Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 5, 1 May 1988 — Oahu Kupuna Recommends Conference be in Hawaiian Language; 'Embarrassed by it all' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Oahu Kupuna Recommends Conference be in Hawaiian Language; 'Embarrassed by it all'

By Kenny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA One of the liveliest sessions to eome down the pike in many a kupuna conference took plaee Saturday, Mar. 19, when 76-year-old Oahu Kupuna Sarah Nakoa lamented the fact that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs' "Ku'ikahi A Na Kupuna" program was being conducted predominantly in the English language. It was during the session "On Being Kupuna" that Mrs. Nakoa stood up and in fluent Hawaiian told the 200 kupuna assembled how she was embarrassed the conference was not being eonducted in Hawaiian. "After all, we are kupuna and we're the ones who should know the language. We're supposed to be teaching the kamali'i the Hawaiian language and yet here we are all speaking English. I don't understand this logic and frankly I am very embarrassed," she declared in Hawaiian. Maile Lum Ho Vargo of Hilo, a member of the three-woman Office of Hawaiian Affairs kupuna team, responded to Mrs. Nakoa's eoneem by explaining her own personal experience. She first observed that some kupuna are unsure of their Hawaiian, some are limited in their knowledge of the language and others don't know too mueh. As a result, they are hilahila to converse openly. In her own case, she said she knew the language well but lost it after living almost 10 years on the mainland. When she retumed to Hilo, Mrs. Vargo said she, too, was embarrassed to find she couldn't

speak the language too well. "But," she added, "I did something about it and relearned from my mother. I find I ean now speak it reasonably well today and I use it every ehanee I get." Mrs. Vargo's response was also all in Hawaiian, displaying exceedingly well how mueh she has "rediscovered" her mother tongue. Robert Lokomaika'iokalani Snakenberg, educational specialist in Hawaiian Studies with the Department of Education, agreed with Mrs. Nakoa and added that too many kupuna are hemahema about speaking the language. He explained that those who find themselves in this position shouldn't feel awkward about it. They should go ahead and speak it anyway, thereby getting it out of their system and at least speaking it so they ean improve upon it.

He also agreed with Mrs. Vargo and observed how everyone who really wants to speak the language ean go to a source or develop their own methods. "The primary thing is to leam it, no matter what method one develops," he emphasized. Snakenberg, like Mrs. Nakoa and Mrs. Vargo, did all his talking in fluent Hawaiian. A number of other kupuna agreed that deliberations of such a conference or workshop should be conducted in Hawaiian. Ka Wai Ola O OHA talked randomly with several kupuna who observed that if one knew the language then one should speak it. Also, they pointed out, those who were hemahema about speaking shouldn't feel this way because only by using the language will it live

on. "It will all eome back," said one kupuna of those who felt they had lost too mueh of the language. "Kupuna ean leam from those kupuna who speak Hawaiian fluently or go to other sources,"she suggested. A good source may be Mrs. Nakoa who teaches Level I Hawaiian language in the Kamehameha Schools' adult education classes. She has been doing this for 10 years and also six years with the University Laboratory School, more familiarly known as University High School.

Officeof Hawaiian Affairs Kupuna Community Coordinator Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins, center, is flanked by her Hawaii coordinators, Ulunuiokamamalu Kanakaole Garmon, left, and Maile Kamai'alaupala'okekuahiwi'okapiko'omauna-loa Lum Ho Vargo, right. Together they staged an outstanding Ku'ikahi A Na Kupuna at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.