Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 9, 1 September 2008 — Ma Ka ʻĀina Nui [ARTICLE]

Ma Ka ʻĀina Nui

By Nara Cardenas ŪHA Cnmmunity Dutreach Specialist

Lead Advocate for Kau Inoa Aulani Apoliona has been spearheading Hawaiian Governance efforts on the West Coast since 2004. She observes that it is a eommunity with special challenges: Hawaiians are scattered throughout a wide geographic area and transportation to events and activities ean be prohibitively expensive. Hawaiians who leave home find that services and programs that were available to them in Hawai'i are no longer accessible so far away. "No matter where they are, Hawaiian organizations are stmggling," Aulani says. "It's hard to recruit new members and membership across the board is dwindhng or stagnant. The leadership is aging, they are getting tired, and funding is drying up." She asserts that: "We need a strong community. If Hawaiian organizations heeome stronger, then we all grow stronger and we ean support eaeh other as Hawaiians. None of us ean do it by ourselves." "There is the general sentiment in Hawai'i that Hawaiians who have migrated to the continent just ditched, but it is many mainland Hawaiians' lifetime dream to eome home," Aulani says. She finds great joy in helping them maintain a connection to our homeland. "It's exhilarating to meet people whose families you know here!" she exclaims. In some ways, her work with Kau Inoa and the Ho'oulu Lāhui Aloha: To Raise a Beloved Nation plan bridge a divide within 'ohana that many of us share. There are a few books and oral history projects that tell the story of Hawaiians who have left home, but Aulani hopes to one day hear the other side "for families here, who missed those who left," she says. Aulani reflects on the years her own brother lived on the mainland: "No matter what, we weren't complete. That's the connection we need to make." I