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Waimea's Stories in Color    West Hawai'i Today / Oct. 1 2019

10/2/2019

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HPA mural artists and Estria Foundation staff
   Three key stories of Waimea were revealed on Sept 28th with the unveiling of a mural, spanning the makai exterior wall of the Waimea Community Center. With ti leaf and water from nearby Kohakohau, stream in hand, Kahu Danny Akaka, assisted by wife Anna, performed the blessing, buffeted by the ubiquitous Waimea uhi wai rain.
   This was followed by a chant and a gourd offering from Kumu Kuwalu Anakalea. “This gourd was grown right here at the HPA Village Campus and the water inside it is from Kohakohau, Manaua's (water spirit) river. And then you have the pa'akai (sea salt). Kane is the sun and Kanaloa the ocean water and they combine to create evaporation and the pa'akai. With this we're asking for all the stories to become firm and solid inside of us,” explained Anakalea.
   The result of over a year’s collaboration between HPA high school students and Mele Murals, the flagship program of The Estria Foundation (TEF), a non-profit co-founded by mural artist Estria Miyashiro, whose vision is to work with students to foster the creation of public art that explores and perpetuates the cultural stories of Hawaii’s communities.
   The process begins with the formation of a mural club, whose members are responsible for some of the funding and are integral to the process from start to finish. Guided by foundation staff and community cultural practitioners, club members go through a process of researching the history and stories, exploring and visioning and creating a template for the stories they will tell through art.
   The preparation process for this mural began with a hike to the top of Pu'u Hoku'ula, where Kumu Ku'ulei Keakealani shared the stories of the three significant pu'u that keep vigil over Waimea town. The title for the mural, Pali Kapu o nā li'i o Waimea refers to the collective name of the Waimea hills and is translated as the sacred hillsides of the ali'i of Waimea.
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Kumu Keakealani flanked by Katie Benioni and Katie's mom, Barbara Robertson, whose mom was the source of the stories. Photo by Nancy Erger
   After the blessings there was a gathering of gratitude to acknowledge the many community contributions and to interpret the mural.
   “On the first day we hiked up Hoku'ula and got to do some meditation and hear some mo'olelo (stories), which inspired our mural. I learned a lot about my place and I made a lot of deep connections through this,” reflected Michi Wong.
   Those connections are reflected in the three mural sections. Kawehi Cabuzel explained the plover depicted in the left-hand panel.  
   “In the olden days people would go up into these mountains and “fish” for them, which is called lawaia manu. It was tradition to gather feathers for the capes of the ali'i and also the head pieces. The bird represents patience and stillness because the people had to wait patiently for the birds to come and had to sit still in the tall grass.”
    The joyful face of the goddess Wao beams out from the middle section. “The face represents a Hawaiian goddess Wao, who lives among the hills. During meditation a lot of us kept seeing her face and her hair flowing into the water. She's known for being super happy and connected to the nature around her,” shared HPA student Naia Ayau.
   Keakealani adds: “Her eyes are peering upward. There's a god, who becomes her husband, Makuakuamana. When I look at that I see her looking up as her husband is coming down to meet her and propose. Knowing the story and seeing the wall, here is another way the story lives on.”
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Kumu Kawalu with HPA mural artists
  Other important stories originate with Mana'ua, a guardian spirit and shape shifter depicted in the far right-hand section.
   “There’s a story of three lawaia manu who go to Anna's pond after fishing for birds. They asked her permission by putting a ti leaf in the water and if it floats, you have permission to go in, but if it doesn’t float you’re forbidden from entering. It floated and they went in, but then one of them disappeared. During meditation we kept seeing these big lizard eyes coming up out of the water,” related Natalie Klett.
   The mural’s stories are now part of our visual landscape and are alive in the hearts and minds of the students who worked so hard to complete it and will continue to perpetuate the tales of Waimea. “We're getting older and you will have to mālama this place after us and pass these stories on,” concluded Miyashiro.
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The Journey of a Raindrop:                                                         Waimea Educational Hui's Annual Art Exhibit

5/10/2019

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"Hō`ala e nā Piko" by E. Kalani Flores.
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As raindrops we begin the journey. Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
  Under heavy skies and pelting rains, we gathered at the Kahilu Theater lobby gallery for the opening of the 2019 annual Waimea Educational Hui (WEH) art exhibit. The hui was formed in 2007 with representatives of all Waimea schools and cultural practitioners with the goal of unifying Waimea schools through programs that perpetuate the history and culture of our community.   
  This year’s theme is: “Ka Wai E Ola, E Ola Nō A”; Water is sacred, Water is our responsibility, Water is Life. The artwork of Waimea students, family and community members graced the walls with the story of a raindrop, that most important first element of life, each piece, like one of many raindrops, blending together to tell the story of life, ola wai.
  We gather on the threshold of the makai lobby gallery and as the rain drums out a tattoo, cultural practitioner Kalani Flores journeys ahead, chanting into the far reaches and offers a pikai, a clearing, cleansing and blessing. We gather close as Pua Case, our guide, asks us to imagine ourselves as a single drop of rain to begin our travels from the highest mountain to the deepest sea through the eyes of Waimea artists.
  “The exhibit will take us as a drop from the sky to the mountain to the hillsides, from rainfall to waterfalls to waterways of Waimea, down to the seaside, fish ponds and finally to the far reaches of the ocean,” reflected Pua.
  This great connection with water is built into the Hawaiian language in the most fundamental question: O wai kou inoa? What is your name? Or more accurately: Who is your water? Who nourishes you? But we are all nourished by Kāne and for this exhibit the question is: Aia i hea Ka Wai a Kāne? (Where is the water of Kane?)

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Monuments of sacredness. Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
The first answer is the start of the day with the sun’s rays striking the water from the east.
Out there with the floating Sun,
Where the cloud-forms rest on Ocean’s breast,
Uplifting their forms of Nihoa,
This side the base of Lehua.
 
We enter the spiritual realm of all those who have gone before seeking knowledge and understanding of their world. Together we ponder beginnings and the sacred monuments humans have built that connect us to the sacredness above. 
On Hawai`i Island that connection is received through Mauna a Wākea and the exhibit begins with a photo by Kapulei Flores in celebration of the constant presence of Poliahu in her mountain realm. This is followed by “Power of Mana” by Amy Gordon and “Snow on Mauna Kea” by Shelly Stimac, both community artists.
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Photo by Kapulei Flores. "Poliahu is found in the snow on the mauna, as well as her other forms such as ice and water. Without the snow, ice, and water that Poliahu provides, the mauna would not be the same."
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Look to the heavens. Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
PictureAnghor Wat by Brayden Jadulang.
  The theme of monuments to the sacred is woven throughout. Many of the artists in this section, who have delved into Archaeoastronomy with Waimea Middle School 6th grade social studies teacher Ms Yohon, have created renderings of the monuments built to connect with and understand the great beyond.
  Moving east, we travel to Cambodia and the mysterious Anghor Wat, a massive temple to the Hindu god Vishnu and later a Buddhist place of worship. Built to represent Mt. Meru, the home of the gods, some of its towers line up with the sunrise at solstice.

