SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — There were a few surprises the Horner family wasn’t expecting when they opened their home to Nanaho Nakamura and Ayaka Kanzki, two young orphan girls from the Holy Family Home in Japan.
“The first night, we found out Nanaho was allergic to cats,” said Lauren Horner.
The Horner family has three children of their own and also has three cats.
“We just gave her allergy medicine and told her not to touch the cats. She still did it, but the medicine helped,” Lauren said.
The girls stayed with U.S. Army Maj. Benjamin Horner and his family for a week as part of a long standing tradition with Holy Family Homes. The relationship began Christmas Day, 1949, when Soldiers from the 27th Infantry Regiment—also known as the Wolfhounds—visited the home to give gifts to the children. Today many Soldiers from the 27th Infantry Regiment regularly visit Holy Family Home, while families from the Wolfhound community sponsor several children in a trip to Hawaii.
The family took the girls all across Oahu and made almost daily stops at the beach.
“Their favorite part was the Nintendo Switch,” said Benjamin Horner. “They loved the Just Dance game.”
Lauren Horner said they used Google Translate to help with the language barriers, but the Japanese girls knew a lot of common English phrases.
“They really are a lot like our own girls,” she said.
Nanaho Nakamura and Ayaka Kanzki will be heading back to Japan this weekend, but the tradition between the Wolfhounds and the Holy Family Home continues.