Address to HUBWA Annual General Membership Zoom Meeting
By Sharyn Sekine
November 29, 2020
Aloha and good morning Rev. Hagio, Judy, Lynn, and all of you fellow Zoomers. It’s so nice to see so many smiling, familiar faces out there. Thank you for giving me the honor and opportunity to be your speaker today.
I applaud all of you for making the effort to be here this morning despite these unusual circumstances we’re living in with the COVID-19 pandemic. This shows me the heart of our BWA, to persevere and carry on despite the obstacles you’re faced with. You epitomize the meaning of GAMAN and SHIKATA GA NAI. Moiliili Hongwanji describes their BWA as Beautiful, Wonderful, Ageless. I believe that is a very good descriptive of all of us. I’d like to also share another descriptive of BWA from Dianne Ida, President of HI Betsuin’s BWA which I feel describes our BWA as well: B for Brave, W for Willing, A for Awesome.
You have shown how Brave you are in making the effort in overcoming obstacles to join us today. You show that you are Willing to try new things and to learn new technology, like Zoom to connect and communicate with your fellow BWA members. And you are Awesome in not having anything, even a pandemic, deter you from coming together, even virtually, with your fellow members.
The more than 120 years history of our BWA or Fujinkai, as it was called from its beginnings, contains many stories and examples of the strength, bravery, willingness and courage of our BWA predecessors. Imagine, if you will, what it was like when the Fujinkai was first organized in 1898 with the first Bishop of the Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, Rev. Honi Satomi. The young women, many of them teenagers, came from their motherland to a strange, foreign land where people spoke different languages. Most lived on plantations in small shacks with dirt floors, no running water, used kerosene lamps, outhouses, firewood furo, ricebag clothing, and homemade utensils. Many faced long, working hours under the hot sun in the cane fields, low wages, and racial and religious discrimination. Despite these hardships, they joined together to help build and support their homes and families and our Hongwanji temples. Imagine how much they sacrificed just to donate 5 or 10 cents from their low monthly wages to the temple. We owe our deepest gratitude to these pioneer BWA women for their unselfish devotion and dedication to uphold our temples and our organization.
The BWA became a sisterhood of women who used their special talents and skills to maintain and keep our temples running. We recognize and appreciate their leadership in traditional tasks such as kitchen chores, temple cleaning, sewing, preparing flower arrangements for the altar, home/hospital visitations, fundraising with bazaars and other activities in order to donate necessary refurbishments and improvements to the temple.
In modern times, besides those traditional tasks, the BWA women are now taking on leadership positions in the temples and Hawaii Kyodan; being actively involved in student exchange programs, local and international conferences; and participating in social issues in the larger community, like volunteering for Project Dana, marching in the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade, providing meals for Family Promise, and most currently during this pandemic, donating through our Dana Fund to 13 charitable organizations and donating hand-made cloth face masks and surgical caps and bonnets to healthcare workers and facilities. As former Bishop Rev. Yoshiaki Fujitani wrote in the Introduction of the book, HOSHA, he referred to our hard-working and devoted BWA women as “ennoshita no chikaramochi”. He further explained in his speech at our 11th BWA State Membership Conference in May 2010, that the dictionary meaning of this Japanese expression means, “one who does a thankless job or one who puts in an unappreciated effort.” Actually, the words literally translated reads, “the strong one who holds up the veranda or porch,” the pillar. Yes, he was referring to the BWA women as “the pillars of the Hongwanji,” with no offense to the hard working males of our temples. He said, “someone has to do what has to be done.” I agree with Rev. Fujitani that our BWA women are the pillars that support our temples and keep them going. It is so true that our BWA members are always ready to be of service at any call.
At this time, I’d like to share a little bit about my personal journey in the BWA. After having been a Dharma School teacher for over 15 years, I decided that it was time for me to “graduate” and move on from Dharma School. The next step was to join one of the women’s organizations. So I joined the Upasika Society in 1999 at Hawaii Betsuin. Back then, there were two separate Buddhist women’s organizations, the Fujinkai (for Japanese speaking women) and the Upasika Society (for English speaking women). After the Upasika Society celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2002, it became more apparent to members of both groups that it was time for one women’s group. It was decided to unify both groups and on Jan. 1, 2003 the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin BWA was officially established. Moiliili Hongwanji had a similar situation, where they had the Fujinkai and the formation of a second women’s group, the Lotus Club, in October 1966, for English speaking women. Those two groups eventually merged in 1987 as the Moiliili Hongwanji BWA. At Jikoen, they did not have two women’s groups. During and after WWII, the Fujinkai was an informal group that met for special occasions at the temple. Their Fujinkai became formally established in1952 when they had a unique reactivation ceremony which was officiated by Lady Yoshiko Ohtani.
