Counselor’s rainbows act as peace ambassadors

Helemano Elementary is a little school tucked in the back of a Whitmore Village neighborhood where houses have corrugated metal roofs and second-floor balconies laced with Christmas lights. Whitmore Village is a little cluster of houses just past Wahiawa town, zooming Kamehameha Highway and massive Schofield Barracks.

Tucked away in a little office that used to be the dressing room behind the small cafeteria stage, school counselor Stephen Chinen is bursting with big ideas.

Everywhere, floor to ceiling, and on everything, there are rainbows.

“I’ve been diagnosed with R.O.D. — Rainbow Obsessive Disorder,” Chinen jokes.

Chinen, 62, has been a school counselor at Helemano for 20 years. Over his career, he has amassed handouts, presentations, songs and stories to help kids get through whatever they needed to get through and to equip them for lives of peace and purpose.

Chinen put all these ideas into a collection called “RAINBOWS in Me,” which used to be just a packet of photocopies but is now a published workbook. RAINBOWS serves as an acronym for the chapters. Last year, a grant from the Hawai‘i Community Foundation underwrote a study of Chinen’s work, which found it to be an effective evidence-based social and emotional learning program. State Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz helped to secure a donation from Duane Kurisu and Watermark Publishing to produce the book to share with other schools.

“I caught my second wind doing this project,” Chinen said. “I think I can work another 20 more years as a counselor.”

Chinen grew up in Kalihi near the prison, the son of hardworking parents who made minimum wage. Chinen remembers how, even as a child, the sight of a rainbow lifted his spirits.

After graduating from Farrington, Chinen served in the Marines. He later got his degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa — another reason he loves rainbows. (Chinen was a vocal leader of the movement to reinstate the Rainbows moniker to UH athletic teams.)

In 2007, as a member of the Army Reserve, Chinen spent a year in Iraq, an experience that left both emotional scars and a commit­­­- ment to work for peace.

Now, he’s like an apostle, spreading the message of rainbows, the values of aloha and practical techniques for well-being. “It’s not just about resilience,” he said. “It’s how to get along with people and how to get along with yourself.”

The students at Helemano call him Sgt. Rainbow. Some of the younger kids call him Mr. Sgt. Rainbow. He goes around campus and calls, “RAIN!” and always gets the response, “BOWS!” even from the office staff. His palaka shirt has a rainbow over the pocket and one on each sleeve. His shorts have a rainbow near the hem. He’s put these on all his clothes with fabric paint from Walmart. Each image is a reminder to cultivate inner strength and peace.

“In Iraq, I only saw one rainbow the whole year I was there,” he said, “but it was a big, bending bow across the gray sky.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.