Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 5, 1 April 2008 — Helping kāne thrive [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Helping kāne thrive

Hilo men's group hosts Alaskan Natives By Lisa Asatū Public lnfurmatiun Specialist The itinerary might sound like a pleasure trip to the islands - learn hula, oli, lua, visit sites like Voleanoes Nahonal Park and Pu'ukoholā Heiau - hut the trip that a group of 1 1 Alaskan Native men made to Hilo reeently had a deeper meaning. They were here for their first goodwill exehange with Kaho'okāne Projeet to see how the after-eare treatment program ineorporates eulture in helping Native Hawaiian men overeome suhstanee ahuse, domestie ahuse and other soeial ehallenges. That's beeause despite their geographie distanee, their native populations share some grim statisties.

"Both of our communities are the highest in the nation with child abuse and neglect, we're frrst in the nation with incarceration, we're frrst in the nation with all the wrong things," said Alaskan Native Maxim Dolchok Sr. of the Family Wellness Warriors Initiative in Anchorage. "What we're trying to do is provide all the right things for our children to grow up onee again in happy families." During their March 2 to 8 visit, the Alaskan men observed Kaho'okāne's work with the Big Island Substance Abuse Council and participated in youth activities it does for Lanakila Leaming Center, said Kaloa Robinson, chief executive of Hui Mālama Ola Nā 'Ōiwi, the Native Hawaiian Heahh Care System that oversees Kaho'okāne. And just as they would for the people they treat, the hosts took them sailing in Hilo Bay on the double-hulled eanoe Lauhoe,

whieh is used to break down barriers, taught them breathing exercises and lua, whieh helps illustrate "the halanee between Kū and Hina," the strong and the gentle, Robinson said. "We're learning that we're both utilizing our culture to bring our famihes back together and for the males to onee again adopt the role of being a provider and being a security

for the family," Dolchok said. The Anchorage program, he said, 'just got of the ground with activities with men and women," and is now designing a youth program. Kaho'okāne plans to visit its Alaskan counterparts sometime this summer, perhaps with some of its youth program participants in tow. Robinson said Hui Mālama Ola Nā 'Ōiwi recently received a

$93,000 grant from OHA to help Kaho'okāne evaluate the recidivism rates of those it treats. He said the Alaskan men's visit highlighted "a strong sense of connection between their culture and our culture. We were all sharing in the pride of being native men, and that was powerful." L3

MO'OMEHEU • CULĪURE

Kaleo Pilago, program director for the Kaho'okōne Project, teaches a hula kōne to the boys and girls of the Lanakila Learning Center and the Alaskan men of the Family Wellness Warriors I nitiative. - Photos: Courtesy of Hui Mālama Ola Hā 'Ōiwi

Alaskan elder Luke Titus honors the group and the drum with an impromptu performanee of a traditional Alaskan chant at Kīlauea caldera.