Densho Digital Archive - Mae Hada Interview (denshovh-hmae

<Begin Segment 8>

Masako H: I want to kind of go back again. You know, you said you were in Minidoka.

Mae H: Uh-huh.

Masako H: We only briefly touched about your job. What was it like?

Mae H: It just wasn't much of a job. I mean, it wasn't administrative level for sure, and I didn't have enough secretarial skills to work on the weekly bulletin that came out, so it was not difficult. Could I intersperse something? You see, the Isseis worked very hard as immigrants. They came over here, had to work hard to earn their money. The farmers of course, you know what they did. But the others, some of them couldn't do what they used to do, and this is the first time they were able to socialize. It was not completely negative. Although my mother went through a period of illness, it could have been nerves, whatever. She was in the infirmary for a while. However, she made some very close women friends there, and I think that was a plus because when we came back to Oregon and they all came back, she was able to reach them and touch, in touch with them. I thought that was good. And I can't say if it was that good for the men, but the women sure for the first time made close ties. I made a few more friends too that way because I didn't have that opportunity when I lived near Buckman School.

Masako H: How did you feel about, you know, how did you feel about camp?

Mae H: Camps?

Masako H: Uh-huh.

Mae H: There are a lot of negatives. When we went to the assembly center, we were told to go to this large room for our meals which were not Japanese cooking, of course, but very plain meals, some of which people didn't especially care for. But that's what we had to eat, and our families were pretty much split apart. Kids want to sit with their friends and didn't stay with their folks, and that broke up families in that respect. So socially, it wasn't too good for families in that respect. And of course, the parents didn't know what was going to happen to them next. They just knew that this is temporary. And they were heartbroken having lost everything, so it was difficult for them.

Masako H: Were you scared for your mother?

Mae H: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I was worried about her health. As I told you, she was pretty much a protected person and didn't work real hard physically. And so she was not too well during that period worrying about her husband who was in another place, yes. My sister was just about eight or nine years old then, so she, you know, she just made friends.