PictureTop: photo of Pua's journey to Stonehenge. Below: "Pua at Stonehendge" by Tina Yohon. Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
  Abu Simbel, in Nubia, upper Egypt, a desert land where the preciousness of water was understood. A monument to the Ramses II, the axis is positioned so that on 10/22 and 2/22, thought to be birth and inauguration dates for Ramses, the rays of the sun penetrate and illuminate the sculptures on the back wall.
  We travel further east and north, to Stonehenge, an ancient astronomical site in England, as well as a place of worship and healing, and the destination of a spiritual journey for Pua Case, who brought waters from Mauna a Wākea to Stonehenge as an offering and was gifted waters in return.
  North of England in the Orkney Islands stand the Ring of Brodgar. There are many unanswered questions about this monument, but it stands as testament to early worshipers.

PictureAhu Akivi by Goddess Gonsalves.
  Understanding the natural world and its many cycles was important to the survival of the ancients. Across the sea to Wyoming finds us standing on a mountain top in the middle of an astronomical calendar, called the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, a mountaintop astronomical calendar.
   Sweeping south we are at Kukulcan in Chitchen Itza, Mexico, an early observatory containing sight lines for 20 different phenomena such as eclipses, equinox and solstice.
  Also in Mexico in the area called Dzibilchaltun is the Temple of the Seven Dolls, where there is evidence of the recording of the vernal equinox, as well as Cenote Xlakah, a pool whose secrets have been a window into the past.
  South to Peru where we find the Intihuatana Stone, an ancient Incan ceremonial site for winter solstice, whose name means, “Place to tie up the sun”. (painted in acrylic by Waimea Middle School 6th graders Jusani Dickens and Mikayla Pesta.)
  And the last stop before returning home is Rapa Nui, where we find Ahu Akivi (by Goddess Gonsalves, Waimea Middle School 6th grade). These standing stones, or moai, are aligned to note the equinoxes and are believed to represent the ancestors, kings and important clan leaders of the original indigenous people.

At the next station as raindrops gather on the mountain top, we find Wai a Kāne:
Yonder on mountain peak,
On the ridges steep,
In the valleys deep,
Where the rivers sweep.
Picture"Womb of Mystery" by Kira DeGaetano Souza.
  These pieces point to the varied and sometimes hidden realms of water. The “Womb of Mystery” an acrylic painting by Kira DeGaetano Souza, is perhaps a metaphor for us climbing from the watery world and returning to it as well.
  “The Gift of Life” by son, Joaquim Souza, shows us the heart of the mauna and how it holds the waters of life for us.
  The Flores / Case `ohana created a photo essay that tells the story of their connection to Manaua, the sacred rain rock of our Waimea where the community from child to elder bestow gifts of leis to ask for rain and leis to offer in gratitude when the elements provide. Another image is of the `ohana gathered at a sacred place where sacred waters have emerged to form a pond among the rolling green landscape. 

Yonder, at sea, on the ocean,
In the driving rain, in the heavenly bow,
In the piled-up mist wraith,
in the blood-red rainfall
In the ghost-pale cloud form;
PictureThe many guises of water. Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
The group of pieces that follow are ethereal images and wild rainbow colors, exploring the many faces of place. Collages celebrate water in all its many guises and sources.

Up on high is the water of Kāne,
In the heavenly blue, in the black piled cloud,
In the black cloud,
In the black mottled sacred cloud of the gods;
There is the water of Kāne.

This section contains the waterways of Waimea, an array of watercolors, acrylic, colored pencil and explores the patterns of water that surround and support us, showing an awareness of the seen and unseen water pathways, each piece a raindrop that forms a cloud of understanding.

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Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
 
Deep in the ground, in the gushing spring,
In the ducts of Kāne and Loa,
A well of spring water, to quaff,
A water of magic power – The water of life!
Life! O give us this life!
Images of the sustaining power of water, flowing from the mauna, the pu`u to feed and replenish the land. Fishponds thrive and life is given to the land. It is there before us, under us and around us.
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Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
Traveling to the eastside gallery picks up from where we left off from the fishponds and seaside to the breaking waves. The chant Hohola Ke Kapa announces that a voyage will be taking place for Makaliʻi led out to sea with food and rope prepared by area schools for the voyage of Makaliʻi to Mokumanana in early June.
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Photo by Kapulei Flores, Kapzphotography.
The waʻa carrying the tiny drops of rain, now the fresh water on board, is the ancient ocean connection as witnessed by art pieces such as a diorama depicting “umu”, a pile of rocks used to trap manini. Models of great voyaging canoes and kites, the first sails used by humans, fly aloft. Graphite pencil drawings of canoe plants by 'Auli'i Case, photography and digital art, experiments with watery visions cover the walls. And the cycle is complete and the voyage begins. He inoa nō Kana.
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"Reflection in Time" by O. Sarsona.
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Ten Years on the Ground, 10,000 Hands Strong                           North Hawaii News   March 2015

