For our 80th Birthday Anniversary, in May of 2008, I had written a booklet about our first 80 years. It is a short history of PPSEAWA Hawaii and includes many photos, membership statistics and details of past activities. They are, amongst many others, the program preparations for the Triennual International Meetings These International presentations continue to be very important to emphasize PPSEAWA Hawaii’s special status.
Our long relationship with the Susannah Wesley Community Center (SWCC) in Kalihi started in 1999 and to this day is an integral part of our programming. Many thanks to Irene Fujimoto who tirelessly has given us the moral support in all of this.
PPSEAWA Hawaii at SWCC has many memorable achievements:
1. Several, divergent activities were successfully undertaken with focus on their younger after school girls, like hiking, museum trips, theatre and photography education.
2. Interviews with 50 youngsters from Honolulu’s underprivileged residential areas which resulted in a Youth Forum held at SWCC, with presentations to the public and several State officials.
3. PPSEAWA Hawaii in support of the “Competence based” education program (funded by the DOE Hawaii) initiated a very elaborate Graduation Ceremony including family and friends of the graduates.
4. We held several bazaar-like sales of used clothing, all collected, sorted and priced by our members.
5. Our ongoing involvement with SWCC continues under their new Chief Executive Director. It focusses on the most acute attack on girls under age, victims of the modern sex trade.
1. Other programs – outside of SWCC – have been:
a. Collection of books and journals for the library at the Women’s prison in Hawaii
b. Our Christmas collection of baby clothes/toys for unwed mothers at Prince Kuhio Terrace.
c. Supporting the Ronald McDonald housing facility by stacking their Food Pantries, monthly.
d. Collecting items for personal use for women in abuse shelters.
e. Our (almost) monthly membership meetings, are held to educate ourselves about social, environmental and diverse women’s issues. PPSEAWA Hawaii has been successful in inviting expert speakers for discussions on all subjects of concerns.
It is worth mentioning that in all these activities, PPSEAWA Hawaii has stayed loyal to its life long theme “to initiate and promote cooperation among women of the Pacific Region for study and betterment of existing condition” (PPSEAWA International – Constitution).
Recently, our communication and presentation of both local and International events have been vastly improved: The electronic newsletter designed and written by our talented Millie Morikawa is now published on the website of PPSEAWA International, under the Hawaii section.
Anyone interested in more details, please write to me at: siddiqiulrike760 [at] gmail.com (siddiqiulrike760[at]gmail[dot]com)