Marian Lehua Kim and Barbara Akana
VIRIDITAS2: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Sister Malia Dominica: So, how long have you been here at Sacred Heart?
Barbara: I grew up in Kohala and I have been a Catholic since I was a little girl.
Marian Lehua: Me, too. I’m 80 years old now!
SMD: (to Barbara): I noticed on your red apron …
BA: “Five Loaves and Fishes.” That is the name of our kitchen ministry. On the first Sunday of each month, the parish hosts its Aloha Breakfast. Our ministry cooks and serves the food. Aside from that, we maintain the kitchen and the hall.
MLK: We also do fundraisers to raise money for the church.
BA: I retired from my work of almost 40 years in the hotel industry. I always did banquets. Lehua was a teacher. But she also worked part-time at the hotel that I originally worked at. Five Loaves and Fishes was started three years ago and is our business. We do all of this for our faith.
MLK: That is besides … being a lector, bereavement …
BA: I’m on bereavement …
MLK: … or ushering, taking care of the sacristy, being a eucharistic minister.
BA: I am the mentor for the ushers; we are co-chairs for the bereavement committee. This is our church. All the parishioners, we are all friends. Everyone knows each other in Kohala.
MLK: The only drawback is that we don’t have young ones coming to church. I don’t know why they don’t come.
BA: Times are really different now. For example, as a little girl growing up Catholic my mom made sure I always wore a dress and shoes going to church. I even attended religious education classes until I was a senior in high school. My dad wasn’t really a church-going person, but all six of us girls went with my mom.
MLK: My husband is not a Catholic, he’s a Korean Christian. But he had no objections in the way I raised our three children and sent them to a Catholic school.
SMD: So, why do you continue to do what you do?
BA: It is the partnership.
MLK: Well, there is no one else around.
BA: We stretch out ourselves, but we know our limits. When I finally retired three years ago and our pastor, Father Elias (Eli) Escanilla found out that I was doing banquets and came from a family that does cooking … he said he found the right person for the kitchen ministry. Father often excitedly asks, “Can we do this?” “Or, this?” And the fun continues. Because it is fun to work on projects together.
BA: That’s what retirement is. I’m busier now being retired. This includes cooking meals for the neighborhood community as well.
MLK: I retired 20 years ago when I was 60. Of my retirement now, my husband says, “It is all for the church.”
BA: The thing is, you feel good doing service because it comes from the heart. I had lost my eldest child. With helping others through working with the bereaved, I have found myself strengthened although it is in the past. Here, we always try to make everyone happy. It comes from our hearts.
