Take a good look at the name Jewell Faamaligi. It’s Jewell, as in the stone with two l’s at the end. That’s simple enough. And Faamaligi, with two a’s at the start. Phonetically it goes something like this, “Fa-ah-malingi” don’t worry I haven’t mastered that yet either. To those of us on the MTT Jewell is emerging as a person who was well named.
As we on the MTT plodded forward to find the right person to serve as our Multicultural Outreach Education Director, or (MOED), Jewell was steadfast. The MOED is a role that seeks to pull together the task of leading our RE program and being a multicultural leader who will both represent us out in world and guide us into greater internal reflection on who we are as a church. That is a broad job description; a hard one to both attempt to fill or perform. We think Jewell will shine.
We on the Multicultural Transformation Team (MTT) want to thank Jewell for being so incredibly patient and attentive with what was an exceedingly slow hiring process.
Jewell brings to us a wealth of very practical experience that will prove useful for us and her role here. Jewell’s work history and background is filled with the combination of initiative and innovation. She brings a combination of administrative skills, Public Relations expertise, and inspired activism.
Listen to just some of what she has done. Jewell has promoted and coordinated multiple justice campaigns and musical groups. She has been a fundraiser for these causes and been their chief PR agent. She has fought for Fair Housing and aided families in securing benefits from Cal Fresh and Social Security.
She has helped start radio stations here in the states, and a world away ran a campaign championing the independence of the indigenous West Papua people. How’s that for multicultural activism. Jewell, who is shaped by a buffet of ethnic identities, identifies for simplicities sake as Polynesian.
Given that she was a leader in a campaign that created a petition that amassed the signatures of over 1.8 million indigenous people who risked their lives and freedom to sign a document that the Indonesian government banned and made illegal, I believe she will be able to teach us a few things about social justice too.
Given her impressive resume, what I, (Rev. Steve) like about her is that she is remarkably understated in the way she presents herself. Jewell appears to be the person who identifies a need and fills it; sees an inequity and solves it.I think we will find we are lucky we have her. I already like her and am inspired by her. I think Pacific Unitarian as a community will find her to be instrumental to our commitment to broadening our reach. Make sure you welcome her. She very well could be the point of an arrow that fulfills our destiny to not only be a tight church community that cares from our beautiful perch on the hill but spreads our potency outward.