Kahumana Community Center

86-660 Lualualei Homestead Road, Waianae, Hawaii 96792 • Phone (808) 696-2655, Fax (808) 696-6608

The way we care for the weakest members of our society will determine our mark as a nation before God and history. At present, we are failing a rising number of small children, the frail elderly and the chronically mentally and physically ill. There is an obvious anxiety in America today caused by financial insecurity, homelessness and lack of long-term healthcare. Traditional social safety nets like extended families, solid parishes and small stable village communities have been irreparably broken by modern social developments. Even the best possible Government could only bear a small part of this immense responsibility. The little children's verse has it right: The precious little egg, symbol of the wholeness of our traditional society lies broken on the ground - "and all the King's horses and all the King's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again" - not the government, not the military and certainly not the church. We have to muster the initiative and consciously create new social organisms. This is a new art - a social art -a creative process involving the land, plants, animals, buildings and people. It calls for dedicated individuals with a social conscience to create a new community.

Our nonprofit Corporation, Alternative Structures International, was founded in 1974 with these newly arising tasks in mind. So far, it has created two separate, yet interwoven communities located on two neighboring farms on the Waianae Coast. Kahumana, Hawaiian for Guardian of the Life Forces, serves predominantly the chronically mentally ill, who in ever greater numbers are wandering our streets and often landing in our prisons. It's "daughter" community, Ohana Ola O Kahumana, Hawaiian for Re-enlivening the Family, focuses on the housing, educating, training and care of homeless families with small children who are forced onto our beaches or into overcrowded and inadequate dwellings. Both communities are striving to strike a delicate balance between old proven methods of education and social as well as therapeutic work and new approaches necessitated by a new era.

Twenty-six acres of farm, activity buildings, and housing complexes are centered in a wide crater of steep mountains, yet nestled close to the great waves and sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean. Housing has arisen in a new and rustic style, tall trees are granting welcome shade, gardens beautify the surroundings, caring ways of life are cultivated and healthy nourishment is provided by an organic, biodynamically tended farm.

The staff members bring to Kahumana a multitude of talents, trades and professions. Unlike most nonprofit service oriented organizations, where the employees leave at the end of the normal workday, the staff at Kahumana live and work in the Community, building up an enduring commitment. At Kahumana the quality of life is enhanced in a unique way when members renounce personal gain, and work is enjoyed for its own sake. All members contribute to the practical and social life as their abilities and talents allow and their personal needs are cared for by the community.

Raphael House
Kahumana Residential
Treatment Facility
Residential Treatment Facility

The staff and assistants of Raphael House, a State licensed Special Treatment Facility, share their daily lives with fifteen `special residents' who suffer from chronic mental and emotional illnesses. Raphael House has helped over 500 special residents with residential services, therapy and counseling and has answered the psychological and social needs of over 2,000 of their family members in twenty-four years of service. Care, therapy and the dignity of special residents are encouraged through participation in a noncompetitive, loving social environment. Illness is seen as a distortion of the ideal balance between body, soul and spirit. Various forms of therapy are layered in different combinations, by a therapeutic circle consisting of psychiatrist or doctor, nurse, priest, educators and counselors, to meet the very special needs of each individual.

Our special residents usually reside in the community for twenty four months until they have recovered sufficiently and are able to live independently. Raphael House provides graduates with continued support through outreach and regular open house events. It is also possible for those special residents who need a highly structured environment in which to live to continue on at Raphael House for an indefinite period of time. A separate brochure and fee schedule are available upon request.

Contact: Christopher Jones, Assistant Director
Phone: (808) 696-6699

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program Tobias Hall
Kahumana Psychosocial
Rehabilitation Program

Our special residents, outpatient clients, youth-at-risk, and individuals who are homeless and jobless can participate in a special day program (PSR) offered weekdays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM administered from our Therapy Center, Tobias Hall. Many arts, crafts and therapeutic activities are offered on a continuous basis, such as painting and drawing, ceramics, wood working, eurythmy, exercise and sports activities, medication management, nutrition classes, weekly outings and much more. Those individuals who are capable of and desirous to learn new job related skills can enter into a supervised work experience program mentored by our professional staff. A separate brochure and fee schedule are available upon request.

Contact: Jon Dias, Program Director
Phone: (808) 696-5808

Transitional Housing Program for the Homeless

Gradalis Institute
Kahumana Continuing
Education Program

Our Continuing Education Program is located in a beautifully appointed, large library room inside Kahumana's oldest building, Gradalis Hall, with adjacent stage, grand piano and music room. The Continuing Education Program, under the name of Gradalis Institute, was originally inspired by Kahumana's late cofounder, Dr. Frances Sydow, who passed away in 1994. Currently under revision, our Continuing Education Program is envisioned to be an intensive teacher training institute whose graduates would, in turn, become the mentor/tutors of those teenagers living on Oahu's Waianae Coast, who constitute obvious instances of youth-at-risk. In order to help such disadvantaged youngsters, Kahumana is currently developing an after-school program to begin in 1999 called the School of the Four Waters or Ke Kula Na Wai Eha O Kahumana in Hawaiian.

