Audrey Kitagawa, Founder & President of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation (IAMC), moderated a webinar, “The Gift of Aloha (Love) Pacific Islanders and Indigenous Peoples Share Their Sacred Values,” as part of World Interfaith Harmony Week on February 19, 2022. The event brought together experts from the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean — New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Hawai’i, and the indigenous Karuk tribe of Northern California — who shared how the sacred values of their indigenous traditions guide their communities through their unique challenges.
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Papalii Dr. Failautusi Avegalio
Director, Pacific Business Center Program, University of Hawaii
Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D.
Audrey E. Kitagawa, J.D., is President/Founder of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and Chair of the Anti-Racism Initiative and the Gender Equality Working Group of the G20 Interfaith Forum. She is the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict at the UN, a UN Representative for the URI, a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Security Institute, and a Board member of the International Center for Religion and Democracy. She has been listed in Who’s Who of American Law, Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Prominent People of Hawaii. She was enstooled into the royal family of Ajiyamanti, Ghana as the Nekoso Hemaa (Queen Mother of Development) where a school she helped to build, the Nana Ode Anyankobea Junior Secondary School, is named after her.
Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer
Manulani Aluli Meyer is the fifth daughter of Emma Aluli and Harry Meyer who grew up on the sands of Mokapu and Kailua beach on the island of O’ahu and along the rainy shoreline of Hilo Palikū. She obtained her doctorate in Philosophy of Education from Harvard (Ed.D. 1998) and is a worldwide keynote speaker, writer, and international evaluator of Indigenous PhDs who now works at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu campus.
Christopher Peters (Puhlik-lah/Karuk)
Chris Peters (Puhlik-lah/Karuk) has been a tireless grassroots community organizing. He has served the Seventh Generation Fund for 31 years and is now their president. His work is especially focused on climate change, sacred sites protection, and the renaissance of sacred knowledge and Earth Renewal ceremonies of Northern California Tribal Peoples.
Maui Solomon
Chairman, Hokotehi Moriori Trust
Reverend Dr. Upolu Luma Vaai
Reverend Dr. Upolu Vaai is Principal and head of Theology and Ethics at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji. He is a Fijian theologian and Pacific indigenous philosopher, specializing in Pacific relationality, eco-relational theology, decolonizing education, and relational hermeneutics. He is known for his research in Pacific indigenous philosophies and spirituality, theology, and climate change.