Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 7, 1 July 2016 — KAHUI, BOV, (CRAIG) [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KAHUI, BOV, (CRAIG)

>► Q1 RESPONSE: Education is our best opportunity to help improve our physical, mental, and spiritual health of our Lāhui. We must embrace many of our Kūpuna teachings to further our understandings of our identity. To this end, native Hawaiians ean begin the process of healing and faithfully select a pathway

to the resurrection ot Lahui. Whiie simpiistic, educational fomms, Hawaiian doctrine- placedbased education, secondary and post-secondary Hawaiian educational platforms must include the revisionist history of Hawai'i if we are to improve who we are as a people and as Lāhui physically, mentally, and spiritually. >► Q2 RESPONSE The immediate strategy for nahon building requires building consensus. Over the years, OHA's constituency has been divided due to its quasi relationship both with the State and Federal governments. The native Hawaiian communities have been polarized by OHA's laek of independency and therefore nahon building has been all but impossible. True consensus ean only be achieved through a "grass-roots" initiative supplemented by various stages of educational opportunities to bring about real changes for Lāhui. OHA's institutional forbearance and tolerance to bridge our communities will require a new paradigm to reach the native Hawaiian community to accomplish consensus and achieve Lāhui. >► Q3 RESPONSE: Native Hawaiians are represented negatively at every social eeonomie, weahh, and health statistic. To reverse these trends, our native values such as Aloha, Aloha 'Āina, Mālama Aina, Aloha Ka Po'e, are re-established in the 'Ohana and then manifested in our educational institutions. A monumental task but achievable through a new vision and strategies for the implementation of our ancestral values to solve our Island issues setting the stage for a global response. To make the point, we ean leam from the Hōkūle'a following years of dedication of our ancestral navigational wayfinding and building the "Wa'a." Recent, global response to mālama honua "through experiential educational programs that inspire students and their communities to respect and care for themselves, eaeh other, and the natural and cultural environments" setthe new vision and platform for change. ■