The Continuing Education Program would also offer enrichment to Kahumana staff, future tutors, or any of the younger students who are willing and who qualify, by offering classes in history, economics, developmental psychology, advanced English grammar, advanced writing skills, as well as important foreign languages (e.g., Japanese, Russian, German, French and Spanish), history of art, history of Philosophy (both Western and non-Western perspectives) and Western and Eastern approaches to humanity's common spiritual roots.

Contact: Prof. Adam Makkai, Ph. D., Director Phone: (808) 696-2655 or (773) 769-2207

Ohana Ola O Kahumana
Kahumana Transitional Housing
Program for the Homeless

As of 1989, Kahumana embarked on a new program to provide housing and a social service support network for homeless families on the Waianae Coast. In cooperation with the City Department of Housing & Community Development, Kahumana purchased twelve additional acres on adjoining property and moved and renovated seven duplex units to house fourteen homeless families. Twenty-eight additional units are planned to be completed in 1999. Our present program is specially designed with its own nursery facility, Educational Vocational Training Program and Community Support Service System. In its eight years of service, Ohana Ola has successfully assisted ninety families into permanent housing and has mentored over sixty-five clients through high school and/or specialized job training programs. Ohana Ola is currently in the process of raising the needed funds for a daycare program for children.

Contact: Helen Kimball, B.A., Prog. Dir., Phase I
Phone: (808) 696-4039

Ann Walenta, M.F.A., Proj. Dev. Coord., Phase II
Phone: (808) 696-2655

Biodynamic Farm
Kahumana Agricultural Program

A new relationship to nature is integral to Kahumana's approach to healing. The earth, viewed as a living being, suffers through human violation of its subtle balances and pollution of its precious fabrics. In turn, humanity cannot help but suffer the consequences: non-nutritious foods, and a steadily deteriorating environment and an increasing amount of various allergies. Kahumana Farm has begun to answer these problems through the gradual application of biodynamic techniques and principles of self sufficiency. Staff and special residents are encouraged to participate in farm work as a healing activity. The public can share this activity through classes, workshops, and programs offered by our staff on a regular basis. A special task of the community is the creation of a one acre Mandala Garden under the spiritual patronage of St. John the Divine. This sacred garden nestled in the midst of our orchard will combine intensive planting of herbs, flowers and trees, cascading fountains of flowing water and sacred art and architecture for the celebration of festivals and holidays.

Contact: Phyl Dwyer, Manager
Phone: (808) 696-1010

Chapel and Library Saint Sophia Chapel
and the Star Room Library

Saint Sophia Chapel, designed by Florian Sydow, was built by and for the community in 1983 and is shared with a small local Byzantine Catholic parish. Under the leadership of Rev. Philip G. Harmon, cofounder of Kahumana, the Chapel and its study center support ongoing ecumenical dialogs and activities for the community, its friends and the public.

The Star Room Library is dedicated to contemporary esoteric studies, beginning with a comprehensive collection of Anthroposophical publications by Rudolf Steiner and related authors, and working to include the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, G. I. Gurdjieff, C. G. Jung and others. The Star Room Library also hosts discussions, study groups and activities designed to stimulate a healthy interest in the esoteric traditions of East and West.

Contact: Rev. Philip Harmon, Chaplain
Phone: (808) 696-2244

Head Quarters	Kahumana Community Center, 86-660 Lualualei Homestead Road, Waianae, Hawaii 96792. Fax.: 808 696-6608
Board of Directors	Rev. Dr. Richard Walenta, Ms. Agnes Cope, V. P.; Pres.; Ms. Shirley Starr, Secty.; Rev. Philip G. Harmon, M.Dv., Treas.; Sr. Rita Kane, M.M., M.A.; Mr. Mark Glen, M.B.A.; Dr. Thomas Leland; Mrs. Cathy Lyman; Mr. Robert Moorehead; Ms. Debra Amaral; Ms. Tammy Lee Pi-i
Board Advisory Committee	Prof. Adam Makkai, Ph.D., Chair; Mrs. Agnes Arany-Makkai, M.A.
Management Committee	Rev. Philip G. Harmon, M. Dv.; Lance Hayes; Christopher Jones, B.A.; Ann Walenta, M.F.A.; Robert Zuckerman
General Secretary	Rev. Philip G. Harmon, M. Dv.
Office Staff	Ann Walenta, Bus. Mgr.; Elaine Boswell, Exec. Secty.; Phone: (808) 696-2655
Corporate Information	Alternative Structures International, dba, Kahumana Community Center was incorporated in the State of Hawaii on November 18, 1974 and classified by the Internal Revenue Service as an exempt organization under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Organization Identification No.99-0196090.

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