Same turf, new outlook

An ex-gang leader who is now a youth counselor tries to help kids at an isle school he once disrupted

MALAKAI "Mo" Maumalanga has a hard time hiding what he used to be. Although he ended his gang-banger lifestyle in 1996 and is working on a master's degree in social work, his past often comes back to haunt him.

At times the young clients Maumalanga counsels will recognize his name. Others tell stories of the giant who ruled the streets engaging in street fights, drive-by shootings, stealing, gambling, drugs, drinking, gas bombings, racketeering and harassment -- not knowing that he is that giant.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Adult Friends for Youth needs volunteers to help with the agency's 20th annual auction and benefit dinner, Nov. 24 at the Sheraton Waikiki. Help is needed on Nov. 22 and 24 for setup, food service and handling the auction. Call 833-8775.

"I thought my life would be gangs and prisons," Maumalanga said. "I never expected to live past 18."

But he broke free. Where violence and fear were once his expectations, goal-setting, education and peace have became the new standards.

Maumalanga now lives with a sense of purpose, working on the streets and in schools with kids headed down the same road he was, many years ago.

"I'm back at Farrington, the scene of the crime. It brought up a lot of feelings -- all the fights, and my friend was shot there," he said. "I love being there now, knowing all of the problems I caused while I was there."

Maumalanga credits the agency Adult Friends for Youth with helping him gain control of his life -- and that agency credits him for his dedication to a new generation of troubled youths.

Last month, Maumalanga and co-worker Jane Castro Tampon were recognized at the fourth annual Hawaii International Forgiveness Day as exemplifying "the potential for forgiveness as a transforming force in personal life, in the society of Hawaii and in the world."

Forgiveness does seem an appropriate theme for the relationship between Maumalanga and Tampon.

The two were once gang rivals -- he led the Cross Sun gang; Tampon's brother was in Baby Hawaiian Brothers, which made her a target. "People hated me just because I was his sister," Tampon said. "They called me horrible names, threw beer bottles at me and spit at me."

"I was calling all the shots and made sure she lived a hard life," Maumalanga said.

The two began talking during a Star-Bulletin interview in 2001, when they met for the first time since ending their gang lifestyles.

Smoothing things out and apologizing to Tampon was a priority, Maumalanga said. "I thought it was something we had to do to move on. I didn't want to see Jane every day and feel that shame and guilt."

Both believe they have resolved their differences and now work together at Adult Friends for Youth.

"'Time heals all wounds' -- we know that isn't necessarily the case," said Sid Rosen, executive director for Adult Friends for Youth. "It takes a certain mind-set and willingness to put the past behind us. Jane and Mo replaced their gangster mentality with new goals."

Like Maumalanga, Tampon helps youths stay out of gangs. She has shared her story at the annual Student Transition Convention, which reaches about 11,000 fifth- and sixth-graders statewide. The convention is intended to ease the process of moving from an elementary school to middle or intermediate school, and the transition from childhood to adolescence.

"If I tell one person my story and it makes a difference, then it is worth it. Everyone can change," she said.

DEBBIE SPENCER, often referred to as a savior by Tampon and Maumalanga, began mediating their issues while they were in intermediate school.

"There was constant fighting," she said. "These kids don't have attention and want to be a part of something. Most of them do not have the financial status to do what they want to do." Spencer is the senior master practitioner for Adult Friends for Youth and the director of C-Base, an alternative education program.

Spencer would get calls at all hours of the night when gang warfare occurred. "I would jump in the van and go intervene," she said. "No one cared if they lived or died. It's surprising how some of these kids survive the bad living situations. These gang kids do really want help."

Many don't know what they are getting into. "They have a sense of hopelessness that they are not going to amount to anything in the community."

Gang activity is still on the rise, and Adult Friends for Youth is trying to stay on top of things, Rosen said. The term "clique" has replaced "gang," he said, but the definition -- and the danger -- has not altered.

Maumalanga is working with eight different Waipahu cliques. "It's still the same," he said. "Everyone has their own turf on campus. Everyone knows where everybody hangs out."

Rosen hopes to overthrow the stereotypes -- especially that bad people will always be bad people.

"It is so easy to write these kids off. Oftentimes, we become the stable parents they've never known. Gang members lose their humanity, but if you maintain intimacy, they are just people."

The rewards Maumalanga experiences through his social work are "more than money can buy," Rosen said. "Kids will respond if you give them a chance."