Densho Digital Archive - Maria Sato Interview (denshovh-smaria-01-0015)

<Begin Segment 15>

KL: I wanted to hear more about your trip back to Peru also. When was that, when did you go back to Peru?

MS: Oh, that was '77. No, 1985. '95, yeah. He knows more than I do. [Laughs]

KL: And who was with you on that trip?

MS: You went with me.

KL: Joey?

MS: My husband didn't want to go because I guess he was afraid he'd get sick because they have to take pills. And I think he asked Kaiser in South America. Anyway, he said no, so I took Joey, so that was nice.

KL: Just the two of you?

MS: Yeah. And then the group. So it was nice. And they knew we were coming.

KL: Who was the group that you were with?

MS: What was the group? Well, the people born in South America, they want to go back again and see the people over there.

KL: Other people like your family?

MS: No, not mine.

KL: I mean it was like your family, people from Peru?

MS: Right. I think some of them, not everybody. Some of them I don't know. But I don't know from, there from Portland. I think a lot of them from California and maybe Hawaii. You got some you've telephoned, Joey? No?

KL: They were other people whose families were from Japan?

MS: I'm pretty sure, yeah.

Off camera: It was called the Campaign for Justice.

MS: Oh, Campaign for Justice.

KL: What did you see? You saw your home and your, the church?

MS: Did you see the home?

KL: Oh, just you.

MS: Oh. Well, I was happy because the house, the old house, they have, like I said, the meat department in grocery, and I don't know, a lot of different things, you know. And then next was school, elementary school, it was still there, too.

KL: Your elementary school?

MS: No. I went to Catholic school, yeah. And then next door was the German, the nice family, they were still there. And then across the street was another German family, and the next one, the Italian family, they were all still there. But they probably passed away, though.

KL: Did you write letters with any of your neighbors from Trujillo?

MS: I don't think so, no. Because that time, I didn't get the address, see, when we left. There's no time to get the address and name, you just have to pack and go. So, no, not even one, but I got one, about the house, that's the only one. They want to get the meat store and the grocery. I think that's the only one.