True Love Is for Everyone

Yoshi Ichijo
November 2007

The Special Needs Ministry began in 2003, under the Blessed Family Department in the United States. Since most brothers and sisters throughout the world may not be familiar with our ministry, I would like to introduce who we are and what we do.

My name is Yoshi Ichijo, and my wife's name is Frances. We were blessed at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1982. We have three children, Erika (twenty-four and blessed), Kenji (twenty-two and blessed) and Carlina (eighteen). Our second child, Kenji, was born with Fragile X (chromosome) syndrome, which is somewhat similar to Down syndrome.

We were living in Korea when we started our family. However, as soon as we realized that something was not quite right with our son, in 1986, we decided to move back to the U.S. to care for him and get the help we needed. In an effort to heal him, we conducted a long and rigorous physical therapy with guidance from the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. We went to Chung Pyung a few times to accomplish sincerely any healing that we could. Fortunately, Kenji eventually learned to speak, but his intellectual level is still at the age of six or seven. Today, we live in Maryland, outside Washington, D.C.

In 2003, when I was attending a husbands' workshop in Chung Pyung, I bumped into a brother I used to know when his family had lived in the Washington, D.C. area. We started talking about our families, our children and matching and blessing. He has a Down syndrome daughter, Sonya, and the idea came to us that a match between our children might be a possibility! Soon after the workshop, we decided (with our wives' active input) to match my son and his daughter. They met each other and were both happy with the matching. We then reported to the headquarters for the authorization of their matching, including sending photographs of Kenji and Sonya.

On the afternoon of June 15, 2003, Dr. Yang called and told us about Father's reaction, the day before, to seeing the photographs of our son Kenji and his fiancée, Sonya Yoder (daughter of Steve and Susan Bergman Yoder). Dr. Yang had told Father the whole story of how we matched them, including that they wanted the blessing and were happy with each other. Of course, Father knew of their special needs situation. He was moved and happy for them, as any parent would be. He spent a lot of time looking at their photos and talked extensively with Dr. Yang about them -- and most importantly about finding others in the second generation who are disabled and making sure that they have the opportunity to receive the blessing. He instructed Dr. Yang very specifically and emphatically to make effort to find all blessed children with special needs who are of matching age and to help them get matched. Dr. Yang was surprised by Father's directive, but he took action by calling us.

Thus, as probably the first couple in our movement to match their special needs child, my wife and I were asked to accept the responsibility of coordinating the Special Needs Ministry for all special needs children in America. Since information related to our Special Needs Ministry is posted on the American Family Federation web site in the Blessed Family Department's area (www.familyfed.org/bfd/special.html), some members from different countries contacted us and registered their children with the ministry. We have over thirty families registered, and our ministry reaches worldwide.

As one of our activities, we completed our first special needs family camp this past summer, at New Hope Farms, which our True Parents established in 1989 in Port Jervis, New York (120 km. northwest of New York City). Eight special needs children from seven blessed families attended. We had horseback riding, games, scavenger hunting, arts and crafts, karaoke, etc. We gathered sixteen precious volunteers, all blessed children, so that each camper might be able to have two helpers, especially when he or she was horseback riding. While they were riding a horse, or trekking in the woods, we parents had meetings and gave testimonies about our children. These testimonies sometimes brought tears to our eyes, since we all shared similar struggles and issues. Listening to other families' testimonies was comforting and encouraging. It became a place of healing for the parents' hearts. We were also gratified to provide a place for the parents to find comfort, encouragement and hope.

In addition to the families deep sharing, there was a side benefit for the blessed children helpers, more than we could have imagined. While helping the disabled campers they were assigned to, the blessed children volunteers realized how blessed they are. They were totally dedicated to taking care of their campers. It was heartwarming to see such a scene. The parents felt supported and loved and a bit liberated, while their children were nicely cared for. Our primary mission in the ministry is to facilitate the matching of disabled blessed children. However, we found that we could also revitalize those blessed children who had come as volunteers, through our activities with the special needs blessed children. Often, a volunteer found new meaning in life, or just appreciated the chance to live for the sake of another who can not perform simple tasks for himself or herself.

This time, since we did not know each family's situation, we decided to camp out, so that if something happened to a special-needs camper, his or her parent could deal with any situation right away. Also, it was fun to camp out right next to the main house under the stars. It was my first camping experience.

The United States is such a large country. It is impossible for all families to get together in one place. Some time ago, we had local meetings in New Jersey and in Washington, D.C. We would like to create more opportunities for the families to meet and get to know one another for support and friendship as well as to be able to meet future matching candidates for their children.

Before being matched to my son, Sonya had asked her father, "Will I ever get blessed?" He could not answer the question; privately, he wept. My wife also had a similar feeling toward our son. For a long time, she wondered if anybody would accept him. She thought he would probably have to wait to be blessed in the spirit world. The desire of mankind is to receive the blessing. There is no exception with special-needs blessed children. Everyone wants to love and be loved by a special person.

All matching and blessing are ultimately the responsibility of blessed families, whether they include a special-needs blessed child or not. Therefore, each family is responsible for all aspects of the blessing and the choices that have to be made regarding them. While we do not expect or desire for Kenji and Sonya to have children, others may choose to take care of grandchildren from such a couple. It depends on many genetic, familial and practical factors. True Parents have not yet addressed the issue of progeny for special-needs couples, and although we, in the Yoder and Ichijo families, understand the four-position foundation, we have to use common sense.

We know what Kenji and Sonya can handle and what they cannot, as well as the tremendous responsibility a grandchild would be for us, for them and for their siblings. This private matter must be decided by each family, together with God. There is also the option of adoption, of asking for a spiritual blessing, of remaining single. True Father himself encouraged the blessing for these special members of the second generation, but in the end, each family lives with the decisions they make. I think you can find research to support any position that you take regarding a disabled couple having or not having a child.

We are also working toward establishing a group home where several special-needs children or a few special- needs couples live together. They would be taken care of by a young blessed couple who feels called by God to do such work as their mission.

I would like everybody to know there is such a ministry in America. We have children registered from Europe, Africa, Australia, South America, and Japan. One day we received a phone call from a parent in Europe, who was told by the European headquarters that they did not have any organization to help her with the problems she had. They suggested she call the American movement. Since then, we've learned that Europe is making progress toward establishing a Special Needs Ministry and that there are similar organizations in Japan and Korea.

In America alone, there are many special-needs families, but the news about our ministry has not been disseminated throughout the country.

We are making every effort to get our ministry known through various organizations. If any special-needs family would like to share their opinions and ideas, we welcome all.

I pray that this article may inspire all the parents with special-needs children to make an effort to get them matched and blessed if they choose to do so. God bless you all!

Contact information:

Yoshi and Fran Ichijo
9011 Kimblehunt Dr.
Gaithersburg, MD, 20882 U.S.A.