Posted on: Tuesday, September 3, 2002

Grant aids native job program

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer

A unique Wai'anae Coast work training program has been given a boost in the form of a $250,000 grant from the Native Americans Administration of the U.S. Department of Human Services.

The aquaculture program is designed to introduce previously unemployable Native Hawaiians suffering from mental illness to the work force after they've been trained to raise and market Mossambica tilapia.

"We like to call them sun fish," said Stella Pihana, program director of the Wai'anae Coast Community Alternative Development Corp., a nonprofit grass-roots aquaculture farming project.

That's because freshwater tilapia, which have commercial value, have traditionally had a bad reputation as "rubbish fish." That's changing, she says.

Pihana described the program as the most challenging idea the facility has attempted in its 16-year history. She also admits she was initially apprehensive about working with people who have severe emotional difficulties.

"Scared is the word for it," said Dale Ferriman, lead trainer of the program. "All we knew about people like this was what we'd seen on television and movies like 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.' "

"We didn't even know what to call them — patients, clients, mentally challenged, what? Now, we just call them our friends."

Pihana and Ferriman had their minds changed by Jim Mihalke, director of Hui Hana Pono, also known as the Clubhouse, on Pu'uhulu Road in Wai'anae. The goal of Mihalke's facility, which is affiliated with Hale Na'au Pono (the Wai'anae Coast Community Mental Health Center), is to help Clubhouse members enter the work force.

"If you can get people feeling good about themselves by putting some element of productivity in their lives, it can make a huge difference," Mihalke said. "I wanted to find a way to motivate people to get involved in some day in and day out activities that they weren't doing before."

About 18 months ago Mihalke persuaded Pihana to initiate a smaller aquaculture program for Clubhouse members, and he even found the financial backing for it. That effort went so well, Pihana decided to expand the concept to the present program, which started Aug. 1.

The total cost of the first year of the two-year program is $334,000 — 75 percent from the Native American Administration. The remainder will come from private donations, Pihana said.

The goal, she said, is to serve 30 Native Hawaiian adults. So far, about 25 potential trainees have gone through the indoctrination presentation.

The decision to accept or reject the program is up to individual members and their case workers at the Mental Health Center. No one is "selected" to be part of the project, Pihana said.

"I'm totally confident that they can do it," Ferriman said. "And when they finish the training, they they know more than aquaculture and how to build fish tanks. They will have many skills with which to do many things."

Pihana said anyone interested in volunteering or donating supplies for the program can call 696-7241.