9/20/2017

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​It takes a garden to grow a community and that is what has happened at the Mala’ai Culinary Garden  over the last ten years. The seed for the garden was germinated ten years ago when Amanda Rieux arrived in Waimea from the Edible School Yard in Berkeley, to be the garden director for the as yet non-existent garden.
   “When we first started I felt like the tailor in the Emperor’s New Clothes. I would tell people, it's going to be great and they were like, uh huh.” But the actual seed for the garden was the work of Waimea Naturopath, Michelle Suber who wanted to contribute to the health of the community she had come to love.
    “She came to the Edible School Yard and spent two weeks with us. She spent time in the garden, in the kitchen classroom, with the executive director, principal and the teachers. She was trying to replicate it,” said Rieux. Two years later and a chance email to Suber and Amanda found herself planted in an as yet imaginary garden.
 “You have to know where you are before you know where you’re going,” said Holly Sergeant-Green, Mala’ai garden teacher and much like the first Polynesians who arrived in the islands, close observation of the land and natural systems was the first order of the day. “You first try to look at it and you watch how the weather patterns are and what the rain fall is and all those things and you see what's already there. Almost immediately I started doing some work with Pua Case and that whole sense of what this place means,” added Rieux.
    They listened and the land spoke to them. “We had a blessing pretty early on with Dean Kalka. We had probably a hundred people and we had no idea where we were going to be centered in this little piece of land but [as it happens], we were all standing around what was to become the central crop area,” said Rieux.
    Garden classes were conducted on straw bales at first that were handy shelters from the relentless trade winds. “I was just out standing in the field, literally in a wind tunnel. You could sit behind the bale and get out of the wind and you could still hear me talk. At first we just talked about it because we didn't have any tools and we didn't have any water and we didn't have a tool shed and we just kind of imagined what it could look like. It was just kids in a field,” said Rieux.
    Initially funded by Slow Foods, the garden seemed to take on a life of its own, reaching out to the community. “Nan Pi`ianaia was really welcoming. She introduced me to Alice and Ichiro Yamaguchi. They have that beautiful garden across from where Lex Brodie used to be and they brought over our first eight kalo huli,” said Rieux.  And just as the kalo once planted becomes the parent to successive generations, the garden ohana evolved. “Community involvement and that whole idea of life bringing life. The more established the garden gets the more people come and they bring whatever their skills and their talents and their interests are,” said Rieux.  
    But the real magic came with the students. “I remember Miss Takamoto's sixth graders with picks just starting off this whole new area and in a year it looked like a completely different place to them and they were so proud of it.” Beginning with open invitations to any classes who wanted to participate, by 2010, the fifth anniversary, there was full participation by science, health, P.E. and tech classes and the garden had gone from a field to a rich haven of learning and health. Speaking at the celebration, then principal John Colson reflected, “If you look out here and you think it's beautiful, it is really beautiful. But that beauty is a reflection of all of you students and the work that you've done.”  

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​    Not only does the garden produce up to three tons of food a year, but the students have created their own learning laboratory where they can engage in authentic learning experiences. “I coordinate with the science teachers with what the students are learning in the e science program, so every [garden] lesson is relevant to what they are learning in class,” said Sergeant-Green, garden teacher and resident science maven. This connection will become even stronger in two years when construction of the new STEM building will be completed. It will be situated adjacent to the garden and its doors will open out into a tangible world of wonder.  
    For students, there are also some big confidence building life lessons. “One of the things that the kids thought was valuable working out here was team work. You figure out how to work together and you see that you can do more work when you're working together. That's so important that they're recognizing it,” said Alethea Lai, executive director since 2010. With their participation in such events as the Super Kitchen, students also come to understand that they are valuable contributing members of the community. “The most important thing that we can do is to empower our kids to feel like leaders in the community and to recognize that they have a role, they have knowledge, they have skills, and that they're valuable,”said Rieux. “But a big mark of success is that the kids like it. They want to be here. We have very few discipline issues.”    

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    In the beginning Rieux was the sole staff member, supported by board members: Jan Dean, Sandy Barr, Vivienne Aronowitz, Roen Hufford, Ben Disco, Patti Cook and Holly Sargeant-Green.  Sergeant-Green, previously a marine biologist, and initially a parent volunteer, became a contracted staff member in 2008. With this year’s Food Corp volunteer Seri Niiimi-Burch, there are now three and a half staff members and it’s estimated that the garden has served about 2500 students over the last ten years.
    Although there have been pretty lean times over the years, the belief in the work of the garden has  sustained it. “What has been really gratifying and really hard at the same time is just growing trust and belief with this work with the land and the kids and the trust that we will do it with the greatest respect and care for the kids and the culture and the land,” said Rieux. The lessons of the garden also send shoots out that encircle the wider community.  “The students on the land cultivate a deeper sense of land stewardship, healthy eating, life-long learning, cultural relevance and joy. Their families hear it and as people are drawn here, there's all this learning that waves back in,” added Rieux.
    Financial support is another kind of wave that flows into the garden. In 2007 Mala`ai got non-profit status and began fund raising with their annual Art and Sol event, coming up on April 12.  The garden has provided the opportunity for the broader community to contribute to the effort, creating a sense of solidarity.
    “The people who support us monetarily are not for the most part the parents of the kids who go to this school. And that's amazing. It makes us a stronger community all together,” said Lai.
    Mala’ai has also become a model garden for the broader educational community and with the support of the Kohala Center and such educators as Nancy Redfeather and Koh Ming Wei the Hawai'i Island School Garden Network and the Ku ʽĀina Pa program were created.
    “Early on the Rocky Mountain Institute did a feasibility study on how to make Hawai'i Island sustainable. One thing they thought there should be a focus on is education around gardening and food. So we met and wanted to know what would be the best way to move this forward and the School Garden Network came from that and out of that came Ku ʽĀina Pa, which is making sure that we're supporting teachers and that the level of teaching in gardens is excellent. If we're really going to create the change that we're talking to our students about, then it has to be on a wider level than just here,” explained Rieux.  
    The most recent Super Kitchen event was a collaboration between Nā Kalai Wa'a and Mala'ai, inspired by Chadd Paishon’s query, “Is it possible in this day and age for this island to provision one canoe?” This is a vital question for the sustainability of our entire island that Mala'ai Garden and many burgeoning efforts are striving to answer. “We talked to the students, we talked to the teachers, we talked to community members and we talked to farmers. People felt that the issues of food security and self-sufficiency were just as critical if not more,”said Lai.
    After ten years, it’s clear that Mala'ai is here to stay. It takes a garden to sustain a community but it also takes a community to sustain a garden and again this community has shown what happens when e lauhoe wa'a (we all paddle together).
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Bringing  Hōkūleʽa Home: The Community Gathers to Honor Waimea Voyagers      North Hawaii News   April 7, 2017

6/16/2017

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PicturePomai Bertelmann and Ka'iulani Murphy steer for home
On Wed. April 12 at 5 p.m., the community will gather at Kahilu Town Hall to honor the Waimea canoe crew members who will be sailing Hōkūleʽa home from Tahiti on the last leg of her Mālama
Honua Voyage.
    Although sharing Waimea roots, each crew member has their own journey to the canoe. Kala Thomas, who will sail on the escort canoe Hikianalia, grew up with the canoe in Waimea. 
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“Kala Thomas was in seventh grade when Uncle Tiger Espere, Steve Coffee, and Gary Benson built the Hoku’ili’ili at the school. He helped build that. So his genealogy is actually from that time,” said Pomai Bertelmann, who will captain
Hōkūleʽa.

