Church Ohana Opens Its Hearts, Homes To Tsunami Victims
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Three weeks with a houseful of teenagers is daunting enough, but seven families from Hope Chapel Kaneohe Bay enjoyed every minute of it, along with their 12 special guests from Japan.
“It just feels good, and it has been so worthwhile,” said Julie Mijo, mother of three, whose family took in two 16-year-old girls who lost their homes to the March earthquake, tsunami and radiation threat.
The three-week visits were part of a church-sponsored Japan Tohoku Relief Homestay Program that’s sending more than 200 displaced and traumatized youths for some R&R with families in Australia, New Zealand, Arizona and Hawaii this summer. Kaneohe’s group, ages 14 to 25, returned to Japan Aug. 18, happily distracted for a time by many new experiences with super-friendly island folks.
“We wanted to show these students that there is still hope, even though all of them have either lost a close family member or their homes in the disaster,” said Glory Yoshida, the church’s administrative assistant who coordinated many of the activities.
These included hikes, a luau, Waikiki magic show, Polynesian Cultural Center, shopping, pool parties, the sand bar, a dolphin watch, a manicure, eating cheesecake, surfing, morning English lessons and church meetings at Hope Chapel and a visit to Kailua High’s Japanese language class.
Numerous businesses, church donors and friends defrayed costs of the hospitality effort (about $1,500 per child), including transportation, admission tickets and meals like lunch at Buzz’s in Lanikai.
Though there were few words to banter about in each other’s language, home host Molly Hagman said it was no problem. “We’ve had a lot of fun with the language barrier,” she laughed.
“I never knew my house could be so big!” added Hagman, who also put herself on the inactive list as a substitute teacher for the duration of the visit. Her Kaneohe home housed two 17-year-old girls, along with the couple’s own two kids and two dogs (plus another one they were pooch-sitting).
She said she was inspired to open her home and move the furniture around while reading verses from Isaiah at church: 54:2 (“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide ... “) and 58:10 (“Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble”).
“We had a good time, but there is an underlying sadness ... These girls can’t even go home,” Hagman pointed out, referring to the radiation barrier as well as the total destruction of their homes.
“It breaks your heart.”
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