|
|
|
|
|
|
Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE July 12, 2005
|
|
| site design imagesparkle.com |
| March 20 - 21, 2004 |
A Visit to the World of the Indigenous People of Hawai'i |
|
| |
 |
| Peace Boat participants and Hoa' Aina O Makaha staff planting banana trees together |
Honolulu, Hawai'i, was the last port of call on Peace Boat's 44th Global Voyage. During our weekend stay, a group of Peace Boat participants joined an exchange programme to learn about the life of indigenous people in Hawai'i. From the port in Honolulu, we made a short trip to visit the indigenous people who live in the Wai'anae area on the west coast of the island of O'ahu. More than a half of Wai'anae's population are descendants of the original inhabitants of the islands. Since the U.S. invasion in January 1893, the indigenous people of Hawai'i have been subjugated by U.S. settlers, reducing the sense of identity and dignity they hold as proud people of a once independent nation.
In the early morning of March 21, about thirty of us from Peace Boat hopped on a yellow school bus and drove along the coast of Wai'anae, observing the many tents in which homeless people live on the beach. Out of the 20,000 homeless people who live in Oahu, the majority are indigenous people. We also learned that what we witnessed was only the tip of the iceberg homeless, substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental illnesses are problems that the indigenous people live with everyday.
In Wai'anae, there is a vibrant scene of local movements initiated by those concerned to support the indigenous people in regaining their Hawai'ian identity. Our visit to two local organizations, Hoa' Aina O Makaha and Cultural Learning Center at Ka'ala, that teach traditional Hawai'ian values to the locals, enabled us to share their rich culture and worldview.
We first visited Hoa' Aina O Makaha (meaning “land shared in friendship” in the Hawai'ian language), a farm on five acres of land. Children and their parents visit the farm to learn how to take care of the land and each other while planting and harvesting crops, raising animals and fish, learning about alternative energy sources and studying Hawai'ian culture.
The director, Father Gigi Coquio, and other staff invited us into the farm and first offered chanting to welcome us and gave each one of us a lei of seashells to celebrate new friendship. Opening of the umu (underground oven) followed, and participants were put at ease by the generous hospitality and amiable jokes of our hosts. Father Gigi showed us around the farm, letting us experience some of the hands-on activities they offer to visitors, such as planting banana trees and weaving baskets with coconut tree leaves. Feeling like children again, we experienced how through these activities, children grow up to become respectful of the delicate balance in the relationship between humans and the environment - the core of indigenous Hawai'ian life. |
|
|
 |
| Entering the sacred mountain Ka'ala |
After lunch, and an exchange of Japanese and Hawai'ian songs and dances with the students and families of Makaha Elementary School, we left the farm to drive up hills to our next destination – Cultural Learning Center at Ka'ala. Here again, the beginning of the visit was marked by traditional chanting before entering the place of exchange, Mount Ka'ala. Ka'ala's volcano gave birth to the island of Oahu, and it remains its highest point. The mountain has traditionally been the island's most sacred place and is considered the heart for cultivation of the earth and of the spirit of Hawai'ian people.
Eric Enos, the director of the Center, and his friends rediscovered this land, after more than a century of abandonment, and restored what had been there for generations – terraces of kalo (taro in Hawai'ian) paddies. The view of mountain peaks, valleys that run down to the Pacific Ocean, and moist, green kalo leaves trembling in the breeze made it so easy for us to realize the interconnectedness of our life, nature, and generations before and after us.
The local people taught us the core of Hawai'ian animistic philosophy in action. “If you plan for a year, plant kalo. If you plan for ten years, plant koa (native acacia tree used to make canoes). If you plan for one hundred years, teach the children - Aloha ‘Aina (love of the land).” |
| |
 |
| Restored kalo paddies and view of the Pacific Ocean from Cultural Learning Center at Ka'ala |
In hindsight, Peace Boat participants agreed that what this exposure tour highlighted for us were some similarities between Hawai'i and Okinawa, the southernmost island of Japan. These points of resemblance include traditional respect for nature; a struggle for indigenous rights; an emphasis on community life, a history of overthrow of kingdoms by external forces, and the presence of U.S. bases.
Given that 20 percent of the main island of Okinawa and 25 percent of Oahu are covered by U.S. bases, and that the economic activities of the islands revolve around the military bases and commercial tourism, it is hard to argue that the people of Okinawa and Hawai'i have a true sense of independence - economically and politically.
Our learning experience in Hawai'i provided a fresh opportunity for the mostly Japanese participants to revisit some of the parallel problems in Japan, particularly the experience of indigenous Okinawans and the presence of the US military. Our cooperation with the indigenous people of Hawai'i must also be accompanied by work at home in Japan to improve the situation of Okinawan people and challenge the expansion of global militarization. |
| |
|
|
|
