Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 9, 1 September 2010 — KAUAʻI [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KAUAʻI

D. Kaliko Santos Years atOHA: 13 Job title: Community Outreach Coordinator III

Kaliko Santos is better known on Kaua'i by her mom's maiden name, Napoleon, of the Hulē'ia Napoleons, as opposed to the Kapa'a Napoleons. You're always

asked, "Whieh one are you?" she says. For that matter, Kaliko isn't her first name, she says, joking, "My family doesn't even know my first name." That's Santos, good fun. "It's funny, we do spend a good portion of our day laughing at (and with) eaeh other," she says of her coworker Noalani Oba. Santos had a movie-star start with OHA, being discovered at Walmart. She worked in disaster relief in California for the Small Business Administration after the Northridge earthquake in 1994. She eame home to nurse her mother through cancer, and, after she passed away, Santos went to Walmart in Llhu'e. "The lady working for OHA was there," Santos recalls. "She asked, 'Are you back home?' And I said yes. 'Do you have a resume with you?' " That was in 1996. She's been at OHA since, now as a Community Outreach Coordinator III. It's rewarding she says, "helping people, making a

difference in their life and their families' lives." Santos is happily single but has plenty of motherly instinct with four siblings - "I did my job, I married them all off so I don't have to worry about them anymore" - and many nieces and nephews. She's active at church and likes travel books, though she doesn't travel mueh anymore. That's fine because her favorite plaee in the world is "wherever I am," she says. "Might as well enjoy where you are." — Kathy Muneno Noalani Oba Years at OHA: 2 Job title: Community Outreach Coordinator I Infectious, contagious, admirable. That's the spirit of Noalani Oba, a Community Outreach Coordinator I at OHA's Kaua'i office. "I love life," she laughs, "I love my job, I'm so thankful for it every

day." Indeed, you feel like everything's going to be OK because she's on your side. "The most rewarding thing about my job is when I ean be of direct service to our beneficiaries, when I make their day." Oba dedicates her life to service. She is a certified substance-abuse counselor who volunteers for a nonprofit and helps offenders reintegrate into the community. She's also working toward a bachelor's degree in Puhlie Administration with plans for a master's degree next. Oba says she grew up in two worlds. "I grew up surrounded by the fluent Hawaiian language and culture from my grandmother Elizabeth Keapouluokalani Ewaliko, who raised us in her estate at Wai'alae, Kāhala on O'ahu. I was taught the westemized world by my parents and from my schooling." She graduated from high school in Kona, married, had three children and now has two grandchildren,

Kaike, 13, and Kainoa, 15 months. She moved to Kaua'i 10 years ago to start anew. "I love the people," she says. "The people here are just very warm, very friendly." And it looks like she'll stay a while. She and her hanee, Jerry Nakasone, are enjoying life in Wailua Homesteads with their horse, Noalani. Says Oba, "I'm blessed with a good job, a good hanee and my family ties are strong." — Kathy Muneno ■

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