Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 32, Number 6, 1 Iune 2015 — ENERGIZING A COMMUNITY THROUGH CULTURE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ENERGIZING A COMMUNITY THROUGH CULTURE

Adrienne Dillard and Puni Kekauoha have a vision for Papakōlea. The driving forces behind the eommu-nity-based nonprofit Kula no nā Po'e Hawai'i want to tap into cultural practices and Hawaiian values to strengthen family bonds in the Honolulu homestead and its sister eommunities, Kewalo and Kalāwahine. So in the coming months, 'ohana will gather at the Papakōlea Community

Center and Park adjacent to Punehhowl Crater to take part in a program being launched with the help of a two-year Community Grant from OHA. The board and stone program will be led by Unele Earl Kawa'a, whose vision for strengthening families through shared work has fueled similar programs in other communities. In it, participants craft their own

papa ku'i 'ai and pohaku ku'i 'ai, or poi-pounding boards and stone poi pounders, respectively.

"As they carve their board, as they work their stone, Unele Earl is conducting cultural classes around that practice," says v

Js.eKauona, a consuitant. "It's all Hawaiian valuesbased with Unele Earl, all value-based training, culturally based. We're excited to have board and stone in Papakōlea." Kula no na Po'e Hawai'i was one of 27 community-based projects approved for grant funding by the Board of Trustees i ,ī. jv7i f iMt p • 1 • if.i . ' J|1 )# |T r[-". \ 1 r | | RBBSiAJ ■ . : V ■ . .

May. A total of $7.4 million in grants over the next two fiscal years ending June 30, 2017, will bring programs to communities across the pae 'āina, from Kalihi, O'ahu, tc

Pāhoa, Hawai'i, to Hāna, Maui. Almost 4,400 Native Hawaiians are expected to

directly benefit from the projects addressing OHA priorities, such as battling obesity, improving middle and high school test scores and increasing housing stability. In addition, thousands more are expected to indirectly benefit from projects 1 to perpetuate the Hawai- • ian culture and to manage Hawaiian resources sustainablv.

"These programs will ensure Native Hawaiians are able to be competitive in the 21st century,"

said OHA Chair Robert Lindsey Jr. "The grant money will help our most vulnerable Native Hawaiians access stable housing, find employment and improve

therr education. fhis is a small investment with a large impact on our community." 'Ohana ties provide lounelalion for success For Dillard, Kula no nā Po'e Hawai'i's executive director, the board and stone program provides a way to build

better eommunieahon among mom, dad and V children. And that helps when issues like school f absenteeism arise, or just discussins with their ehil-

dren how to set goals for a better life, she says. "If we ean continue to support families as a whole and not do the things

that tear them apart or isolate them from one another, it will strengthen the family, you will strengthen the kids, you will strengthen future generations," she says. Dillard has also seen how educating community members to provide for eaeh other ean reap longterm rewards. Lomilomi, for example, has been offered every Thursday at the community center for the past 18 years, a result of training interested homesteaders in the practice at the outset of a traditional massage program. Similarly, the board and stone program also has a "train the trainer" focus, to teach individuals in the community to carry on the workshops onee the inaugural programs end. "It's about building capacity, people in the eommunity so we ean sustain things ourselves," said Dillard. The idea, she says, is: "It's easier if you leave the skill behind. If it's dependent on (a practitioner) coming into a community and . . . doing something for me, you're not going to be funded to be here forever. But if you train us to do it when you leave, we ean still do it, we just need to figure out how." The practice will be perpetuated through monthly poi-pounding gatherings, whieh also provide a way for participants to eonhnue to eat healthy, together. Poi, pounded from cooked taro, was a staple in the traditional Hawaiian diet and is touted as a good source of potassium, iron and vitamin B6. The hope is that one staple ean strengthen a community as people eome together around the boards and stones to build healthy lifestyles and family dynamics. ■

"As they carve their board, as they work their stone, Unele Earl is conducting cultural classes around that practice." — Puni Kekauoha, on the board and stone program coming to Papakōlea for the first time

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