Help Minami get the American trip she deserves

This March Minami came to Delaware from Japan with her high school for ~10 days. For months she and her family planned for this trip and Tessa was lucky enough to be matched with Minami to stay with us for a week. We had all sorts of plans to show her things in America - as simple as a Walgreens to going to the art museum In Philadelphia. What we didn’t know is that this trip would become a heartbreak for her and our family.

She arrived on a Saturday, incredibly jet lagged thanks to a 13 hour time difference. By Monday she was starting to adjust, and she and Tessa were bonding. She made us a Japanese meal for dinner that evening and we all had so much fun. If she didn’t know the English word for something, she and Tessa developed their own way to communicate, in a charades like way, to figure it out. Frying pan was my favorite one to watch them find the word for. I was so excited for the week to come and watch their friendship grow while giving Minami the American trip she had hoped for.

Tuesday she, myself, and Tessa all came down with similar symptoms (low grade fever, cough, etc.). Our plans were cancelled that evening. On Wednesday her teacher took her to a doctor, following their school’s protocol, and she was diagnosed with the flu. We assume that’s what Tessa and I had as well. Her school’s protocol was to have her stay in a hotel to quarantine despite our offers to have her stay with us still. She was supposed to return to our house Friday, but still had a low grade fever so wasn’t allowed. We asked to have her stay with us again, and she wasn’t allowed. Sunday was the day her classmates were leaving Delaware. She was able to come to our house to get her belongings and visit for about an hour before she had to leave. Her classmates got to go to New York City while she had to stay in the hotel by the airport. She spent the majority of her first time in the US isolated from her peers and her new American family.

Minami is a sweet and polite young lady and it broke our hearts that her trip went the way it did. It was completely unfortunate that we would all come down with the flu while she was here, and she deserves to get a second chance. Round trip flights from Japan are not cheap, so we are asking for help to raise the money to bring her back this summer when we are all on summer break. Any donation is appreciated to help Minami get the American trip she deserves.