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Pua Lincoln
    Pua Lincoln, who will be part of the navigation team on Hōkūleʽa a, was at Waimea Elementary when Mauloa sailed into her life. “My first official introduction to any canoe was when Mauloa was built. I was at Waimea Elementary and they took her into the gym and set her up and when I saw her, I was just awestruck. And then later on I got trained to sail that canoe and that was the hook,” said Lincoln.
​    From an early age Lincoln was aware of her family’s voyaging legacy. “I had heard stories from my own k
ūpuna and my father about our ancestral migrational path and how we came from a family of voyagers,” said Lincoln. Lincoln is humbled and honored, “To be part of this epic journey to bring Hōkūleʽa home. When she comes home, it's full circle and all about returning her back to all of those people whose prayers have kept her going, moving and afloat, perpetuating her ability to persevere,” said Lincoln.
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Ka'iulani Murphy 2000 voyage.
    After finishing high school at Kamehameha Schools on O'ahu, lead navigator Ka’iulani Murphy found her way to the canoe when she attended a lecture by Nainoa Thompson at the Hawaiian Studies Center at U.H. Manoa.
    “To hear Nainoa talk, I was in awe and my sophomore year I took voyaging courses.
Hōkūleʽa was in dry dock and so I spent Saturdays and volunteer work days there. When she was relaunched spring semester, our class got to sail her to Molokai as part of her sea trials. I was one of the few that didn't get seasick so they asked me to come back,” said Murphy.
    But Murphy also has strong roots with the ʽāina
in Waimea and in her family’s Waipi'o Valley loi where they grew kalo. “All three of us Pomai, Pua Lincoln and I all grew up in Kūhiō Village. My mom's father is from Waipiʽo and growing up our family spent just about every weekend there on the ʽāina. I realized later how fortunate we were to grow up like that,” said Murphy.
    In 2000 Murphy took her first blue water voyage from Tahiti to Hawai'i and she looks forward to repeating the experience. “I love that my first voyage was coming home to Hawai'i. It's really special to see the islands pulled up from the sea. It really gives you a sense of how our k
ūpuna first saw the islands when they came” said Murphy.
​    Although a repeat of her 2000 experience, this voyage will take Murphy to the next level in a long journey with the canoe. “Pomai and I were nervous about stepping into those roles but at the same time realizing it isn't about us, but about our teachers making the investment over the years, hoping that we would assume the roles as time went on. But oh my gosh, it's now already?” said Murphy.

PictureClay Bertelmann
    Pomai Bertelmann, who will captain the voyage, has grown up with the canoe. Her father Clay Bertelmann was instrumental in the creation of Mauloa, Makali’i and Na Kalai Wa'a, the Hawai'i Island canoe builders.
    For Bertelmann this final leg and the entire Malama Honua represents the next phase, “The leadership’s vision of succession. Over the last 40 years we've evolved into a thriving voyaging family and community. It is a great image to see all of these diverse people coming together and see this moku move forward because of all of that collaboration. A life force that comes into one entity and works synergistically.”
    Synergy was at work in the creation of a crew list, a complicated task that was shared with Murphy. “What we worked to do was create lists on our own, come back and match them up. I had to remember, go back through all kinds of documentations, crew lists and look at different skills. It's been a lot of relying upon what I've learned and solidifying decisions with pule,” said Bertelmann. ​

PictureScott Kanda, Oiwi T.V.
    A crucial quality for crew members is the willingness to participate in exchanges with the community, without which none of this would be possible. “This voyage is what the community has given to us. It’s an indication that the community has supported us and has been behind us all the way,” said Bertelmann.
    Technological improvements have made it possible to engage communities across the globe. Scot Kanda, who grew up in Honoka'a and works with Oiwi T.V. will be sailing on Hikianalia. Kanda brings communication skills to the canoe. “They stand their watch and then they go into the editing bay and they cut and they edit raw footage,” said Bertelmann.
​    When the voyage is completed, the 'Ohana Wa'a will begin to put lessons learned into place on our ʽāina. “In the wake of this voyage, to see the collective team that may be coming together to move forward with the larger purpose of ʽāina-based education in our schools and communities,” said Bertelmann.


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The voyage home will be one of gratitude for Hōkūleʽa’s far-reaching influence. “Voyaging is one thing, but language, education, music, dancing all of those things were ignited by the matriarch Hōkūleʽa ,” said Lincoln.​
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To Be Kupuna: Ma'ulili Dickson  / Special to North Hawai'i News / November 2015

8/8/2016

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    It is said that the ulili (sandpiper) was a sacred messenger that provided the first Polynesian voyagers with a sign that guided them to land and like his namesake, Ma`ulili Dickson has quietly shown the way with his actions, spending a lifetime quietly working for the benefit of the community through the Waimea Hawaiian Civic Club (WHCC), Waimea YMCA and the voyaging canoes.
        Dickson grew up Moanalua, nestled in an extended family spanning three generations, where he was given a solid foundation in traditional Hawaiian culture and values. “I was raised by all of them and taught by all of them. My grandmother on my father's side kept me close to her and she taught me about the culture and history of our family. From when I was young, it gave me a strong sense of community and how I had to help and assist, not just ride along. How I had to be a part of making it better or keeping it going,” says Dickson.
   While growing up on O'ahu, Dickson spent most summers on Hawai'i Island. “My grand uncle, E. Woods Low, (son of Eben Low), used to bring me here to Hawai'i Island. He was born and raised in Kohala and Waimea,” says Dickson.
        While attending the College of San Mateo in the mid 60s, Dickson studied tele-communications, but soon found his passion in culinary arts, a skill which he would later use on his many canoe voyages.  After a tour of duty in Vietnam, he returned to O'ahu, but Hawai'i Island and the family compound at Paniau was calling him back.  
       In the early 80s Dickson had settled on Hawaiʽi Island and was working as a manager for Parker Ranch, when one day Kalani Schutte (then on the county council) came by and told him, “Put in your notice. You’re going to come work for me.” This began Dickson’s legislative career as the executive assistant to Schutte who became council chairman. Soon he was engrossed in legislative processes from the county level to the federal.
        At the end of Schutte’s term, Dickson returned to Waimea to become the Executive Director of the newly formed YMCA, where he was able to develop sailing, diving and camping programs. “This was a good opportunity to engage the community in outdoor and ocean education,” Dickson says. “We were in the community doing stuff with the kids and it felt great,” he added.

