Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 24, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2007 — lndigenous Taiwanese 'homecoming' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

lndigenous Taiwanese 'homecoming'

From their mix of backpacks, rubber slippers, colorful T-shirts and eool hairdos, an onlooker might have easily mistaken the young visitors in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs boardroom as being from these islands. In fact, they were from īaiwan - all descendents of that faraway island nation's indigenous inhabitants, whose first ancestors are believed to have arrived there several millennia before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 1600s. The OHA stopover was part of a 10-day itinerary set up to teach the group of students from Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University about contemporary issues facing Native Hawaiians. After presentation of lei and welcoming remarks from OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o and Chairperson Haunani Apoliona, the students sat attentively through an 'Ōlelo Hawai'i lesson and a presentation by OHA's Native Rights Hale on Hawaiian social and eeonomie history. Many of the college youths nodded their heads knowingly as one of their instructors, Dr. Awi Mona C.W. Tsai, provided translation in Paiwan — an

indigenous Taiwanese language. Tsai later explained that many of his students are active in an effort to get the Taiwanese government to do more to put a recently approved bill for Taiwanese native rights into action. At the close of the afternoon program, OHA staff led oli and pule that was matched by an equivalent expression from the students and their instructors: with a gentle rhythmic sway, they performed a call-and-response song from their traditional repertoire. This was just a sample of what has heeome a growing source of pride, according to instructor Dr. Ahyee Lee, who said indigenous Taiwanese music has spawned a full-time radio station in the nation's capital, īaipei. Lee cited music as one of a number of bonds between indigenous Taiwanese and Hawaiians. "Hawaiian people are like us. They like to share the gift of their musical heritage," he said, also adding that the visit to Hawai'i seemed more like a homecoming.

OHA Education Director Hau'oli Akaka speaks to a delegation of indigenous Taiwanese students and professors - Photo: Blaine Fergerstrom