ALAKA'I PROJECT 2002
Hawaiian Community Mentor Program

Alaka'i Project-Hawaiian Mentor Program

In late March, we returned to O'ahu for the first meetings of the Alaka'i Project, hosted by the Kamehameha Schools. Our team of mentors and staff included: Pete Jemison (Seneca artist/site manager of the Ganondagan State Historic site), Andy Buster (Miccosukee tribal judge/substance abuse counselor), Helene Buster (Seminole health manager), Cary Odes, Keith Strever and John Stokes. Our thanks to Miki Maeshiro and Kahele Kukea, assisted by Rachel Lee, who did most of the planning, fundraising and pre-camp details from the Hawaiian side. It is significant that the Alaka'i Project has begun in Hawai'i, because it brings the idea of our mentor program back full circle to its origin. It was the late Parley Kanaka'ole— educator, poet and spiritual leader—who in 1991 gave to John Stokes the responsibility to host a series of international gatherings to train a circle of caring people who would "join hands in the name of the future generations." This inspiration led to The Tracking Project's mentor program Nurturing the Roots, which in turn led to the Alaka'i Project.

A small but dedicated group of teachers, counselors and staff members from Kamehameha took part in the gathering. Our discussions followed the essential elements of The Tracking Project's curriculum, which we have laid out on the plates of a turtle's back: Thanksgiving, Traditional Tracking & Survival Skills, Nature Awareness, Peacemaking, Cultural Awareness, The Arts of Life, Personal Development, Community Education, International Community, Ceremony and Renewal.

Space does not allow us to report extensively on the program, but highlights included: Calvin and Liko Ho opening the program at the navigators' shrine at Hakipuu. The magnificent setting of the gathering in the Ka'a'awa Valley on O'ahu. A presentation on ho'oponopono (Hawaiian family-based peacemaking) by Billy Ornalles. Boarding the sailing canoe E Ala with Kawai Ho and students of the Ho family's school to learn about navigation.

Parley had suggested an o-lelo mai na-ku-puna mai (traditional saying) as a motto of the program:

Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula'au
Rains always follow the forest.
(The rains are attracted to forest trees, so one would never cut down too many trees.)

We will keep this saying in mind as we look forward to the next years of this training, with the hope that our circle of caring people will grow to include artist/ educators from many parts of the Hawaiian Islands and perhaps other nations of Polynesia.

Land and sea, land and life. We will continue to bridge the teachings of wayfinding (the art of Non-Instrument Navigation) and principles of hardground tracking, working on an awareness curriculum which will be applicable anywhere on the planet. Our work in Hawai'i continues to nurture and inspire us. We send our finest thoughts and our deepest aloha to the Hawaiian people for their strength, ingenuity and hospitality.

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