Hawaiian Civic Clubs
       In 1917 Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianiole saw the need to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian culture and began the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu. Since then a total of 58 clubs have formed throughout the islands and on the mainland, with nine clubs on Hawai'i Island.
       The primary efforts of the WHCC involve regular fundraisers to support their scholarship fund (preschool to adults), educational experiences in and out of the classroom, drafting of resolutions and bills in support of furthering community health and well-being and providing food at various events. The club also finds strength in making connections. “The Civic Club is a kokua organization that helps support all the different other entities that are accomplishing the same kind of goals that we are,” Dickson says.
       One of the larger projects the WHCC participated in was the development of a cultural education program at Pu’ukoholā Heiau, as part of the 200th anniversary celebration in 1991. “We wanted to maintain [control of] the cultural aspects so we created Na Aikane o Pu’ukoholā Heiau,” says Dickson.  
       The focal point for Dickson’s continuing community efforts is Makali’i, for which he serves as quarter master and assists with educational programs, including Mala`ai’s monthly super kitchen events. “On the Hawaiian Civic Club side of it, we're helping the community with healthy eating. On the canoe side of it we're looking at eventually having these youth and the Mala'ai garden package items that can go on the voyage, that are healthy for us to eat,” says Dickson.
       For Ma`ulili and many others like him, the way forward is through the continuing education and involvement of our youth to perpetuate the positive values of Hawaiian culture that will live on in the hearts of our children.

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The Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival: United in beauty to give back to the community / Special to North Hawaii News 2/3/15

2/19/2015

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    The spirit of the cherry blossom floated across the Pacific with the Japanese immigrants, who also brought their sense of duty and hard work along with a reverence for the natural world that fed their communities. In the cherry blossom can be traced a history of the human spirit, a completed life cycle leading to abundance, fearlessness of the warrior in the face of death and an inspiration for poetical reflection.
                    Sleeping under the trees on Yoshino mountain
                    The spring breeze wearing Cherry blossom petals

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Saigyo

   According to Shinto belief the soul of the mountain deity, who was the guardian of agriculture, sailed down to the rice paddies on clouds of cherry blossoms. To worship this sacred ancient tree, early farmers traveled to the mountains and eventually began to plant the trees in villages and towns where they were celebrated annually. Later, when the samurai were formed in the seventeenth century, the cherry blossom was adopted as part of their bushido code; the samurai, like the cherry blossom, often fell at their peak, an ideal death. 

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     Later, Hawaii plantation life was difficult and there was little time for celebration, but like a dormant seed that springs forth when the conditions are right, the celebration of the cherry blossom emerged in the early 1950’s. The story of the arrival of the first cherry trees on Hawai'i Island begins on O'ahu with the arrival of Fred Makino. 
     Born in Japan, the son of an English silk merchant and a Japanese mother, Makino arrived in Hawai'i in 1899 at the age of 22 and began work in his brother’s Na’alehu store.  Finding Hawai'i Island too quiet, he soon found his way to Honolulu where he opened the Makino Drug Store and married Michiye Okumura. In 1912, Makino began the Japanese language newspaper, Hochi Hawaii and spent the rest of his life advocating for the well-being of the Japanese community.
    
To commemorate Makino’s contributions, following his death in 1953, his widow contacted Baron Goto who contacted the Kona extension office and arranged for Hawai'i Island’s first three cherry trees to be propagated. One tree was given to Mr. Hori Tohachi and two of the trees were given to nurseryman, Mr. Okada, one of which he planted in church row next to the Kamuela Hongwanji. Two grafted trees were also given to Hartwell Carter and from those trees, his gardener, Isami Ishihara began to propagate more trees. These first trees became the source of Waimea’s Cherry Blossom Festival.

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    While it takes the community pulling together to create an event such as the Cherry Blossom Festival, it also often takes the spark of one inspired persistent, person. In the case of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which began in 1994, that person was North Kohala resident James Tohara, who was enchanted by the blooming cherry trees in Church Row Park.
​    One of the many people he contacted was George Yoshida, then director of Hawai'i County Parks and Recreation, whose department was instrumental in establishing the festival. Roxcie Waltjen, Cultural Education Administrator for Hawai'i County Parks and Recreation, is the backbone of the festival, which she has coordinated since 1995. “The Cherry Blossom Festival is Hawai'i County’s second largest event after the Merry Monarch and it’s important for the county to keep it going,” said Fred Nonaka, Lions Club cherry tree maven.

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       The Waimea Cherry Blossom Festival is a multi-national, multi-cultural event.  “The Hongwanji has an open house every year and visitors from all over the world, Europe, Japan come and sign our guest book,” said Nonaka. The 2012 festival was the 100 year celebration of the cherry trees gifted to the U.S. and planted in Washington D.C. The Embassy of Japan provided seeds to Hawaii Island that were especially suited to the climate. 
    
“Dr. Koyama, a retired professor, arranged to get the seeds. They chilled them and by the time the seeds got to Hawaii they were sprouting. We arranged with the State Tree Nursery and paid for the supplies,” said Nonaka. The young trees were planted at the 2012 festival by Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, Yoshihiko Kamo, Consul General of Japan in Honolulu and Tetsuo Koyama, director of the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden.
       The Cherry Blossom Festival in Waimea shows what can be done when individuals, groups and communities pull together, united by the generous spirit of our island home. The festival will provide a chance for the island wide community as well as the many visitors to share in the spirit of the cherry blossom and take a few moments to reflect with gratitude on the wisdom of nature.  


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We'll Take You There: Mavis Staples Rocks Kahilu Theater

10/3/2014

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“We’re going to bring you some joy here tonight,” exclaimed Mavis Staples at the beginning of her Sunday evening performance at the Kahilu Theater, more aptly called a revival meeting. Her back up band in place and with a cane in one hand, Staples was escorted onto the stage on the arm of vocalist Vicki Randle. While diminished in size, her voice is alive in her big heart, and as strong as ever. She immediately began a dialogue with the audience, inviting everyone to the party. 

 The Staples family started making joy together with their 1948 debut in a local Chicago church, soon were performing gospel in churches throughout the Midwest and had a regular Sunday radio program. Their voices rang out during the folk music scene of the sixties, that included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. The Civil Rights Movement was in full flood and the Staple Singers became voices for freedom. Their music moved from gospel-folk to their own rhythm and blues style but always at the heart of their music was an enduring joyful spirituality. Indeed, when Mavis Staples’ smoky powerhouse voice called out on Sunday, “Somebody help me now”, one got the feeling that the ancestors were present and listening.  
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The performance was a cultural, historical time capsule as well. The songs tell a story of a culture struggling for identity and equality but also building bridges.  After she finished singing Freedom Highway, she told the story of the song, which was written by her father “Pops” Staples for the 1965 Selma civil rights march. And when she asked, “Was anybody at that march?”  A hand shot up in the front row and Staples came to the edge of the stage, knelt down, grabbed her outstretched hand and kissed it, exclaiming “We’re sisters!”

