with an escalating sunrise backdrop, life along the Huon Coast in Morobe is nothing short of paradise.

To paint Papua New Guinea memories with words provides nothing but injustice to the beauty of the people, culture, and country; however, in our best effort we will try to give you a glimpse into the PNG experience...

Reflections by Johnson Kong

Despite undertaking my 2nd trip to PNG, the beauty of the nature and the simple happiness that exists in the villages of the Waria Valley still put me to shame. From the kindness of the people who went out of their way to make us feel welcome, to the little and larger children who took to us and welcomed every opportunity to learn from us, I understood there how much more meaningful it is to do something for others in the places that I visit. Get away from concrete Japan? Check. Find internationalization and responsive, English-learning and English-able children? Check. Connect with people from a totally different culture and way of life than our own? Check. Make a difference in the world that we live in.

Reflections by Mary Simmons

The effervescent smiles of the people reflected inward warmth, generosity, and a certain kind of peace I never knew existed. By world standards, everyone we met was under the poverty line, but they were the richest people I had ever met in the entirety of my life. They live on beaches, amongst the fruits of their labor, surrounded by loved ones and encircled by a proud sense of long lasting tradition.

The PNG experience by Nuria Giralt

How can one even begin to put into words the PNG experience? Do I start with the obvious, the things that you can see? The beautiful, green lush forests for miles and miles, palm trees and coconuts, bright blue sky, puffy clouds, the full moon and millions of stars at night, the mountains, the lakes, the sea, the beautiful ocean which changes colour a dozen times everyday, the brightly coloured fish, the coral, fisherman on their traditional fishing boats, the wooden-housed villages, the schools, the smiling laughing children, the colourful theatrical performances depicting local stories, and the people. Incredible people with so few material possessions in the world, who constantly insist they have nothing to give us but in fact gave us so much. Or do I begin with the taste of things? Do I tell of all the wonderful meals chef Girry prepared for us? Each meal prepared with love and care, full of home-grown specialties: organic rice, taro, sweet potatoes, pit-pit, sugar-sweet pineapples, paw-paw, oranges, fresh fish, clams, chicken and pork. Or the taste of beetlenut that leaves your mouth bright red after you are finished chewing it. Or do I start with the sound of things? Every night and every morning to wake up with the sound of the crashing waves a few meters from our beach-front guesthouse, the birds and the insects. No electricity meant no city noises, no sirens, no cars, no radios, only laughing, singing children. Or do I begin with the way you feel when its time to leave. How can one explain when it was time to leave we all cried, we cried with raw honest emotion, we cried like babies. How can we feel so moved and so touched by people we had barely known for two weeks? Communities, people that had taken us in and shared with us their everyday life, their culture, their nature and in so many ways how less is more. Whichever way you begin to look at the PNG experience, you will realize what a wonderful experience it is. So much is learnt about a country and its people where so little is known outside of its borders.