Documentary Chronicles OWWCC’s 2012 Delegation to Manzanar

 

 

ManzanarMemorial

What They Could Carry…Return to Manzanar” tells the story of the Only What We Can Carry Delegation to Manzanar in 2012. The short documentary was filmed and produced by videographer and former EduCulture Board Member Brenda Berry and her colleague Scott Rouse.

The documentary features OWWCC’s 4th delegation of former internees and current Island educators and community leaders, who together retraced the historic 1942 forced relocation of the Bainbridge Island Japanese Community to the former Manzanar Relocation Center, in Independence, California.

This wonderfully filmed, 13-minute video brings the visit to life and tells some of the personal stories of those impacted by this historical event.  We are so grateful to Brenda and Scott for their excellent work and tremendous contribution to preserving the valuable stories from these journeys of bearing witness and discovery.

Click here for more on our 2012 OWWCC Delegation to Manzanar. 

 

 

“Leaving Our Island” Day at Sakai

IMG_0141“Leaving Our Island Day” held on March 5 gave 6th graders at Sakai Intermediary School  on Bainbridge Island the opportunity to hear firsthand from those who experienced the events surrounding World War II and the internment of Japanese citizens then living on Bainbridge Island. EduCulture’s Jon Garfunkel and our Only What We Can Carry Project has been assisting the school in facilitating this unique school tradition.

IMG_0148Students prepared for the day by studying the history of WWII and reading novels based on related events. They prepared questions that they were then able to pose directly to panel members, who included Japanese citizens whose families were sent to Internment camps, and other Bainbridge citizens who were friends of those families. Guests included Kay Sakai Nakao; Superintendent of Schools Faith Chapel, whose parents met in an Internment Camp; and Mary Woodward, former Editor of the Bainbridge Review and author of In Defense of Our Neighbors.

Many other honored guests were present and kept students engaged with their stories of both the dramatic and mundane aspects of life at the camps. Many students were interested in knowing what children did at the camps in their free time, and learned that pastimes included playing baseball, marbles, jacks, jump roping, and hide-and-go-seek; although as Lilly Kitamoto Kodama pointed out, “we had to be careful of snakes and scorpions.” Joe Abo shared memories of a cold winter at Tully Lake, and how the children went skating when the lake froze over. Memories such as these, interspersed with tales of FBI visits to their family homes and the difficulty of packing just one suitcase to carry with them, made a strong impression upon the students and brought the stories of the past to life. Victor Takemoto described what the experience was like for his family. The oldest of six children, Victor was a freshman at Bainbridge High School and his family had a farm at Lovgren and Highway 305. Born and raised on Bainbridge Island, he served as translator for his parents through these events, both of whom were from Japan.

IMG_0155Reid Hansen described how, as a 7th grader, his friends suddenly “went missing” on March 30. He was a junior in high school when they came back. He explained to the students how little anyone his age knew at the time about world events. Students were able to learn more about how Bainbridge Island residents came together to support their Japanese neighbors during this difficult time.

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