okinawa hai!

CONTRIBUTED BY AMANDA MARSHALL I just returned from another trip to volunteer in the tsunami relief work along the coast of mainland Japan. You may have read the previous post here. Instead of doing cleanup work in Sendai again, on this trip we were visiting survivors in Fukushima who are now in temporary housing units. [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY AMANDA MARSHALL The grave damage caused by the March 11, 2011, earthquake & tsunami is out of the news, but I was recently there to volunteer, and I can tell you first hand that it is nowhere near being over. They are still in the first phase of cleaning up the disaster – [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH FORTE Kadena Gift Front Where do you buy gifts for friends and family back in the States? I, for one, suffer from the self-imposed pressure of needing to buy something unique and—preferably—Asian. If I’m sending something from Japan, it doesn’t seem right to send something they could have gotten from Walmart. Am [...]

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It has been one month since the earthquake and typhoon disasters in northern Japan.  Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those affected by this tragedy.   I know that many of you have found ways to share your personal blessings with those in need during these last weeks.  Admittedly, I've found myself [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JOY BARNES At my core, I am an activist.  Before my “career” as a stay at home mom, I worked for a feminist non-profit organization, I volunteered for political movements, and I’ve certainly done my share of letter writing campaigns.   However, when I moved to Okinawa, I was worried about where I [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY HEATHER GELORMINE I don’t want to alarm anyone but THE HOLIDAYS ARE RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!  *ahem* (I think my panic and unpreparedness are showing.)  Unless you’ve already put in your order for our fabulous 2011 Okinawa Hai calendars, you may still be scrambling around, looking for local gifts for all those special [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY CHIP STEITZ AND TARA HOWES This summer I received an email from Chip Steitz regarding the Special Olympics held each year on Kadena Air Base.  He wanted to get the word out about how we can all be involved in this special volunteer opportunity.  He said: Kadena Special Olympics transcends stereotypes, politics, nationalities [...]

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CONTRIBUTED BY JANAE BURGER As a child I watched ‘Annie’ numerous times while singing along with the song, “The sun will come out tomorrow’ and occasionally referring to my mother as Miss Hannagain when she assigned unwanted chores. This past fall I was thrilled when my church group was gearing up for a project for [...]

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As some of you know, I was a bit shocked to give birth to a little girl in July.  Along with the generalized panic of raising a princess after only having experienced loud, rambunctious boys, there were some practical problems as well.  First and foremost:  NO GIRL CLOTHES.  My closets were filled with plastic bins [...]

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Thanks so much to all the editors for covering for me while I got a bit settled with my new little girl.  Back to it! It's been so fun to interview and get to know our OkinawaHai editors. Today, meet Ms."To Shop"…It’s not often that I hear a story as unusual as hers.  It’s not a born, raised [...]

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