Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 9, 1 September 2021 — Aloha mai kakou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha mai kakou,

/ 'OLELO A KA POUHANA V MESSAGE FROM THE CEO *

PROTECTING 0UR 'OHANA, MO'OMEHEU ANO 'ĀINA Ho'opalekana (v. To protect)

After my mom passed away in 2015, there was some eoneem in our extended 'ohana about what to do with our family home in Niuli'i. At that point in our lives, no one family or family member could return and occupy the beloved 60-year-old plantation home showing distinct signs of disrepair. And yet...it was where my siblings and I grew up. Our contemplated decision to sell went against every impulse to hold on tightly lest we lose something precious. In the process of clearing out our childhood home, searching through forgotten cupboards and closets, I found one of the last lauhala mats that my mom made before she could no longer remember how to weave. The strips of lauhala are too large and the weave is not refined as in the pieces she'd completed when she was younger. But that pieee, with its imperfections, is beautiful to me - a precious heirloom and a repository of my mother's mana. It is one of her last creations and something I will always treasure. As I grow older, that instinct to protect our 'ohana, to protect our mo'omeheu through the objects and traditions that we treasure, to protect the aina that feeds us physically and spiritually - and to mālama those special places where we lived or played or learned - also grows stronger and intensifies. Our treasures are worth protecting for the generations that will follow. Protecting 'ohana, mo'omeheu and 'āina is the theme that runs through this issue of Ka Wai Ola. Protection takes many forms - from physical labor to education to protest to advocacy. Many of the articles and stories this month specifically highlight the efforts of 'Ōiwi on Hawai'i Island to protect their 'āina, native species, cultural traditions, and 'ike kūpuna in wahi pana like Waipi' o Valley, Pololū Valley, Pōhakuloa and Miloli' i. With the pandemic eviction moratorium about to end, we spotlight the efforts

of a housing advocate in Hilo to protect Section 8 renters from "source of ineome discrimination" by landlords. And we introduce a short film, "MOHO," that the filmmakers hope will protect the right of Native Hawaiian surfers to compete under the hae Hawai'i at the 2024 Olympics. We also celebrate the exciting collaboration between Native Hawaiian artists and Italian fashion design house REDValentino that eame about because Native Hawaiians spoke out to protect our "intellectual property," and the success of a recent trip to Papahānaumokuākea by Native Hawaiian scientists to gather data that will help create better management strategies to protect the native species who live

there. And in celebration of the 183rd anniversary of her birth,

we present an essay by Dr. Ronald Williams that details Queen Lili'uokalani's fierce protection of her people

and nation, and her dignity and grace while facing im possible odds. Finally, with COVID-19 daily infection rates in triple-digits for weeks now and hospitals filled to capacity, Dr. Keawe Kaholokula addresses some eommon misinformation about the vaccines to encourage unvaccinated Native Hawaiians to put aside their misgivings and get vaccinated to protect themselves and their 'ohana. ■

Sylvia M. Hussey, Ed.D. Ka Pouhana | Chief Executive 0fficer