O’ahu, Hawai’i Christmas Service Project 2022

WFWP Statement of Beliefs: #4 “We embrace one global community transcending long-held barriers such as race, religion, and nationality through service, education, and celebration of unique differences.

On Thanksgiving Day, a simple message to a friend started the momentum to reach out to the wider community. Her name is Mrs. Rafia Hasina and she is in charge of an organization called Milun-Hawaiʻi whose mission it is to collaborate with and celebrate different cultures.

Mrs. Hasina called me and mentioned that she wanted to collaborate with the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) to show love to the community in the spirit of giving.

With a strong desire to serve and after sharing with other WFWP members and friends, “miracles” started to happen. First of all, one member offered her home for a planning meeting and to my surprise a dozen people came for a brainstorming gathering.

What should we do? We decided to make baskets. Some of us had a lot of experience making baskets for work and as gifts. Who should we give the baskets to? Since one of our WFWP members, Roslind, was from the Marshallese community we decided to work together to serve the Marshallese mothers. This is how the “Heart to Heart Basket Giving Service Project” was started.

Background about the Marshallese

The Marshallese settled in Hawai’i from the Marshall Islands. The Compact of Free Association with the United States was signed in 1986 after their Island of Bikini was used as a covert nuclear testing site by the U.S. during the Cold War. First colonized in the 1500’s, it was taken over by Japan from 1914 to 1943 and used as a military outpost. During WWII (1944) the U.S. captured the island from the Japanese and used it as a military base. The Republic of Marshall became a self governing nation after its constitution was ratified in 1978.

At the Honolulu Family Church, I announced the project and another group led by Mrs. Kumiko Saito called Kodan-Oʻahu offered their help and some people just joined in to help.

First, we bought items with our own money, but then a business donated $200 and people began to donate money and items. A few days before Christmas, we gathered at the Church to assemble the baskets together. Ladies from Korea, Japan, Philippines, Bangladesh/India, China, France and Hawai’i participated! Eighteen large beautiful baskets were created. The baskets included everyday necessary items such as toothbrushes, hair products, kitchen towels, healthy snacks, household products, handmade origami boxes, notebooks, and fresh oranges. Some baskets included blankets.

On December 21, 2022, we loaded the baskets into a van we borrowed from the Honolulu Family Church. We drove to the Marshallese community and handed the baskets to Marshallese ladies as they came by. A copy of the Logic of Love Newsletter was included in each basket to share about the work of WFWP. We exchanged phone numbers with some happy recipients in order to meet again.

Marshallese home decorated with pandanus leaf ornaments.

Then we were invited to Roslind’s home and gave her the few remaining baskets to distribute later to the mothers who could not come. What a treat to visit her home decorated with traditional Marshallese, handmade, Pandanus leaf ornaments

Most of all, we made new connections, learned about each other as we prepared the baskets, worked with different groups, got to meet and understand different cultures, networked and created ideas for future activities.

Sources:

Encyclopedia of Arkansas: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/marshallese-5972/

Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Marshall-Islands

History.com: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-troops-capture-the-marshall-islands