Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 1, 1 January 1985 — Kupuna Perform Invaluable Job [ARTICLE]

Kupuna Perform Invaluable Job

Kupuna, oftentimes described as true living treasures of Hawaii, perform an invaluable service to the State of Hawaii by teaching ideas, techniques and ancient history to grades kindergarten through sixth. And so it was one day not too long ago that North Shore kupunas and a handful of invited guests met at the Waialua home of Betty and Jack Jenkins to exchange ideas and techniques of the Hawaiian culture with emphasis upon the Hawaiian children and learning. Betty, who serves as the community kupuna coordinator for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, periodically gets together with her kupunas to touch bases with them. This is in addition to her regular on-site visits at the schools. On this particular day, they compared notes and also used the occasion for spontaneous hula and song. They also were busy with haku lei making, lauhala weaving and Hawaiian quilt sewing. Betty, incidentally, is one of three Hawaiians educators who wrote the first draft and proposal of the Halau O Haleiwa Project to "develop knowledge, understanding, appreciation and internalization of Hawaiian culture, language, values, qualities and concerns." Working on the project with Betty were Carole Paulsen and Hauoli Hiers. Eaeh represented an instructional level — elementary (Betty); intermediate (Carole); and secondary (Hauoli). Halau O Haleiwa is a group participation program that is culturally Hawaiian based as contrasted to the western concept of individual competition and attainment. In the halau, all are stars — a plaee where mutual respect and trust are learned values; where expected behavior are clearly defined and rewarded; where mutual respect is a rule; and where a sense of a special plaee has been created. The halau teaches a process of learning through oral, aural and experience called Hawaiian methodology, a concept of the learning-teaching system of ka po'e kahiko (people of old).