As part of the exhibition "Feel Africa: Message through Arts and Lens", we will hold the story hour event of the Sierra Leonean picture book "Experience Sierra Leone's Village with A Picture Book: Story Hour of 'Ansu's Village'" on June 13, 2022.

"Ansu's Village" was written by Ms. Theresa Akuye Amui, a master student at TUFS from Sierra Leone in 2021, just before she came to Japan. The book depicts people's life in some village in Sierra Leone. You can see people's life in country village, as well as diversity of human beings. The village is like a microcosm of the world.

In the event, Theresa will explain behind-the-scene story of the book and pick up several pages to explain what she actually wants to tell after we introduce the whole story of the book. After her talk, students from other African countries will talk how their life is in their countries.

We call it "Africa", but it is a huge continent and contains many countries, regions, people, languages, cultures, lifestyles, history. We want people to feel the diversity of "Africa" in the event.

The event will be held at Central Plaza on TUFS campus. It is open to public, and no registration is required. We will also display the artworks of "Feel Africa" exhibition, so it is a great opportunity for people outside of TUFS to enjoy it!

Experience Sierra Leonean Village with A Picture Book: Story Hour of "Ansu's Village.

◆Date & Time: Monday, June 13, 2022 11:45 am - 12:35 pm *To be postponed in case of rain.

◆Venue: Central Plaza, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (In front of Research and Lecture Bldg.)

◆Presenters:

Speaker | Theresa Akuye Amui (the author of "Ansu's Village", a master student from Sierra Leone, Peace and Conflict Studies Course [PCS], Graduate School of Global Studies)

Reader | Samuel Gabriel Katta (a master student from Sierra Leone, PCS)

Friend | Shukulu Murekatete (a master student from Rwanda, PCS), Bassant Mossalem (a master student from Egypt, PCS)

Moderator | Elie Rodrigue Icishatse (a master student from Burundi, PCS)

◆Language: English

◆Admission: Free

◆Jointly organized by Feel Africa Exhibition Committee (Inter-University Exchange Project (Africa), African Studies Center, African Area Studies, School of International and Area Studies) and Peace and Conflict Studies Course [PCS], Graduate School of Global Studies

Event Report

It was a bright cloudless day in the middle of the rainy season. Many people gathered for the event, including TUFS students, faculty and staff, and people from outside of TUFS.

Rodrigue, a master student from Burundi, moderated the event with his casual speech. After the brief introduction of the book "Ansu's Village" by Theresa, the author of the book, Samuel, a master student from Sierra Leone read the whole book out loud to the audience. Then, Theresa picked up several scenes from the book and explained lifestyle and culture in Africa. Next, Shukulu from Rwanda and Bassant from Egypt gave presentations about their countries, such as culture, life in town, nature, etc. We were able to show different aspects of Africa by Theresa's book which depicts people and life somewhere in a Sub-Saharan Africa, urban life in Africa by Shukulu's presentation, life and culture in North Africa by Bassant's presentation, and Rodrigue's comments.

We believe that the event shows more and more people the charms and diversity of the huge continent called "Africa". Moreover, it was a great pleasure for us to introduce the picture book with the fascinating story and diversity of Africa which was written by a young African.

You can watch the event from the video below.