Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — Lei (Leina'ala) Ahu lsa [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Lei (Leina'ala) Ahu lsa

Aloha Mai Kakou! As OHA approaches a culmination in 2022 of 43 years of effort and accomplishments, it is very important to review just what we have been trying to achieve and how we have been going about it. Ihe more solidly we lay the foundations for OHA's success, the greater capability for achievement at this time. But if we have broken the rules, done what is not pono, and have taken shortcuts, then we have only ourselves to hlame. For kūpunas, this is one of the most important times in our lives. It is almost as if you have been climbing a mountain for many years, and now the "peak" is in sight.

Ihe areas where OHA has prepared carefully will now heeome tremendously productive. Our opportunities are at a "peak" for achievement and for additional responsibility and power. If OHA tries to avoid its increased responsibilities, we might run the risk of losing everything, even in the areas where we have prepared well and have taken responsibility. Completing our Financial Sustainability Plan gives us the ability to work on particularly exacting and detailed creative projects, from education, heahh and culture. Ihe degree of stability achieved at this time will greatly help our beneficiaries have a solid core of assets into perpetuity. Fve been involved with Kanu o Ka Aina Charter School, Pōhai 'o Kamehameha, Hālau Ka Leo o Laka i ka Hikina o ka Lā, Hālau Keali'ika'apunihonua Ke'ena A'o Hula, Ke Kula 'o Samuel M. Kamakau Charter School, and many more...Not enuf room.. Help me to help OHA survive! It will survive only if we are able to satisfy the "REAL" needs of our people. We must be particularly conscious of this now. Ihe more "REAL" our objectives are, the more OHA ean help our beneficiaries by making benevolent choices. Communication will take on a more important role at OHA. We need to share with everyone, be more transparent, and heeome a proselytizer for new ideas as we try to break others out of their rigid patterns of thinking. If we take advantage of these opportunities and create a need for "newness of life" at OHA, great things are possible. OHA should be striving to improve conditions of all Native Hawaiians around us: to use our influence to help everyone concerned to grow with us. Patience and perseverance carried us through!!! We did it. The legislature finally approved $64M! Now we ean accomplish a great deal by transferring our energies to productive areas. Onipa'a!!! A hui hou, Trustee Lei Ahu Isa ■