'40 Days for Life'
Nunu Huhane has decided to become a hero for the unborn child.
The 43-year-old San Mateo city resident is volunteering at 40 Days for Life, a vigil in front of the Planned Parenthood in office San Mateo. He goes out seven days a week for two hours a day.
The vigil is part of an international Lenten event seeking to put an end to abortion. Participants pray, fast, maintain a daily presence and reach out to the community. There are 40 Days for Life vigils taking place in the United States, Canada, Australia and Northern Ireland, all organized and maintained by local community members. The campaign will conclude on Palm Sunday, April 5.
In San Francisco, a 40 Days vigil in front of the Planned Parenthood office on Eddy Street has continued every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. since Ash Wednesday. The vigil averages four people a day and ranges from one to 16 - with more than 100 individuals participating overall.
"It's about prayer and it's about loving the people," said St. Dominic parishioner Hunt Hanover, a coordinator of San Francisco vigil with Star of the Sea parishioner Ron Konopaski. "The main thing is letting the people going in and out of Planned Parenthood know that they have an alternative, that we're praying for them and that God loves them. We're also praying for people who work in the abortion facility."
The vigil has been peaceful but not uneventful. "Some people honk and give us the thumbs up," Hanover said. "Other people give us the middle finger and yell at us."
Hanover said no one seeking an abortion has turned back as a result of the vigil. But the 40 Days national campaign keeps a running count of women who have had a change of heart at all vigils throughout the country. The number at last count was nearly 300.
Huhane takes his part very seriously and has been invited to speak about his experience at Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park. "By sharing my experience with them, it does make it clear to them that there is a great urgency for us to step up and do something," he said.
Raised by his grandparents in Tonga, Huhane immigrated to the United States when he was 16. He has been a parishioner of St. Matthew in San Mateo for the last 26 years. "I've been pro-life my whole life," he said.
His grandparents instilled in him his deep Catholic faith. Yet he was not always open to communicating it.
"It was hard for me to even discuss (abortion)," Huhane said. He was constantly surrounded by pro-choice people, at school, at home and among friends and family.
His involvement in the pro-life movement went as far as walking in the annual Walk for Life West Coast whenever he could and successfully counseling two mothers to stop the abortion of their children. With the outcome of the recent elections, he got angry and began to seek positive ways to channel that energy.
While watching the Walk for Life in Washington, D.C., on EWTN he got his rush of inspiration. He was impressed by an interview with Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.
Father Pavone noted the inauguration of President Obama and called pro-lifers to action. Huhane said he felt like the words were directed at him.
So when he had the opportunity to meet Father Pavone this year at the 5th annual Walk for Life West Coast, he did not miss his chance. He told the priest how his words had snapped him out of his complacency.
"I found out about 40 Days for Life," Huhane said. "I signed up the whole 40 days, of course. Three days later I thought, what was I thinking?"
He said his experience has made him humble and enriched his Lenten season. His sacrifice for Lent, which is volunteering at the vigil, has transformed his spiritual life, he said.
Huhane has been attending Mass daily and attending Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after work before heading to Planned Parenthood to pray. He has become active in San Mateo Pro-Life, a group he had signed up for years ago but had never attended any meetings.
"Now my family knows that I am standing out there," he said. "I used to worry about stuff like that and I said I will never stand out there, and here I am finding myself doing something I never pictured myself ever doing."
He realizes as the 40 days go by that he is comfortable crusading for an end to abortion. He prays for all those people that drive by and see the pro-life signs the volunteers are holding and show no reaction. He said he hopes they will experience a change of heart and realize that life begins at conception.
By Audrey Cabrera Amort
From April 3, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
