Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 8, 1 July 1980 — KA AHA PAEAINA KUPUNA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KA AHA PAEAINA KUPUNA

Pikake Wahilani

During the last three days of May 1980, a conference unlike any other that had held was held at the Kamehameha Schools, This historic event was the Statewide Conferences of Native Hawaiian Elders held under the auspices of Alu Like Inc. with funding received from the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities, The Hawaiian Foundation, the Mclnemy Foundation and the Friends of the Hawaii Foundation for History and tne Humanities, The purpose of the Statewide Elders Conference was to provide for the discussion and deliberation of matters related to the Hawaiian heritage in hopes that solutions and recommendations to problems and issues currently before the Hawaiian community might be arrived at. In order to achieve this goal, the elders, in their discussions and deliberations, were to be asked to recall the actions and teachings of their elders in an effort to identify values and virtues that might become leading thoughts for the conference and the basis for strategies to &Id in the uplift of the,. Hawaiian. Fifty-three delegates from all of the islands excepting Lana'i and Ni'ihau attended. They ranged in age from 50 years to a few days short of 90 years and of the 53, fifteen were male. The elders were selected for their fluency in the language and their knowledge of the Hawaiian culture. The condition of their health and availability were also major considerations. A most enthusiastic and elated group met at this historic event. The conference achieved a single major goal; the physical and spiritual convening of native Hawaiian

elders who were able to converse in the Hawaiian language. In addition, the importance and value of the entire proceedings lay in its happening" and in its providing the impetus and direction for future such conferences. However, no significant findings or recommendations came out of the deliberations and although this was expected, it can be attributed to a number of different reasons chief of which were insufficient pre-conference planning time and the requirement that the conference be held in Hawaiian. Initial exploratory discussions regarding a statewide Hawaiian elders conference began in summer of 1979 when kupuna Gregory Kalahikiola Naliielua approached Alu Like Inc. with the idea of .such a conference. The conference itself was originally planned to occur sometime before the end of the year but it soon became apparent that much more time would be needed to develop a comprehensive work plan, acquire the monetary resources, and enlist the aid of'support persons. The major task then became the translating of conference objectives into workable tasks as the date was set for May 30, 31*and June Ist, It w 7 as the commitment made to the kupuna that was "the sustaining force and the conference work committee providing extraordinary efforts that made the conference a reality. The conference was a success - in the vStfeial, physical and spiritual sense; perhaps even a miracle, It was near the end of flic conference that it was realized that.its goals would -be not achieved. The requirement that the conference be conducted entirely

in Hawaiian narrowed the field of conference workers considerably and also presented problems in recruitment, training and availability of'delegates and support staff. Such late recruitment meant that the support staff - facilitators, recorders, moderators, technicians and even runners were not able to meet "well in advance of the conference to work with the topicsand objectives as well as operational functions. The major recommendation that can come from this, should another conference be planned, are for these three activities to occur: [I.] a complete evaluation of this conference be done with ah eye towards identifying weaknesses and strengths; (2.) planning, in the most complete sense of the word, be initiated at least two and one-half years prior to the conference itself; and [3.) that funding and personnel be secured a year before the conference. If these steps are followed it maybe possible to re-convene another kupuna conference in the near future.

Na po'e kupuna i halawai aimak.e kula 'o Kamehemeha no ka 'aha kupuna.