Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 35, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2018 — Mana Moment: Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mana Moment: Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier

The OfRce of Hawaiian Affairs has published Mana LāhuiKānaka, a multidimensional study of mana: what it is, how to articulate it, and how to access and cultivate it in order to uplift our lāhui. The book shares mana'o from community contributors, including Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier, on using culture and traditional knowledge as a foundation for how we advance in the world today.

For me mana is ke Akua. Perhaps I am a little different from others, where they believe people have mana.

I I believe that ke Akua has the mana and then he uses all of us in whichever way that he ean to do good work. It means in times of need he uses us to help others. When we have need, he provides through that mana and his mana extends into our daily lives. We only have to sit and recognize it so we

know that it's happening, and he's happening. I've had many moments where mana has been present in my life. The one that I ean think of right off the top of my head is when I

became the Hope Kahu of our church. I realized as I got up on to the kuaho to hold my first service that there was nothing there on the

kuaho except for prayers and pule. I realized that really I needed to depend on ke Akua's mana to be able to do this work that I had been called to do. It was a manafilled moment as I stood there and recognized ke Akua's hand on me. I recognized that my grandmother had been right all along, that 'ōlelo

was going to be something more than just teaching it to others, but to really carry on a good work. Tap into your mana by downloading a free copy of Mana Lāhui Kanaka at oha.org/mana. ■

Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier in a video interview on mana. - lmage: Office of Hawaiian Affairs