INPEACE’s Ka Lama, the seed of hope the founders planted all those years ago, has germinated, matured and flowered, nurturing up and coming educators and helping to sustain the passion and commitment of veteran teachers.

Yolanda Rivers is one of many fruits from this tree. She earned her Associate of Science in Teaching through Leeward Community College, and Bachelor of Education through University of Hawaiʻi at West O‘ahu. What institutions could not teach her, that which was innate, is her love for home and commitment to her community. Enduring through a disempowering education process, it was her love and commitment to community that drove her persistence.

Parenting can feel like a daunting challenge – even for the experienced. Wai‘anae resident Christina Taosoga, would concur. Christina is a mother of four: 28 year-old Nicole, 16 year-old Payton, 14 year-old Hyrum, and 2 year-old Kala. Having already been a mother for 26 years, she had experience to spare when Kala was born, but so much time had passed since she had a newborn, she understandably felt out of practice. That is where INPEACE’s Hi‘ilei home visiting program came in.

“Ola Wai‘anae i ka makani Kaiāulu.” This famous proverb was affectionately announced by Hiʻiakaikapoliopele as she arrived outside of Waiʻanae during her travels back to Hawaiʻi island with Pele’s sweetheart Lohiʻauipo of Kauaʻi. Like most traditional Hawaiian moʻolelo, visitors who arrived in new places would announce and honor those places by greeting the land, the winds, the rains and its people.

Growing up on a homestead farm on Hawai‘i Island, where she still resides, Puhala helped her parents and family to care for the land and animals. As a young person, she believed that the many people considered her as “just a farm girl”. Puhala dreamed of becoming a dentist and was a semester away from finishing dental school in Texas, but while she was visiting home during a school break, family circumstances resulted in her deciding to stay home and help with the farm and support her family.

As a young mother, Carla Ring-West knew that she wanted to be involved with her children’s learning. Through her participation and learning in Keiki Steps, and leveraging the knowledge she gained in teaching her own children, she blossomed into an educator and advocate for early childhood education.