Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 1, 1 Ianuali 1998 — Summoning the nāulu rains [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Summoning the nāulu rains

By Jayson Haipei Kaho'olawe rests majestically in the Pacific. The bombing long silenced, this sacred island takes its first step towards rebirth. On Dec. 3, Office of Hawaiian Affairs Chairperson Frenchy DeSoto, United States Senator Daniel

Inouye and Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission Executive Director Keoni Fairbanks, through the courtesy of property owners Pardee and Sumner Erdman, joined more than 80 Hawaiian practitioners, kumu hula, eom-

munity activists and reporters in a solemn ceremony at Pu'u Māhoe (the twin hills) on Maui. Together, they gathered to reaffirm the eommitment to heal Kaho'olawe. The ceremony began with tradihonal ho'okupu (gifts) at an ahu (shrine site) constructed for the ceremony. On behalf of OHA, Chairperson DeSoto presented spring water from Waianae, and

on behalf of the KIRC, a ho'okupu of 'awa. "We are eommitted to make pono what was onee hewa by returning the hā to Kaho'olawe." she said. Pu'u Māhoe is located on the 'Ulupalakua ranch, along the

slopes of Haleakalā. Cowboys on the ranch speak fondly of the legendary circle of clouds that bridges from Pu'u Māhoe, to Kaho'olawe, across to Moloka'i and back to Maui. This circle serves as the catalyst for the nāulu rains. The ho'okupu offered at the ceremony summoned these rains, so Kaho'olawe might have forests onee again.

Decades of cattle ranching, wild goat populations and eventually military bombing left Kaho'olawe's landscape nearly barren. At the start of World War II, Kaho'olawe was a military target training area. In 1953, the

island was placed under the eontrol of the Secretary of the Navy, with the assurance that it would be returned to the people of Hawai'i in a habitable condition. From the day it was designated for military use, the struggle to return the island to Hawaiians persisted. For 30 years, sustained protest from community activists such as Aunty Clara Kū, Judy Napoleon Aunty Mary Lee and OHA Trustee Colette Machado of Moloka'i, Unele Bill Wainui and Edith Kanaka'ole of the island of Hawai'i, and Emma DeFries and Frenchy DeSoto of O'ahu, were some of the voices of the burgeoning movement. The additional involvement of the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana in the mid 70s brought nahonal recognition to the struggle. In 1993, after almost 30 years of sustained protest, Congress authorized the Navy to return Kaho'olawe to the state, to be held in trust until the sovereign nation of Hawai'i is established. Today, tranquility surrounds Kaho'olawe, but like a newborn child, the island requires care and guidance. The KIRC, under the leadership of Keoni Fairbanks, as well as the continuing support of KIRC Chairman Dr.

Noa Emmett Aluh, and many others, locally and nationally, will ensure Kaho'olawe will heal and regain its beauty. The return of Kaho'olawe in itself represents a first step toward settling land disputes, stewardship and issues of land restoration. Considering the knowledge to be derived from the transformation, the signifieanee of the process becomes more profound. I

"We are eommitted to make pono what was onee hewa by returning the hā to Kaho'olawe."

OHA Chairperson A. Frenchy DeSoto (right) sits with U.S. Senator Daniel lnouye and Kahu Ka'alakea at Pu'u Māhoe on Maui.

OHA Trustee Coiette Maehado joins community activists, practioners and state leaders in ceremonial planting of native flora at Pu'u Māhoe.

PHOTOS: JAYSON HARPĒR