A Woman of Many Expressions of Service

by Judith Fernandes
Eugene, Oregon



Those who are Soka Gakkai Buddhists, as I am, are dedicated to the mission of world peace by the year 2001. But the search for peace came early in my life compared to my introduction into Buddhism. I was born at the end of World War II into a military family. My youth was spent living in the hot spots of the world. Germany was the first stop during the Occupation. I was two years old and remember playing in bombed buildings, finding skeletal remains of those who had lost their lives during the war.

At the end of the Korean War, my family was stationed in Japan. There I learned to love a culture that would become an integral part of my life. Our next journey was to France where my father was part of the NATO forces stationed in Europe as part of the Cold War. While I was in college, the Vietnam War fully erupted. As a result I found myself spending summers in Okinawa where my father was stationed to support the war effort.

Perhaps it was here that the resolve to build for peace took its strongest hold. I remember the desolution on the faces of the soldiers coming off planes for rest and recreation in Okinawa. They frightened me. Their life conditions were pathetic and I was an impressonable young adult.

After college, I married. The war dominated the news. My husband at the time received a draft status of 1A (synonymous to "ship him out"). We elected to fight for peace, not war and went into the Peace Corps . This not only excused my husband from being drafted, but launched us into the active role of building bridges between cultures. We were both in Afghanistan and Chile. The stay in Chile cemented my desire to work with youth. I was asked to provide recreation for street urchins lodged at a police orphanage.

I returned to the US ready to get teacher certification. This I did, cementing my career of twenty years or more. I teach languages and art. In the 1980žs I returned to school for a Masteržs degree in second language immersion. This led to a three year stint as a French Immersion teacher and to a job in Japan.

A Japanese company, hearing about me through Buddhist friends, hired me to write curriculum and train teachers for an English language program for children. My daughter and I lived in Utsunomiya for two years. Our memories are full of treasures.

We seek out friendships with Japanese people to this day back in America. With so much travel in my life, I came to respect and have compassion for people from all cultures and walks of life. Teaching fulltime did not fulfill my desire to reach out to those in need. I opted to cut back to part time teaching so that I could work with those living with HIV disease.

Giving to others brings me joy. It is my mission in life. We all have our tasks, mine is to nourish and enrich the lives of others, with whatever tools are available to me. As in the Buddhist teachings, peace starts at home, person by person in our own environment.

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