Generosity repaid with gratitude
By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist
No one actually cried, but there were a number of young eyes shiny with the threat of tears as Rayleen fulfilled her promise.
"Do you guys want stuff?" she asked. "A nice car? A nice house? If you're on drugs, the only way you can get things is to sell drugs. Then, you're always paranoid. But you don't have to be scared when you work hard for what you want."
Rayleen Egami just finished her first semester at Loyola Marymount University. Before she left for school, Geri Marullo, president and CEO of Child and Family Service, sent Rayleen a check to help with her education. The deal was that when Rayleen was home, she'd come to Hale O Ulu alternative school and share her story that has inspired people all over Hawai'i.
She was 14 when her father died. "He held everything together. He had plans for us. He was saving for college for all three of us."
"I'm looking forward to being done with school, having a job, being stable," Rayleen Egami said.
Rayleen and her younger siblings ended up in foster care when drug use in the home made their lives untenable. Rayleen went to four different high schools before graduating from Waipahu in 2003. But she excelled. She made the honor roll at all four schools. She was elected governor of the YMCA Youth Legislature. She wrote for her school paper, played three sports and worked part time.
On her graduation day, Rayleen's story appeared in this paper. People, complete strangers, were so moved that a fund was started through Friends of Foster Kids to help pay for her education. Marullo's check was one of many, many offers to help. Rayleen knows her gratitude is best expressed in service.
"I would have come to talk to this school if you just asked," she said.
Rayleen told the students, who were absolutely rapt with attention, all about college life, from irksome roommates to weird frat parties, from all-night cram sessions to taking finals in your pajamas. She's a chemistry major aiming toward a career as a pharmacist.
"It's hard. I struggle," she said. "I was homesick even though I really didn't have a home. But it's worth it because I know the life I can have when I'm done with school."
She also described, in awful detail, what drug use has done to people she loves. "I looked at that, and I knew I didn't want to live that way."
Her advice for the students: "It's good to have dreams. I'm looking forward to being done with school, having a job, being stable. That's what I really want: stability. When you do drugs, your goal is when are you going to get high next. That's so temporary. You have to have long term goals."
Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.
