•Facilitating change •Aloha Kela, may you rest in peace • Thanks for supporting your library Facilitating change By far the most productive session ever held by the Charter Commission occurred in December 2005 when professor Kem Lowry facilitated the commission’s
•Facilitating change
•Aloha Kela, may you rest in peace
• Thanks for supporting your library
Facilitating change
By far the most productive session ever held by the Charter Commission occurred in December 2005 when professor Kem Lowry facilitated the commission’s process of identifying and prioritizing potential charter amendments.
If the County Council ever needed a facilitator, it needed one for its marathon session July 22-23 (“‘Hallelujah!’ Council finds harmony — or not, The Garden Island, July 24).
Michael Levine’s excellent summary noted that “The meeting took on the feel of a marriage counseling session, with Dickie Chang and Jay Furfaro often serving as mediators.”
Mediators within the group are no substitute for an objective facilitator, whose role corresponds to the therapist’s role in a counseling session. A competent facilitator can foster the understanding, interpersonal communication, and real consensus-building that were missing in the council’s marathon session.
On the other hand, when “mediators” try to intervene with the parties who are alternately playing victim and persecutor with each other, the mediators simply add the element of “I’m only trying to help” to the game playing and the group winds up back at square one.
It can be argued that facilitating the group process is the task of the chairman, but a presiding officer embroiled with group members in hurling charges and counter-charges is in no position to lead an objective process resulting in the effective resolution of issues.
I believe all of us could benefit if the council decided to enlist the service of a qualified facilitator on appropriate occasions like last week’s meeting or, for example, at the beginning of the legislative session. A facilitated special meeting to follow up last week’s marathon would be a good start.
Horace Stoessel, Kapa’a
Aloha Kela, may you rest in peace
I feel the need to write about this great man because he was like a son to me.
Kela has been one of my son’s best friends since they were in high school together.
Although I haven’t seen him a lot since then, the times I did see him were always a joy and he has never left my heart and mind.
This man I know has been through a lot of tough times but when I saw him with a good friend’s daughter, I could not contain myself as I reached out to hug him and melted in his arms because you could see the change in his face.
This man looked happy and so did his girlfriend, that I knew too.
God put these two together; it was like a missing puzzle in his life that fit so right.
I knew then that this love would last a lifetime but little did we know that Kela was going to leave us soon to be with God. This past year has been really tough for Kela but with his girlfriend on his side, he knew that he would be able to leave this world knowing that the love they had for each other was going to help him through this all. He hung tough and fought this battle to the end; he was a warrior.
Kela had a love for sports which he did real well at.
His last sport was a martial art called Jiu Jitsu, that he introduced my son to. The last tournament was held in O‘ahu and Kela was there.
He watched his son grapple and he watched as my son grappled too. He was so excited.
I even made him laugh a few times but mostly I had the honor to spend this time with him.
This was a happy time for him because you could see it in his smile as his eyes lit up as he watched each fight — it was like he was fighting with them in spirit.
Although Kela was a man of few words, he spoke with his heart, if you knew him, you would know what I meant.
The only last thing that I want to say is, although I will miss him very much, I know that he is resting in peace and I have had the honor and the privilege to be a part of his life that I will cherish this forever.
I did get the chance to say how much I loved him before he left us to be with God but for now I want to bid you my fondest aloha Kela — until we meet again, where we will laugh together once more.
Aunty Priscilla Espina, Kapa‘a
Thanks for supporting your library
A big mahalo to the volunteers who helped with our successful Summer Reading Program at the Princeville Public Library.
Your time and commitment to the keiki and young adults is truly appreciated, as we enjoyed seeing you each day you came in to work.
We had many familiar faces, as well as new ones, and we look forward to seeing you again.
To our many participants in this annual program, we thank you, and wish you a successful school year, and your continuous library support. Great job!
Jennifer Relacion, Princeville