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The constellation of musicians on stage exuded a sense of place and family. “Greetings from Chicago”, Staples sang out proudly, “the windy city.” These origins came through with Rick Holmstrom’s Chicago style blues guitar. And the multi-harmonic back-up vocalists with sister Yvonne and Pops look alike Donny Gerrard, created the image of timeless family.   


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The stories Mavis Staples shared with the Waimea community had a resonance that made you want to go vertical and sing out. The entire audience became her back up chorus with I’ll Take You There. Now in her seventies and still going strong, Staples is testament to the resilience of living a life of gratitude and to the generous power of Aloha. In fact, she has her own Hawaiian term for it, “Maloha”.  


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World Wide Voyage Second Leg Crew Recount Their 'Fantastic Voyage'

9/23/2014

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Special to North Hawaii News: September 23, 2014
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     The lively gathering of the second leg crew of the World Wide Voyage at Gates Theater on Saturday September 13th, was a way to say mahalo to family, friends and the Waimea community.
    The message from the crew was all about connections, legacy and aloha. Dubbed “The Fantastic Voyage”, Pwo navigator and Captain Chadd Onohi Paishon observed, “…it quickly became apparent to us that we were two canoes connected by the ocean, that we were all traveling together as one.” Or as crew member John Kruz put it, “We killed it.”
    For the next two hours crew members shared their own legacies and connections through stories, chants, and multi-media entertainment. A sense of many-faceted connections was the spirit that guided this multi-generational microcosm from Tahiti through the Cook Islands to Pangopango, Samoa.
    Before sharing the first of three photo journeys, Kaimana Bacarse observed, “We called this the 'Fantastic Voyage' and it really was. It really changed the lives of every single one that was on the wa`a. Now we're here to share the story that really hit us in the na`au. So we're going to start off telling the story of the islands that we went to in the way that our kūpuna would normally do it,” with a chant.

PictureKaimana Bacarse
      The story chant of the “Fantastic Voyage” will be added on to the chant relating the voyages of Hōkūle`a, an important protocol. The crew found out just how important when they were approaching Mo`orea. Bacarse relates, “We went north, around the island and had a beautiful amazingly easy sail. We get to Mo`orea. Everything's beautiful [but] we come through the pass as strangers because we did not announce our arrival.  The winds picked up and it started smoking. We came around into the bay  We were able to tuck in and it got us thinking, but we didn't think enough at that time because when we went around to go to the pier, the winds came again, really, really strong. But then we realized that the wind was there, the weather was like that because the kūpuna of that land did not know the kūpuna we brought with us.”
      The crew was a special blend of original and first time voyagers, creating a flow of knowledge and experience and a sense of unbroken continuity. “We did what Maui did. We connected a lei of islands. We strung together a lei of islands from French Polynesia to the Cook Islands to Samoa. For these are the highways of our ancestors and what's connecting our generations. The beauty of this voyage for many was that transference of knowledge. That transference of mana (spirit), that sharing of aloha between generations,” Bacarse said.

PictureCesi Hao
    Sailing west, back through the Pacific is to experience origins and cultural history, but the crew experienced a chicken skin connection with a piece of Hōkūle`a history when they arrived at Taha`a. Original Hōkūle`a crew member John Kruz shares, “We pulled into Taha`a and it was in the afternoon and so we were throwing the lines out and everybody stopped for a moment because the guy that caught the line, here was a young guy the spitting image of Eddie Aikau. When we left he came out on a small boat, on the back and he gave me the shaka sign. It was a touching moment for me because I was on that crew in 1978 when we lost Eddie.”
    Voyaging connects the navigator and crew with the natural world in both tangible and intangible ways. To navigate and survive the navigator has to read the physical signs of the oceanic world, but there are times when it is the intangible spiritual connections that bring the canoe into port. Cesi Hao, apprentice navigator was fortunate to experience this.
    “Earlier in the morning at the end of our trip, I saw Manu'a, our target island.  I could see it looked like a grey cloud but I could tell it wasn't because it had a sharp cut off. It looked like a cone. So I looked over at Tua [Pittman] and he said,
    'Keep it in your mind because as soon as the sun gets higher, you're going to lose it.'
    So I held on to it but as I was trying to capture where it was, this huge squall comes from behind, takes out the sun. By the time we were going to arrive it was complete cloud cover, pouring rain and I looked at Tua and I said, 'I 'm lost. I don't know where I am.’
    And he said, 'Now's the time to throw everything you know out. Whatever you know, what you see throw it out. You feel your way home.' We don't just go off of the physical things around our environment.  You rely upon akua and you rely upon your ancestors to guide you. Because in that moment when you have nothing else left they're what's going to pull you through.”
​    Hikianalia with her GPS was going a different direction and was soon lost from sight in a squall, but Hao had to ignore the visual evidence and call out to other guidance to select the correct one of three squalls. “It was almost like picking a lucky door. Which door is that island behind? So I looked and I said, 'I feel that it's this squall here.' and the island was waiting for them on the other side of the squall. “That's from having nothing else. No stars, hiding from the sun. Not even the wind can tell you. You follow your na'au. You follow the voice of the ancestors.”

PictureMaulili Dickson, Chadd Paishon, Kalani Kahalioumi
    Voyaging is a way of life that perpetuates the aloha spirit and inspires meaningful connections across the Pacific and in the next three years across the planet. But the voyagers all know that they wouldn’t be standing on the deck of the canoe without their community crew. Chadd Paishon sums it up,
    “We had a fantastic voyage and the voyage continues and there's still more legs ahead. For each of us that stands on the deck of the canoe, there's at least a hundred people standing behind and beside us. When we were on the voyage there was this overwhelming feeling that we needed to come home and share with our community what we did with our gift of aloha.”
   
It was a noisy talk story session with the youngest crew flowing in front of the stage and at times, tsunami like up on the stage. But at the closing, rather than being considered a distraction, they were acknowledged by Pomai Bertelmann with, “This is what we do this for.”

