Na'unanikina'u Kamali'i has always been deeply involved with her community. A Native Hawaiian attorney, she is an advocate for the adoption of traditional Hawaiian peacemaking methods for resolving conflict. Also an outspoken member of numerous boards and committees, and a passionate paddler on her outrigger canoe team, she emanates commitment and courage.

Her experience as a Fellow was enlightening. "A year since my first session, I can see that I'm more outspoken about value-based decision-making. And I'm using techniques we learned in the Fellowship. Some Fellows, for example, have used powerful methods learned from Puanani Burgess on the community way of introducing people. The speakers share who their mothers and fathers are, and how they got their names, not what degrees they have, or job experiences. It's amazing how it changes the whole tenor of a conference."

Her class of Fellows faced an interesting challenge. The group found profound differences in the issues faced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. "The intense discussion of identity is not the same for us," Na'u explained. "I am in my homeland. I am deeply connected with my ancestors. For us, the issue is one of the effects of colonization. Yet all the Fellows had experienced oppression. And eventually we found that we shared a similar value system at the core. Being able to talk through our differences made the difference, and provided a different reflection for me."

The Native Hawaiian practice of ho'oponopono is traditionally used in the family to work through conflicts. "Any way you look at it, it's about healing," Na'u says. Mary Pukui brought the practice into modern social work in Hawaii, and Na'u is working with several agencies to extend Pukui's vision into the legal field. "The Native Hawaiian Bar Association realized that what was really needed was to train haku (practitioners). We couldn't get funding, so we had a good old-fashioned fundraiser and silent auction and raised $60,000 ourselves. We've had two training sessions."

It hasn't been easy. New obstacles, such as legal liability, arise. "Just sticking to it has been the key," Na'u says. "We support the community in creating its own vision for dispute resolution, and do not push the community to accept our vision for what is good for them." The result is the Waianae Coast Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, a center in concept without a building. "The work can be done on a beach, in a home, at school. The community may not feel a school is safe--Auntie's house may be safer, because no one would dare cause trouble there."

Na'u feels that her vision for the community will take years, perhaps generations, to mature. She is inspired again by Puanani Burgess. "She said, 'You make the road by walking it,'" Na'u remembers. "In our case, we're walking home."

"Puanani Burgess said, 'You make the road by walking it.' In our case, we're walking home."
- Na'unanikina'u Kamali'i