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Call Rory Kakuda a hero. Waialae boy hailed as hero
for helping drowning girlRory Kakuda, 9, wins praise for
quick action in a swimming poolBy Mary Vorsino
mvorsino@starbulletin.comFour-year-old Marjika Iha does.
And so did the student body at Wilson Elementary School in Waialae-Kahala yesterday.
Call him that even though he "never felt like a hero" for bringing a drowning Marjika up from under the water of the Lalea at Hawaii Kai condominium swimming pool and turning her motionless, face-down body over for air.
"I'm happy that the girl survived," the third-grader said, "(but) I never wanted to explain it to anybody. I kept it a secret (from my classmates) for three weeks."
It was more than a month ago that Candy Iha, Marjika's mother and a nurse at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, dove into the condominium's pool to retrieve her daughter and begin mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Her voice still quivers when she remembers that day aloud.
"She was so blue. I just remember looking at her, and she was so blue."
But it was only later that day, when Marjika was stable and alert, that Candy Iha realized what 9-year-old Rory had done and why her daughter was floating upright, not face down like most drowning victims.
"I had all these questions for Rory," she said. But she restrained herself, so as not to scare him, and instead took him out for pizza, "hugged him so hard and started to cry."
Yesterday, with 12 family members and one neighbor there and draped with candy and flower lei, Rory stood at the front of the school cafeteria and gave a slight, shy smile to the more than 100 students who sat before him.
"I would like to thank my mom," for pulling Marjika from the pool after her mom had dragged her to the pool's side, he said quietly into the microphone.
At Principal Elsie Hu's prompting, Marjika took the microphone and, looking at Rory, said, "Thank you for helping me."
It was by chance that Rory and Marjika were in the same pool that day as both families had been invited to separate events at the condo.
Rory refuses to go back to that pool, but he is not afraid to swim and has been swimming since the incident.
Now, he is just a little more watchful than he used to be, said LeeAnn Kakuda, Rory's mother and a teacher at Kaahumanu Elementary School in lower Makiki.
His father, Rowland Kakuda, a rigger at Pearl harbor, said, "He's a little lifeguard now."
And while friends and family applaud Rory for his actions, they say the boy's heroism is hardly surprising.
"This is how this young man is," said Rory's teacher, Shirley Suetsugu.
His grandfather, Harold Hamada, agreed. "I don't think I could have done it at his age. I'm happy that he is a quick thinker."
And while he does quarrel a bit with his younger sister, Carly Kakuda, he is "a good boy," said his father.
"And I'm glad he's mine."