During my first few years in the BWA, I was content to just be a participant in their activities and functions and was not involved in any leadership capacity. Then from about 2007, I was asked to play a more active role, like being the MC for our BWA New Year’s Party, serving on the Hawaii Federation of BWA’s Social and Reception Committee for 6 years, and serving as an Auditor for Honolulu United BWA for 4 years. Then, in 2009, Lois Yasui asked me to be the 1st Vice President of the Betsuin BWA under her leadership as President. I was reluctant, at first, since I didn’t have a lot of experience and didn’t know much about the duties and responsibilities of that office. But with her guidance and under the mentorship and encouragement of members like Sets Takashige and Carol Yamamoto, I was able to carry out my responsibilities. But then, tragedy struck in February 2010, with the sudden and unforeseen passing of Lois. I was suddenly thrust into the President’s position since it was my duty as the 1st Vice President to step up. With the support, guidance and encouragement of many of our members, I was able to perform my duties as the President. After that 2010 term, I was elected to serve as President for another 2 years. Since then, I have continued to be actively involved in the BWA on all 3 levels – unit, United and Federation. I am forever grateful to my many mentors, some who are no longer with us, for providing me the opportunities and challenges to grow and to expand my comfort zone. Often, others have more confidence in our abilities / than we do, so I am thankful to our BWA for supporting and believing in me. I have met and gotten to know so many outstanding BWA leaders from throughout the state, including many of you from Moiliili and Jikoen, and I have developed a deep friendship with many. I believe that our BWA is really an Ohana and Sisterhood; we share in the camaraderie of working together for the temple and BWA, and share in each other’s joys, laughters and sorrows. I am so fortunate to be among such talented, generous, thoughtful, brave, kind and passionate women. Being among this sisterhood, I learned many new and practical things, and it also made me a better person as I had many good role models.
I am proud of and in awe of the extraordinary and gifted women in our BWA. And every year, these women show us that they haven’t reached their peak yet. An example of this is the Honolulu United BWA Education Program we hosted on Aug. 8, 2020 as a virtual Zoom meeting with an attendance of over 100 people. The committee that worked on this project held many Zoom meetings to plan, and a few very capable members spent countless hours creating a Memory Book and a video slideshow of our members’ reflections, photos, poetry, art and music of their COVID-19 Experiences. And of course, this project couldn’t have happened without the submissions from all of you on how you coped with the lockdown during this pandemic. The reflections that were shared showed us the talents, creativity, and deep insight of our members. Every single member has their own unique talent and skill and the combined efforts of each person helped to create this beautiful and touching program. This is interdependency and interconnectedness in action; all of us working together for one common goal.
I am so grateful to be a part of our BWA Ohana and Sisterhood, an organization that not only supports the temple, but also supports its members and our larger community. We are primarily a service organization, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy socializing with each other and having fun. In fact, food and socialization are key elements in making for a good working environment. It seems that the highlight of many of our activities or events, like working at our bazaars, going on a field trip, or planning an event, is sitting down for lunch or a snack while talking story and sharing a few laughs. This is truly like a family, sitting down with your sisters, sharing a meal together, and having a good time. The BWA is an important part of my life because it helps me to learn and grow, and have fun with my family of “sisters,” who guide and support me and enables me to step out of my comfort zone. ARIGATO to my Brave Willing Awesome sisters, who enrich my days, and give me so many unforgettable Ichigo Ichie experiences.
THANK YOU, again, for giving me this opportunity and privilege to share my thoughts.
Everyone, please continue to wear your masks, practice good hygiene and safe practices. I look forward to the day when we can all meet and interact with each other in-person again—I miss having that personal contact with all of you.
Mahalo and Aloha!! Namo Amida Butsu.