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Nānā i Nā Kūpuna, Ku Holo Mau                                                 (Look to the Ancestors, Sail On, Sail Always, Sail Forever)

8/8/2013

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PictureBy NorthwestHawaiiNews
    When Papa Mau, who came to Hawai'i from Satawal in the west Pacific, guided the Hōkūleʽa on her first voyage to Tahiti, the ancestors had his back; he was navigating in unfamiliar waters, yet his trust in the knowledge of his ancestors never waivered.
    All successful voyages, whether on water or land, are guided through a connection to forces we cannot control, but that we can connect with.  When we reach out for the ancestors, we also reach back to find the wisdom to navigate our own seas.  
    “He waʽa he moku, he moku he waʽa.” There is no experience more powerful than being on a vessel in the middle of the ocean and realizing that control is an illusion and that the way forward lies in connection; connection to the elements, to the vessel and to the ʽohana gathered on the deck. The voyaging canoes provided a spark that ignited practitioners to action and they continue to be a guiding star and a floating classroom for the re-connection with cultural values and practices of the ancestors. 

      One of those practices is kite flying and this year kites have taken flight at Waimea Middle School and Kanu o ka ʽĀina.  About two years ago, Pomai Bertelmann, seeming to channel the ancient spirits, drew the image of a kite as part of a design she was creating; it caused a spark that inspired her brother Kealiʽi, Pua Case and other members of the ʽohana waʽa to research the kite. According to Hawaiian spiritual beliefs, there are three kite forms: in the water, it is the sting ray; on top of the water the sail of the canoe and above the ocean the kite soars up to the inverted dome of the sky to navigate through the stars. 
     They also discovered that kites have made appearances in Hawaiian historical events;  Pua Case, citing the kite flying protest organized by Kauikeaouli (King Kamehameha III) on seeing the erosion of traditional Hawaiian practices, commented, “I was not aware of the kite as a symbol of protest until we began to revive it.  It’s active, but not intrusive or aggressive.  I don’t agree with this, so I will fly a kite.”
     Kealiʽi expanded on that manaʽo and described another dimension to Kauikeaouli’s kite flying demonstration:
I think that when they flew kites in mass, and there is one moʽolelo that says I think there were over 200, that they were flying it as a symbol of their commitment to certain traditions and things that were important to them. So when we started teaching the kite making for this time now as part of the voyage of the Hōkūle`a, we started teaching it, as a recommitment and a symbol of our continuation of the voyaging traditions now but also for our community to show their support for the voyage, when the canoe leaves in June.  
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    This year Kealiʽi Bertelmann created a very special kite for the annual untitled piece project at Waimea Middle School, where the artist brings in the piece and then the students get the opportunity to name it. Kealiʽi describes his kite, which was named Poʽai Pili Aloha (circle of unbroken love):
The reason I did the kite as a circle or the lupe lā is because I wanted to make sure, it was a way to honor Kanehoalani, the god of the sun.  Kanehoalani, in some geneaologies is the father of Pele.  The mother in that geneaology is Kaikahinaliʽi. It has to do with their function in the environment. That genealogy has to do with the sun and how the sun affects the earth at certain times. So that’s how I explained it to the kids. So it’s dyed, the base color is yellow; I dyed it with olena. There’s red stripes…. that’s the lava flows of Pele and acknowledging her father and her connection to Kanehoalani.  Some of the symbols represent my family. Seven iwa birds that represent my seven nieces and nephews. There’s black lines that look like they don’t have a beginning and an end. I did that on purpose because that represents genealogies and for Hawaiians, we actually trace our genealogies, not just back to people, but to the gods.  

  And those gods are alive in the mysterious forces around us as they always have been. Before humans ventured out into the Pacific, before kites, before sails, there was the wind, an invisible presence of swirling change.  Did early humans stand on the western edge of the Pacific and gaze at the sky, observing bird flight and the lift of the updrafts? Or perhaps they were caught in a storm, watching as trees fell and shelters were lifted.  Would it be any wonder that early humans would have seen that power as a spiritual presence.  
     Kites were used by early voyagers to read their world and make contact with the beyond. The great power of human intelligence rests in observation, to really sense the objects and processes of their world as ideas and make unique connections between them.  In this sense, the kite became the first sail, eventually evolving into a way of capturing the wind and pushing voyagers out onto an ocean, untouched by human contrivances. 
     We can no longer venture out on an untouched ocean, but it makes the voyage of Hōkūleʽa  that much more poignant. When Hōkūleʽa departs for her worldwide sail, there will be a quiver of kites waving her off, soaring aloft and inviting the power and protection of the ancestors to sustain and guide the voyagers along their journey.  The image of the kite being drawn up into the ocean of planets and stars by cosmic winds is a portal to timelessness and hope.

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I Kū Mau Mau (Stand up together) The Ancestors are Calling

12/18/2012

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By Jan Wizinowich
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    The traumas of past deeds travel relentlessly through generations and unrecognized, act as bedevilments that cause us to repeat negative patterns.  One path to healing traumas is through a process called family constellations.  It is a gathering to call to our ancestors in ritual for help in understanding and healing, which can be done for an individual, an ʽohana or a community. 
    A Hawaiian style  version of this took place with the re-enactment of a historic meeting in Hilo to protest annexation on Sunday November 25, through the efforts of Pua Case and herʽohana  kōkua. 
​    “We have all created the demise of somebody, somewhere, at sometime. I’m working very hard so that my descendants don’t have to ask for mihi for me.  I live my life every day that way. Are they going to have to answer for me? Or can they stand proud because of me? One day, you know if we had those signs again, the kūʽēʽē petition and sign display to honor us in this time, I hope I’d be on a sign because I’m working very hard. To me that’s the pono. It’s not only about people but what’s right for balance and vibration, energy,  harmony and alignment between the land and the people.  It’s about what’s right for your island or your home anywhere.”

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    On the grassy slope outside Hale Kūhīo, there are rows of brilliant white signs, as if Poliʽahu has graced today’s gathering with her beautiful white kapa, just as long ago she joined the other spirits of this land to stand behind these kūpuna who had the courage to say a resounding “Aʽole!” to annexation by signing a petition that ultimately collected close to 38,000 signatures.
    We are gathered to participate in a re-enactment play, Ka Lei Maile Aliʽi, inspired by an article, “Strangling Hands Upon a Nation’s Throat”,  written from the experiences of Mrs. Miriam Michelson, a San Francisco Call reporter, present for a meeting at the Salvation Army in Hilo to protest the annexation of Hawai'i and to gather signatures on a petition.  This meeting was one of  many held throughout the islands through Hui Aloha ʽĀina o Nā Wāhine (Women’s branch of the Hawaiian Patriotic League), whose mission is “to honor Queen Liliʽuokalani and the women and men who loved and supported her during and after the overthrow in 1893, as well as today.”

