ハワイ海外研修（HIBISCUS）では、休日などを利用して、地元の人々のお手伝いをするボランティアに参加することができます。5月30日、ボランティアに参加した学生たちから報告が届きました。この活動を通して、学生たちは新たな経験、喜び、学びを得ることができたようです。



Mauka to Makai Environmental Expo
Miku Sakuradani
Service Learning always gives me new experiences. I will write about my service learning experience called "MAUKA TO MAKAI Environmental Expo Event." This is an unusual event in Waikiki Aquarium for Earth Day. MAUKA means "toward the mountain", MAKAI means "toward the ocean". This event promoted the importance of keeping Hawaii clean and free of pollution, from the mountaintops to the Ocean. My job was to take orders, make foods, and then serve customers at a food stand. I encountered a problem while volunteering as I often confused vanilla and banana when I took orders. On the other hand, I heard banana as vanilla. I couldn't believe that, but native speakers speak so fast. At HELP, teachers speak slowly and use easy words to us because they know our English level. However, in the real world, people don't know that. I overcame this problem by asking customers a lot of questions. I learned to not hesitate to ask again. This is very important in class and daily life too. If there is something that I don't understand, I will have a misunderstanding. Everyone is friendly even though I mess up the orders and can't answer smoothly. They repeat their orders for me. I had a great time at this event.

Lunalilo Home
Maki Seo
I went to Lunalilo home twice to do volunteering. Lunalilo home is a nursing home. There are many elderly people and they spend their time happily in this home. The reason I chose Lunalilo home is that my parents are working at a nursing home in Japan, I have liked talking to elderly people since I was a child. I also wanted to communicate with many people through this volunteer activity. My tasks were to push people in a wheelchair, take walks with them while supporting them physically, play games and exercise with them while chatting. They also taught us how to make a lei. The lei is a Hawaiian wreath. Among the activities, the most difficult was reading the newspaper aloud in English to elderly people. This was because there were some words that I could not read. When I was asked to read aloud, I was going to refuse, but when I read slowly, they were very pleased. So I was glad to try it. I also think they loved to talk, so it was important to listen with a smile even if I did not understand what they were saying. I also noticed that elderly people have many Japanese names. When I talk to my grandmother, I discovered that her parents were Japanese. Thus, I learned that many Japanese people immigrated to Hawaii long ago. Through this volunteer activity, I was able to get involved with many people and I learned more about Hawaii.