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Hawai'i Alaka'i Project (Community Mentor Program) 2004

HAWAI'I
The Arts of Life

THIS February we returned to the Hawaiian Islands for our annual Arts of Life Hawai'i program, sharing our traditional tracking and cultural awareness programs with hundreds of Hawaiian youth from the Kamehameha Schools. We also had time to re-visit friends, projects and wahi pana (sacred sites) on O'ahu and the Big Island, and to attend the Tahiti Fete-Heiva 2002—in Hilo. This year our work in the Pacific region took a great leap forward. At the end of our time in Hawai'i, we ventured further into Polynesia, visiting the islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Huahine. Then in late March we returned to O'ahu with a team of Native American elders, artists and staff to take part in the first gathering of the Alaka'i Project, our Hawaiian mentor program.

Since our early work with cultural activists and the sovereignty movement in the 1980's and our first walks along the shore and into the mountains with Hawaiian children, our programs have continued to evolve and adapt to island life. Together with local cultural practitioners, we have put together a package of survival/ awareness skills that appeal to the youth, training their senses to experience the natural world in a way that cultivates connection, understanding and empathy with the remarkable environment of the Hawaiian Islands.

As we continued to deepen our ties with land and life, our programs included:

Kamehameha Schools

• Multi-cultural presentations for the second grade class, including music, stories, dance and nature skills from Africa and North America. Thanks to Joyce Ka'ai'ai, Julie, Joyce and Diane.
• Hiking the upper campus trail with two sixth grade classes and the Aiea Loop Trail with four other classes, looking deeply at plants, tracks and how to move in silence through the forest as preparatory training for the large Grade Six cultural excursion to the Big Island. Thanks to all the Grade Six teachers.
• Working with Brad Cooper and 125 seventh graders of the Hui 'Ula 'Ula. We used the natural classroom at the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kailua to look at survival, wayfinding, tracking and a cross-cultural approach to the uses of Hawaiian plants in the survival scenario. A highlight of the day was when Nainoa Thompson, navigator from the Polynesian Voyaging Society and trustee of the Kamehameha Schools, joined Brad and John for one short class, which included the Thanksgiving Address, lessons of survival and Nainoa's first hand-drill fire. Thanks to Brad and the teachers of Hui 'Ula 'Ula.

Big Island

Joining the entire sixth grade and their teachers on the annual cultural excursion to the Big Island. At the Volcanoes National Park,we presented our system of tracking and awareness over two weeks, leading four days of hikes through Na-huku (Thurston lava tube), across the Kilauea Iki crater, up Byron Ledge and back to the Steam Vents and KMC. Certain days were rich in bird and animal sightings. The students are always amazed when their "silent walk" training actually leads to a close encounter with a wild animal, such as a group of Khalij pheasants or 'io, the Hawaiian hawk, waiting to rise on the thermals from the crater floor. In the afternoon, we worked with small groups of boys and girls, teaching knots, different styles of firemaking and self-defense techniques.

Crossing Kilauea Iki with Kumu Mahealani and students, we talked about the presence of ho'ailona, the spiritual signs, that seem to abound in the Volcano region. She noted that the snow caps on both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, left by torrential rains which ended just hours before the students arrived on the Big Island, were a huge example of a very special ho'ailona. And we noted that "signs appear to everyone, but only wise people notice them." Many thanks to all the staff who make this excursion possible: Miki, Sheryl, Gary, Beth, Deede, Lehua, Kumu Mahealani, Diatri, Michele, Nurses Mahealani & Julie, Dan, Richard Wong, Jay, Kahele and Heather.

Spending two weeks in Hilo visiting with Mililani Trask, Craig and Luana Neff from the Hawaiian Force and other friends, receiving updates on various cultural and political issues. Mililani's work with the United Nations has led to her being named Indigenous Expert for the Pacific Region to the Standing Committee of the UN. She has been a member of our Native Advisory Council for more than ten years and has guided our work in Hawai'i since our first meetings in 1985. Mahalo Mililani and greetings to Kainoa, Damien and family.

Attending Heiva 2002, the Tahiti Fete in Hilo. Thanks to friend Mike Kop/Hula Supply.

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