Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 18, Number 3, 1 Malaki 2001 — Criteria for success [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Criteria for success

The key to OHA's success is FUNDING to carry out its mission of supporting its programs and commitments over the long term. And that mission is presently being challenged by several lawsuits that threaten to deny many agencies the ability to carry out their respective missions, including DHHL, OHA and other groups that are practicing their cultural and traditional disciplines. As reported in newspapers earlier, a proposal to seek Legislative approval for OHA to furnish services, in welcoming and seeing off those arriving in Hawai'i on visits, is a subject worth exploring. And maybe a source of funding to relieve the present dependency

on the limited OHA portfolio. The OHA portfolio is subject to market fluctuations and could affect programs already implemented. Market fluctuations may affect operating programs and interrupt unfairly and adversely the expectations of the beneficiaries. Interrupt unfairly because the benefits are included in the State Constitution and in other documented commitments in prior years, via the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 and the terms of the 1898 annexation. Legislative support is sought for the furnishing of services to visitors upon arrival and departure. There are hundreds of cultural organizations operating as hālau that train

many hours perpetuating the culture, and these many hālau should be recognized for their efforts to perpetuate culture and entertain the public. Many times these displays of the culture are furnished without cost. The effort now is to see that these hālau find gainful employment for their efforts at perpetuating the culture and as part of the arrival and departure ceremonies. The practitioners of native culture will showcase to travelers and visitors alike Hawai'i's talents and universality of its people who join in together in concert. These masters of their craft ean display the spirit of aloha as in "Aloha e kipa mai" to weleome travelers and "Aloha a hui hou,"

until we meet again. The effort is to show what makes Hawai'i Hawai'i or different and unique by marshalling these existing crafters and their wares for display in an organized way. All of this effort is to make Hawai'i interesting on a one-to-one basis and at the same time to find additional ineome to increase its program base and reach a wider number of beneficiaries while preserving the corpus intact for perpetuity. We should remember that the KEY to the KINGDOM has been FUNDING. ■

Charles Ota

Trustee, Maui