Aloha Aina

Let me start with gratitude to the Hawaiian people who have so generously opened their hearts to teach me how to live in alignment here on the Big Island.

I have always had a deep resonance with earth based spiritual practices and have been fortunate to have many teachers along my path who have shared indigenous wisdom with me. Jorge Red Tail Hawk, Elizabeth Jenkins, Don Francisco, Zenobia, Ricardo, Don Martin, Dona Augustina, Wake Wheeler, Linda Fitch, Rosa, Larry Cespooch and those unnamed; thank you for your generous offerings to my learning and growth.

I recently moved to Hawai’i. Previously I had lived my entire 53 years in Utah; home of the Ute, Shoshone, Goshute, Navajo and Paiute people. I have lived in communities that were primarily white and Christian. Most of our food was imported form “somewhere else”. All of our cultural practices were imported from somewhere else. I have yearned, in my very bones, for an integrated experience; one in which land, community, food, culture, language, history, story and spirituality are one, inseparable whole. My very being needed to have this experience in this lifetime.

So much of my work in youth mental health, coalition building and sustainability comes from a desire to knit together the silos created by colonialism. It’s sometimes hard to see in places like Utah where settler colonialism has so taken hold it is literally the very air we breathe. It is what is considered normal. Yet it never felt normal to me. As I gathered my community over the decades, in various forms of circle, ceremony, gardening, movement planning, coalition building, art and healing, it always felt as if I was moving against a tide, coming up against the powerful forces that would say, “this is the way it is”. I know, as I imagine you do too, that our issues around homelessness, mental health, sustainability, water, development, food security, national security, sexism, racism, homophobia are all tied together. Yet, in most of the US, we try to address these issues in their silos. No wonder we are struggling.

Here in Hawai’i, I can see very plainly the juxtaposition of native Hawaiian culture and settler colonialism. I cannot tell you how bizarre it is to go to a store and see Christmas; snowmen, pine trees, Santa. It is stark.

And there is another Hawai’i that I have the privilege to glimpse. I give so much gratitude to my son’s school for providing opportunities for a newcomer like me to learn how to come with respect.

My son is taking Hawaiian Studies. Kumu Pua shared a lesson with the parents where we learned a bit about Kalo; the canoe plant that is the source for poi. I learned that Kalo is an ancestor and I was gifted 4 kalo huli from my son’s sustainable gardening teacher. They are growing in my garden. These ancestors, so important to the people of Hawai’i are rooting and sprouting and I feel such a love for them as I root and sprout here too. Culture, cosmogony, sustainable gardening, food security, climate action, indigenous wisdom, language, history, story, health and wellbeing - all together. The understanding that Kalo is an ancestor was brought forth in a court case where Monsanto was trying to genetically engineer Kalo. The rich cultural history and understanding that Kalo is an ancestor and that this worldview can be documented to the beginning of Hawaiian culture is what helped the Hawaiian people to defeat Monsanto.

The school has also sponsored a series of Wa Pilina events to teach parents what the students are learning about Hawaiian culture. Pilina means many things; association, relationship, union, connection, meeting, joining, adhering, fitting. We learned the art of making Lei so we can create our own offerings to come with respect and reciprocity to sacred sites. We learned the names of the hills and mountains that surround Waimea. We learned of the stories that hold so much wisdom for how we can live in right relationship with the land and each other. I am growing Ti in my garden so I can continue to practice.

We visited Manaua, the water rock in Waimea who is the water protector of the source of drinking water for the community. As we approached Manaua, she was bedecked in Lei from others in the community who come to make offerings. It is a way of life- natural. It is the embodiment of a living, breathing culture that stretches back long before settler colonialism. I feel so humbled and grateful for the knowledge and practices that have been shared with me. Thank you Kumu Pua, Kumu Kuwalu, Pua Case and Willie Quayle for your sharing.

I hope you feel the resonance of my delight that my son’s school is teaching the art of making offerings, making pilgrimage to sacred sites, learning the stories (mo’olelo) of the mountains and learning their names! At school!

Robin Wall Kimmer, the author of Braiding Sweetgrass talks about learning Anishinaabe; the language of her people. She speaks of the language of animacy; to attend to the world as a living being. “If we are to become native to a place, if we are to survive here, and our neighbors too, our work is to learn to speak the grammar of animacy, so that we might truly be at home”. My heart swells with gratitude that I am learning the language of this place so I can call the hills, mountains, streams and forests by their names. If only all schools, everywhere, offered this to their ‘Ohana, their family and community.

I am learning what Aloha Aina means. Love of the land (aina) and the people, Hawaiian language (olelo), food, plants as relatives, history, storytelling, cultural practices, community (ohana) that are of the land. I am learning about Kuleana; privilege and responsibility. In Hawaiian, It is ONE WORD because it is understood they are inseparable. I am finding my way to love, serve, give and offer to Hawai’i. I am experiencing the deep integration of culture. I am a humble and grateful student of Hawai’i and I send you so much deep Aloha to you. Wherever you are, love the land and each other. Finds ways to integrate and bring the indigenous people to the very center of your work. You will be transformed.

I am listening to: For the Wild with Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osario

Learn more about Hawaiian culture in Waimea at Friends of the Future