The open house event at Joy Kogawa House went very well. Many many people came to see the house and to meet Joy Kogawa, buy copies of her books, and have Joy sign them. The Land Conservancy of BC did a wonderful job setting up displays about the history of the house, and the timeline events about the Save Kogawa House campaign.
It has been great for the Kogawa House committee to work with Heather Skydt and Tamsin Baker of TLC. Members of our Kogawa House committee also attended to help host and volunteer: Ann-Marie Metten, David Kogawa, Richard Hopkins, Jenni Kato, Joan Young, Sabine Harper, and myself.
As people walked up to the house, the first thing they saw was that the white picket fence was decorated with pictures and events highlighting the timeline to save the house from demolition, starting from when the house was built in 1942, and when Joy’s family moved into the house.
A tent was set up in the front yard, attended by TLC volunteers Jon and Janet, who gave people an information sheet about the house and received donations for the restoration of the house. TLC also had another display with news clippings and pictures from events during the Save Kogawa House campaign.
Volunteers greeted people as they entered the house, and other volunteers stood throughout the house to help explain stories of different rooms, as well as historic family items such as toy cars belonging to Joy’s brother Timothy, a calligraphy set used by Joy’s father, and wooden crates used by the family as they moved from the internment camp in Slocan, BC, to Coaldale, Alberta.
And everybody wanted to say hello to Joy Kogawa. There was a man who used to play with Joy as a child before she moved away – Ralph told me that his older brother was in one of the pictures on display that featured Joy and her brother Timothy as children in 1940. There was a woman who brought pictures of the house, during the 1940s when her grandparents lived there after her family moved away. Both Joy and this woman were very moved by this meeting.
There was a woman Daisy Kong, who had taken pictures of Joy at the Order of BC ceremony earlier this year in June, because Daisy’s brother Dr. Wallace Chung also received the Order of BC along with Joy, in Victoria. Daisy was amazed when I told her that Dr. Wallace’s wife Dr. Madeline Chung was the doctor who delivered me as a baby.
Garry Geddes, a current writer in residence at Vancouver Public Library, arrived to give Joy a hug.
Attending the event was also Jen Kato, on our Kogawa House committee, and Jeff Chiba Stearns, who just won the Best Animated Short for the Canadian Awards for Electronic Arts and Animation.
People bought Joy’s books and asked her to sign them. My friend Gail Thomson helped manage the book sales. Gail is a librarian at Fraserview Branch in Vancouver, where Joy came to speak during the One Book One Vancouver program.
We surprised Joy with a special musical performance: Jessica Cheung (who played the role of Naomi in the Naomi’s Road Opera) sang “The Farewell Song” from the Opera, I accompanied on accordion, Harry Aoki on double bass, and Harry’s friend Misako Watanabe on an acoustic guitar. Joy was moved to tears.
After the event, we had a birthday cake to celebrate David Kogawa’s birthday. David is one of our wonderful Kogawa House committee members, Joy’s ex-husband and a good friend.