DNA OF A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER
Sister Rosita Aranita, CSJ
August 20, 2008
edited by C. Gariano 12.2.08
When Hawaiians first meet one another, they inevitably ask each other where they were born and grew up, who their ancestors and parents are, and how it is that they are here today. ..
…I am the eleventh of the twelve children of nine boys and three girls. ...Two years after the family had a front porch view of the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, my father moved us to Waipahu, a sugar plantation town, nearer to his new job driving trucks for the civil defense forces in Pearl Harbor. … I remember eating my way through town picking guavas, plums, nightshade berries to supplement my diet
The children in the plantation camps all went to the same public schools which initiated the mixing of the human cocktail. We spent after-school hours, week-ends and holidays playing with each other crossing the camp lines. Our parents and older siblings already worked with each other in the fields and shared canteen lunches. Our common ligua was pidgin English with the proper pitches to emphasize query, emotion or command. Our families shared food, friendship, festivals, funerals and gossip over the camp borders.
..
At the age of eighteen, I decided to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, mainly because of impressions received as a child. My first encounter with the strangely clad women was when two of them visited our home seeking out Catholic families and their children. ..The most outstanding memory which cast the dye happened following Sr. Mary Ann Dalton down the winding main street of Waipahu town where plantation workers hung out squatting in front of the pool halls or skirting in and out of the stores. I was astounded that she bowed her head in acknowledgment of each person and smiled. That was the epitome of sainthood for me and a sign that this religious community applauded the common person.
I was enjoying the 2006 CSJ Federation Event in Milwaukee, when a note from Sister Irene O’Neill appeared on my table asking to see me. We finally connected at lunch on the steps of the convention center. Irene expostulated about her vision of CSJs in developing countries who work in poor communities needing clean water benefiting from Rotary Clubs and CSJs in the United States. It was an intriguing idea that stimulated my creative juices. I could see how my organizing background could be used in a global project to connect a continent of wealth with one weakened by poverty through a basic need. It was easy to say “yes” having been stripped of my previous obligations on the Big Island. I just needed to close up shop, get rid of excess baggage, and get myself to St. Paul by early November, 2006 to begin this new project. ..
… Several obstacles and fortuitous meetings redirected the project to Kenya, Africa. In late January, 2007 my companion David Opap and I were en-route to Nairobi, Kenya.
For the next five months, I observed, listened and analyzed the cultures, geography and daily interactions of the dominant Luo peoples marveling at their humor in the midst of devastating diseases and lean months. …Cinder cones and geothermal ponds along Homa Bay intertwined with gullies sliced out by sharp water fingers off Homa Hills stripped of its trees. …. The idyllic beauty of the land shrouded swooning malaria victims and hosts of orphans left in the wake of AIDS.
…
While back in the United States in June, July and half of August, 2007, I spent time recounting my findings. Then two St. Joseph Worker volunteers, Mary Oyeria Lieta and I divided West Karachuonyo and organized villages for the next six months around obtaining clean water.…We ended with ten geographic projects and about twenty institutional projects when we had to evacuate at the end of January, 2008 as the post-election violence escalated.
I spent most of 2008 reflecting on our experience, putting my thoughts on paper, and clarifying the water project with the province leadership team to lay the ground work for making the project a ministry of the province. …During these months, I took time out to celebrate my golden jubilee with the sisters, my group I entered with in California, family and friends in St. Paul, California and Hawai’i.
….Where all these relationships will lead is still an unknown. It is an exciting adventure with global implications. On October 11, 2009, I gave a short presentation of the Kenya Water Project to the congregational leadership group who were meeting in St. Paul. After I left, the group discussed the project and voted in support of it opening new venues for funding from CSJ coffers and institutions across the nation. The implications of this vote of support have not been fully explored, yet. The St. Paul Province will facilitate the establishment of non-profit, tax exempt organization for the project. A presentation to the St. Paul Province Assembly will follow.
…
The future certainly offers unique challenges. As for this old community organizer, the poor seem to be in deeper trouble laying the scenario for new solutions and braver hearts.
