Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 5, 1 May 1990 — He Mau Nīnau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
He Mau Nīnau Ola
by Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D.
Ka Ho'ona'auao Le'a I Ka Wa Kahiko (Sex Education in Old Hawai'i Ka Mea Hau'oli a Me Ka Mea Kaumaha (Joyand Tragedy)
Ninau: My 15-year-old mo'opuna must leave school because she is hāpai (pregnant). Young people these days know so little about sex and taking care of themselves. Yet, I remember my tutu onee told me that
Ka'ahumanu was only 13 when she was given to Kamehameha as a wife, and in those days most gir!s began having babies at that age. How did 'ōpio leam about sex in those days? Shouldn't we teach these things at home instead of depending on the schools? Pane: In two previous columns, we reviewed how kamali'i (children) i ka wā kahiko learned about sex indirectly in a highly sexual natural environment, and then directly during puberty and adolescence, without hewa (guilt) or hilahila (shame). Their mana'o (thoughts) and hana (behavior) were merely extensions of their natual world. For this world, as they knew it, began and continued with the ai (mating) of sky father Wakea and earth mother Papa. Pēlā (thus), teenage pregnancy was ma'a mau (usual). It was not only approved, but expected and celebrated as ensuring survival of the race. As the late Kawena Pūku'i said, in preparation for ka hua o ka pū'ao (the fruit in the womb) the enrire 'ohana participated. Experienced kua'ana (older siblings), mākuahine (mother and aunts) and kūpuna wāhine (grandmothers and grandaunts) provided direct guidance and prenatal care to the first-time mother-to-be, perhaps overseen by a designated family pale keiki (midwife). If the baby were to be hiapo (first-born) then a pua'a must be raised for the māwaewae feast after birth. A mele inoa (name chant) must be composed. The hāpai girl's nutrition, hygiene, physical activities, bathing, thoughts, emotions, dreams, relationships and conversations received meticulous attention. This involved frequent communication with the spiritual realm, through prayers and rituals, to assure the baby's proper development and passage aia ma kāhi hāiki (in the narrow plaee). In contrast, your ninau, posed in the modern setting, conveys unfavorable reactions to the pregnancy of your mo'opuna: The teenager must
leave school. If she had known more about taking care of herself, she would not have become hāpai. For many such youngsters and their 'ohana i kēia wā (today) there is hewa, hilahila and 'āhewa (blame). In some instances, there is consideration of 'ōmilo (abortion), arrangements for the kaikamahine to leave home for a period, or for the baby to be adopted out of the 'ohana. The above adverse reactions are not traditionally Hawaiian. They result from Westernization and cultural conflict within all of us who identify as kanaka maoli. Perhaps the most painful early ka mea kaumaha loa (tragedy) of such conflict to the entire Hawaiian nation was the case of Nāhi'ena'ena (The Raging Fires) highest-ranking daughter of Kamehameha I and his most sacred mate Ke'ōpuolani. Born in 1815, Nāhi'ena'ena wasonly four when her father died and her older brother Liholiho became king. Shortly thereafter in 1819, the kapu was officially ended. Into the ensuing chaos, entered the New England Christian missionaries in 1820. Ke'ōpuolani became a devout convert to the new faith and on her deathbed in 1823, she entrusted Nāhi'ena'ena's soul to the haole Calvinists. The following year, 1824, Liholiho died of measles in London, and his younger brother Kauikeaouli was proclaimed Kamehameha III at the age of 12. The young king's and Nāhi'ena'ena's mutual devotion — and Hawaiian tradition — favored their brother-sister and King-Queen marriage in 1834. However, the missionaries excommunicated Nāhi'ena'ena for this incestuous act, her rum-drinking, her card-playing, her hula indulgences and her refusal to repent. Torn by cultural conflict, Nāhi'ena'ena was persuaded to marry her chiefly cousin Leleiōhōkū in 1836. She died in despair later the same year after the birth and death of her infant son, said to have been fathered by her brother the king. Similar conflict appears to persist i kēia wā among our po'e kānaka maoli. We eonhnue to have the highest rates of teenage pregnancies compared to the other ethnic groups in our homeland. Akā (yet) most Hawaiian hāpai teenagers prefer to keep their babies, rather than seek 'ōmilo (abortion) or give up their keiki for adoption (hānai). Contrary to prevailing opinion, hāpai students
are not compelled by the public schools to drop out. Rather, Department of Education (DOE) officials say that the schools are required to continue to provide instruction to these students, whether on the campus, at home or in off-campus facilities. In response to your second ninau, surveys show that more than 70 percent of school youngsters do not receive sex education in their homes. No laila, this responsibility has fallen on the schools. While eaeh public school has its own programs for meeting sex education needs, statewide sexeducation is part of health education. Health education is required yearly from kindergarden through grade 6. One semester of health education is required at the intermediate level, grades 7 and 8. Another semester of health education is required in high school, grades 9 through 12. The emphasis in the higher grades is on prevention of teenage pregnancy, or "not being sexually active." Undesirable consequences are underscored such as sexuallytransmitted diseases, health risks associated with pregnancy, interruption of schooling, added family responsibilities, eeonomie burden, restriction of social life and emohonal stress. I keia mahina a'e (next month), we will consider some specific examples of public school sex edueaūon, including the upbeat Young Mothers Program at Kailua High School. 'Oiai, e ho'omau e hā'awi mai nei i he mau ninau ola, ke 'olu'olu (Meanwhile, please continue to submit some health questions).
Nahienaena. Portrait by Robert Dampier.
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