Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2017 — Overcoming trauma with dignity and purpose [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Overcoming trauma with dignity and purpose

ByTreenaShapiro When Kela Pulawa's sons bring her up in conversation, they might menhon catching a glimpse of Pulawa on 'Ōlelo Community Media while she was filming an event on O'ahu. Sometimes they'll share tidbits like, "My mom is filming the Prince Lot Hula Festival this weekend." A few years ago, Pulawa doubted her boys would want to talk about her at all. "I used to tell them, ' You don't have to tell where your mom is at,'" she recalls. "But now they see me on TV and they see positive things, as opposed to before. Now they're not ashamed of it."

"It" refers to Pulawa's incarceration at the Women's Community Correctional Center, where she's spent the last four years. Going in, the 41-year-old from Wahiawā anticipated doing hard time for violent crime but the Kailua women's prison continues to defy her expectations. Assigned to work under Larson Medina, the prison's recreation specialist, Pulawa quickly learned an important lesson: "He showed me that you could either do your time or let your time do you - to either lay on your back and do nothing or you ean make something better of yourself," she says. Taking his advice to heart, Pulawa joined a band, published a book for her newborn granddaughter and last year earned a culinary arts certificate from Kapi'olani Community College. "We're just given opportunity

— Kela Pulawa after opportunity," Pulawa marvels. "It's opening doors for after we leave. I'm more aware now of what I need to be." Since Medina introduced the 'Ōlelo training program at the prison six years ago, roughly 50 female inmates have been trained to film and edit video. Being part of the team that goes out into the community is a coveted privilege. "This is a special opportunity for them," says Medina, who points out that only seven of the 300 women at WCCC were part of the 'Ōlelo crew filming Waimea Valley's 5th Annual Makahiki Festival in November. Now also an 'Ōlelo board member, Medina says the women get more requests to film than they ean accommodate. Along with the cultural events, the WCCC crew is asked to to film everything from proms to Capitol hearings. The women like getting out for the

day, and the free luneh, but the real benefit comes from spending time doing something positive for the community. "What I believe helps them is the interaction with the people from 'Ōlelo and the people we meet along the way," Medina says. "They impact them and help them to change." Incarceration is punishment in itself but the Women's Community Correctional Center strives to be a plaee of healing, equipping women

with skills they need to lead better lives in the outside world. Roughly 45 percent of inmates released from the state's only women's prison reoffend and return. But of the 50 women who have been through the 'Ōlelo training, only two have eommitted offenses that landed them back in prison. Genesis Kauhi, of Keaukaha, was incarcerated at private prisons in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Kentucky before being returned

to Hawai'i in 2009. A soft-spoken kupuna and proud "Aunty" to many of her fellow inmates, Kauhi has eome a long way since she first entered the Kailua facility. "When I first eame to prison, I felt holding grudges was just as healthy as

iorgiveness, sne reiates. i was mad and I was going to stay mad." It took Kauhi well over a year to accept that maybe prison really could help her overcome past trauma. Then a Hawaiian language series reconnected her to her eulture and set her on a new path. "I realized and understood that as a kupuna, and if I valued my attitude and the blood I eame from, I needed to change who I was and who I needed to be." Translating Hawaiian language newspapers at the prison four days a week helped Kauhi begin to change emotionally and spiritually. "I felt that my ancestors were pouring

their forgiveness, their love, into my heart," she recalls. At the same time, she was grounding herself with her God. "I needed to get rid of the opala inside, the hate, the guilt, the anger, the resentment, the bitterness." Kauhi's joumey is still underway, but she notes, "'Ōlelo has made it as if I'm an empowered woman. I feel good from the inside out. I have no regrets. Pau. I'mdoing my work." ■

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He showed me that you could either do your time or let your time do you — to either lay on your back and do nothing or you ean make something better of yourself."

Boftom: From left to right Alison Taylor, Briftney Poole, Genesis Kauhi, Larson Medina, Emerald Nakamum, Kela Pulawa, and Caroline Wharton from the Women's Community Correctional Center were part of the 'Ōlelo Community Media film crew at Waimea Valley. - Photos: īreena Skpiro