Serving Tokyo as an intern
Hosana Kawashima ’19 spent last summer in her home country of Japan, but it was far from a family vacation. She interned at Tokyo’s Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), satisfying her Experiential Learning Initiative (ELI) requirement for graduation.
“Working in the front line of refugee work ... opened my eyes to many things that I would not have learned in the classroom,” said Kawashima, “such as local persecutions and conflicts in parts of the world, historical events that produced many refugees and problems with detention centers.”
JAR provides holistic support to refugees in Tokyo through legal, social and integration support services, as well as engaging in advocacy, community engagement and public relations.
A peace and conflict studies major, Kawashima worked in the organization’s largest unit: protection and assistance. She greeted people at the front desk, assembled food packages and organized donations.
Kawashima’s hospitality stems from her faith in Christ. “They are created in the image of God,” she said of the refugees. “They do not deserve any of the bad things that happen to them. We cannot do anything about what happened in the past, but we can change the way we welcome them in the future.”
As an international student, Kawashima commends the hospitality she received when she arrived at Messiah College. “In the same way Messiah was hospitable toward me, I want to help others feel safe and secure wherever they find themselves,” she said.
Despite the joy of serving others, she says the realities of refugee work weighed heavily on her heart. She says more than 19,000 people representing 82 countries applied for refugee status in Japan in 2017. Only 20 applicants were accepted.
Kawashima faced the harsh reality that, at the end of the day, the doors of the facility closed, and she went home to her safe, comfortable apartment.
“I felt helpless,” she said. “I prayed continually for the people around me.”
Out of the 93 days spent in Japan, Kawashima saw her family for eight of those days. In the fall, she returned to Grantham and began her on-campus job as a resident assistant—another role requiring hospitality.
“My job on campus is to welcome, provide a safe environment and reveal to them who they are in Christ,” she said.
After commencement in May, Kawashima says she plans to continue refugee work in the U.S. or go to grad school in Japan to study trauma and grief care. “I can wholeheartedly say that Messiah’s program has equipped me with a joy to be a good listener to my neighbors, see Christ in them and share God’s love for them,” she said.
— Jake Miaczynski ’20