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Two serendipitous discoveries inspired the creation of “Ka Lei Maile Aliʽi: in 1997 Dr. Noenoe Silva unearthed the 1897 petition in the Library of Congress. Although there was evidence of people from
Hawaii viewing the petition, it was Dr. Silva who returned it to Hawai'i. The Petition was displayed at the Bishop Museum in 1998, representing the “…true unified voice of Hawaii’s people.”
    Also, around the same time, the article written by Miriam Michelson was found and became the inspiration for the interactive play. In reality, the Hawaiians didn’t give in to annexation, but instead mounted an arduous grass roots village to village campaign to collect signatures on the  petition against annexation and a petition in support of the monarchy.  “Even as a teacher, I thought our kupuna gave up, we didn’t know. We weren’t taught,” said Pua Case.

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    On this bright November Sunday, people stroll contemplatively along the rows in search of the names of their kūpuna, while others search through inches thick books of petitions placed on a table on the lanai, for ʽohana  that have not yet been lifted up to be honored.  Some bring photos and records of family members to search for. The Royal Order of King Kamehameha I of Kōhala, dressed in somber black suits with scarlet and yellow ceremonial kīhei, gather by the front entrance to the hall. As 1:00 and the beginning of the play approaches, the crowd swells with attendees, some garbed in the 19th century attire of long full and fitted mu'umu'u’s mostly in black or dark colors; Waimakalani Iona, who along with Pua Case, one of the organizers of this  event, is dressed in a burgundy velvet and wears a delicate yellow feather lei; still others wear colorful kīhei.

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    Our entry into the hall followed protocol, hushed with reverence. The members of the Royal Order of King Kamehameha I enters and are seated front right.  After the kūpuna are seated the rest of us follow.  We face two tables; one directly center for Mrs. Kuʽaihelani Campbell and Mrs. Emma Nawahi,(portrayed by Maile Napoleon and Lili’uokalani Ross respectively) leaders of Hui Aloha 'Āina o Nā Wāhine.  A garlanded portrait of Queen Liliʽuokalani, an addition not present at the original meeting, is displayed between the tables. Miriam Michelson (Kat Brady) and her  translator are seated to the left.  
    Pomai and Kealiʽi Bertelmann, Hawane Rios and Keala Kehuanui circulated with lei for the many kūpuna present, for  “Today is all about honoring our kūpuna and our kūpuna are really outside there on the lawn today. They are planted firmly; they are standing strong and they are still with us,” proclaims Pua by way of introduction.
​    “The reason to bring it (the play) here to you today is very simply this: Years ago, I found my great grandmother’s name on the petition that I never knew about, like maybe many of  us.  I found her name, from Kohala at age 14 at the display at the Bishop Museum and then in August, I was able to see this play and to see the kūʽēʽē signs displayed on Oʽahu. And when I saw it there, I thought, it’s really got to come to Waimea, because there’s so many of our kūpuna’s names on there. I saw Lindseys’, I saw Purdys’, I saw Bells’, I saw   Husseys’. I said, whatever it takes, I’m going to bring it to our community. And this is whatever it takes and we  here.”

PictureAunty Maile is a cultural arts practitioner
    Lynette Cruz, one of the original producers of the play, joins the gathering from Kailua, Oʽahu. “Hawaiians at the time did not want to be annexed to the United States  and they didn’t know what to do about it. It’s really interesting about how Hawai'i government worked.  If  people were not happy, there was a way to let your unhappiness be known. You wrote a petition, you sent it to the aliʽi, you sent it to the monarchy and they were listened to and the rulers would change the rules; they would actually listen to the voices of the people.”
   Queen Liliʽuokalani believed that, “The voice of God is the voice of the people.  People are the voice of God.”  The unique social structure of Hawaiian Island people was lost when their voices were ignored by mainlanders driven by greed and entitlement. The Hawaiians lived communally, as is necessary to life on an island, where individual efforts to reap material rewards, was cause for exclusion and derision.  Many centuries were lived in health and relative abundance, a lifestyle and social structure that began crumbling with the arrival of the missionaries and western goods. 

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    When all the representatives had stood and proclaimed for their home and voices had sung out Hawaiʽi Pono I,  Kealiʽi Bertelmann called out,
“I kū mau mau”, (Stand up together); 
"I kū wā" (Stand and shout) we answer.  We continued the chant, answering the call, we flowed like a powerful ocean  surge, out to greet the kūpuna. Encircling the kūʽēʽē we“…raise our voice in song to save our land.” 
    There was pride for the strength of the  kūpuna, but there was also sadness that this great effort was not enough to stop the huge wave that had been coming their way for some time. Capitalism was  developing a firm hold on U. S. government policy and the small group of  businessmen who essentially kidnapped Hawai'i’s leader, at the same time  presented a picture of natives who would welcome annexation.
​    The communal life- sustaining existence in the islands would eventually be dominated by a lifestyle that separated families and encouraged competition rather than cooperation.   The Hawaiians understood that  they are from the land and that it was only through maintaining a harmonious connection with their origins that they could continue to survive.   This philosophy was extended to human social structure where great accomplishments, such as the voyaging canoes past and present, were accomplished with the hearts and hands of many. 

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Kat Brady, who played the narrator, Miriam Michelson, is a justice advocate with the Life of the Land as well as an advocate for juvenile justice. “I’m moved by the spirit of the people and that’s what propels me out of bed in the morning. This is a way for people to learn who they are by reclaiming their history.  With statehood in 1959 many Hawaiians found themselves on the other side of a line, and saying goodbye to their cultural practices and language. “We want to bring the true history to the people. When someone stands and reads a line they are transformed by the  power of the work. I feel it’s my responsibility to speak out; how are we going  to fix this?” 

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    When the missionaries arrived, they found a culture based on   cooperation and kindness, and it took almost 80 years before it could be shaken.  This was a nation of people who understood their place in the world and how to live a pono life. 
      It is a tribute to the power and righteousness of that ancient culture that despite the many incursions, it continues.  The waʽa, our many  kumu, musicians, dancers and activists are shining their light all around us. But it’s not just Hawaiian Culture that is at risk here, but the health and survival of the planet.  Look to the kūpuna, whose wisdom charted the way across the Pacific and for many  centuries the way of harmonious living. A large wave is made up of many individual drops, just as the inches high book of signatures speaks with the  voices of many kūpuna.  Those  voices still live within each of us and are the place from which healing begins, radiating out to the ʽohana and the community, quiet, steady, Pele’s fire tamed to create and sustain life.  

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