<Begin Segment 13>

AI: Well, tell me more about the conditions at Arboga.

HK: Arboga? Well, it was makeshift. It was a pasture, so that they brought in bulldozers, and leveled the land. So that it was rather flat, and somewhat even. You could play baseball on it, made good baseball fields because it was leveled over. But it had been, it had been swampy, and just covered over, so that the mosquitoes and gnats came up, and it took care of all the exposed areas. And so women, I think, wore pants just for protection. Pants were not in style then, and, but many did because it was protected. And then we had outhouses which filled up right away, because of all the people. And so I decided I would work at the hospital because they had flush toilets. [Laughs] And so I did that, and it sort of helped. And then people tried to go late at night or something, but then everyone had the same idea. [Laughs] So, and then, as people said, the walls were not up to the top, so that you could hear everything. Throughout the barrack, you could hear. And, but, I was having a good time.

AI: In what way? What kinds of things were you doing?

HK: Well, I was just meeting new people, and sharing common interests, and joining the newspaper, I was on the staff writing those things. And I even tried to start a drama group in assembly center, of all places. And there was no response, and I wrote to my drama teacher, my speech teacher, who was also the drama teacher, hoping that she would remember me, and help me with materials and suggestions. But I -- [coughs] -- but she never responded. So, yeah. And then later I found out she was a racist organizer or leader or something. And, yeah.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.