Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 8, 1 August 1988 — Ministry's Call Followed Serious Bout with TB [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ministry's Call Followed Serious Bout with TB

| Kipahalu Dropout Will Speak Only Hāwaīīān

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA

A "miraculous" recovery from a serious case of tuberculosis and a deep religious conviction were the reasons David Kaalakea of Maui turned to the ministry and today stands as one of the leading Ha-waiian-speaking kahu in the state. A lifelong resident of Kipahulu until he was struck with TB in 1955, Kaalakea spent two years at Kula Sanatorium where he said doctors gave up hope he would make it. But, he explained, his father toid him to say the "Lord's Prayer" in Hawaiian and to keep praying. By some ehanee miracle, Kaalakea said he pulled through and shortly thereafter he felt a eall to the ministry. He was ordained a year Tater by his older brother, James, who currently is age 90 and a minister at Pentecostal Faith Assembly Church on Mokauea St. in Kalihi-kai. Kaalakea himself is the kahu for a tiny branch of the Pentecostal Faith Assembly Church in Kihei where 65 people attending services is already considered bursting at the seams. What makes Kaalakea differ ent from others? For one thing, he is a rare breed being 100 percent Hawaiian. His father, Henry Kaalakea, was the palapala hoomalu in Kipahulu, and his mother was Mary Ann Luhi. For another thing, he is a fifth grade dropout from the old Kipahulu School. For still another reason, Kaalakea speaks Hawaiian rather exclusively throughout his daily life except at Sunday services when he has to use both Hawaiian and English because of a diverse ethnic eongregation. He learned his Hawaiian and everything else about being Hawaiian from his grandmother (his mother's mother), Margaret Kaleohano, and he has never forgotten what she taught him. He remembers her as a very devout church goer and she loved to chant. Kaalakea will tell you "it was God's will to carry on the Hawaiian language in my ministry." And this he does with great fervor and respect. Kaalakea, who with Unele Harry Mitchell of Ke'anae is considered one of the recognized authorities on la'au lapa'au, said he leamed about Hawaiian medicinal herbs from his tutu lady. "She had her own buke la'au lapa'au and every onee in a while I sneaked around and read what she wrote," Kaalakea remembers. "I leamed from her and by my own self." This self-taught Hawaiian, who remembers making his own nets, working in the taro patches, going fishing and hunting, said he learned everything from the mountain to the oeean by watching others and implementing his own ideas. Nowadays, he says, he shares all this knowledge and experience with the keikis at Kihei School where he has been a kupuna in the Department of Education program for the past five years. At various times during his adult worklife, Kaalakea was employed by the Baldwins at Kipahulu Ranch, worked for a short spell in construction on Maui and spent nine years at Maui Lu Resort from where he retired six years ago. In 1934, he married Nina Aole of Kula, another 100 percent native Hawaiian. This union lasted 39 years until she passed away in 1973. They had four daughters and two sons. Kaalakea today has 22 grandchildren and one great grandchild. Kaalakea, 68, keeps busy being a minister, performing weddings, home and commercial blessings, grand openings, ho'oponopono, administering to the sick and many other functions. One of his goals is to renovate his little church whieh has gone through the ravages of many a termite party. "With God's help," Kaalakea says, "maybe we ean tear this building down and get a brand new building." As with any project of this nature, it is funding or laek of it that prevents such an edifice. That Kaalakea has served his congregation well, especially visiting tourists, is evidenced by the many glowing remarks jotted down in a daily visita-

tion book. "Your sermon was so inspiring, so uplifting," writes a lady from Florida. "I enjoyed your simple explanation of today's lesson in both Hawaiian and English," another visitor from Texas

noted. And on and on the remarks go. This interuiew was conducted exclusiuely in Hawaiian. Kaalakea will speak on/y Hawaiian onee he learns the otherparty also knows the language.

The Mau'i branch of the Pentecostal Faith Assembly Church is this tiny editice at Kihei with a capacity of about 65. It is serviced by David Kaalakea.

David Kaalakea