COLUMBUS, Ohio — Upper Arlington resident Karen Jiobu has been recognized with a multitude of titles, including Hepatitis B champion, Central Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame member and Dragonboat race promoter.

The former head of a clinical lab at Mt. Carmel West Hospital, Jiobu’s journey to Columbus is one of perseverance and determination.

At three years old, she and her family were taken from their homes in Lodi, California and sent to an internment camp with thousands of other Asian-Americans.

Japanese internment camps were established during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent, including U.S. citizens, would be incarcerated in the camps. 

The camps were a reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The incarceration of Japanese Americans is considered one of the most atrocious violations of American civil rights in the 20th century.

“I was only three years old when I went to camp. When I came out, I was about five. Half of the camps were children so they were all born here, never been to Japan, never could speak Japanese,” Jiobu said.

When the war ended, Jiobu attended UCLA and graduated with a degree in bacteriology, which eventually led her to Mt. Carmel.

But there was something missing in her life. 

“I was never involved in the Asian community,” she said.

All that changed 29 years ago at the first Columbus Asian Festival.

“That was the first time I met so many Asians,” she said.

The festival prompted her to eventually become chair of the performance committee for more than a decade.

She also joined the Ohio Asian American Health Coalition.

Later, she served with the Asian American Community Services which works with Ohio State Wexner Medical Center students to eradicate Hepatitis B which impacts less than 1% of the U.S. population.

“Of that less than 1%, half are Asian born,” she said.

When she’s not helping her community, she speaks to schools about her days as a young girl living in an internment camp. She hopes telling her story will make the world a more tolerant place for all. 

“I think I don’t want it to happen again, and so if telling the story is going to help that even if it’s one kid in the class that will see someone different than them as a friend, not an enemy,” Jiobu said.

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