The Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office at UH Mānoa focuses on implementing recommendations from Native Hawaiian reports authored over the last 30 years that guide UH Mānoa in becoming a Native Hawaiian place of learning. We have four focus areas:
- Native Hawaiian Student Success
- Native Hawaiian Staff and Faculty Development
- Native Hawaiian Environment
- Native Hawaiian Community Engagement
We cannot do this work alone. It is our mission to foster the potential within each of you to positively contribute to our collective kuleana to make UH Mānoa a Native Hawaiian place of learning. These monthly newsletters are meant to keep you connected, highlight your work and continue to inspire you.
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GOALS:
- Native Hawaiian students are holistically supported from recruitment through post-graduation.
- Best practices are gleaned from efforts to support Native Hawaiian students and are applied to student success strategies for all students across the campus.
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September is Recovery Month!
By: Lilinoe Kauahikaua
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September is Recovery Month Flyer
The Mālama Project has been working all month long to prepare for September as Recovery Month. Recovery month aims to increase awareness and understanding of those on their healing journey from substance misuse, as well as to celebrate and empower moʻolelo of resilience. The national 202o recovery month theme, “Join the Voices for Recovery: Celebrating Connections,” has a unique meaning for us here in Hawaiʻi. When we celebrate our pilina, our connections to one another, and to those from all walks of life striving for healing, we find support and determination to speak up for inclusion, respect, and action. As we navigate the virtual intersection between academia and recovery, we must remain culturally anchored. Therefore, in order for us to move forward, we must support each other in this hoe waʻa of balance, navigating the waters of ourselves alongside the narratives of our students, faculty, and staff. Recovery Events will be held throughout September, every Tuesday & Friday morning from 10am -11am via Zoom, followed by a 30 min debrief. Please e-mail [email protected] if you have any questions. And check out out social media and website for speaker announcements!
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Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program-Huliauapaʻa
By: Pua Souza
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Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program 2020 Cohort Logo
Last month, I introduced the Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program (WKIP). This paid summer internship is run by Huliauapaʻa and offers interns training in cultural and resource management. This year the program was set to be held in Kohala, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions the WKIP team decided to run the entire program online.
Throughout this past month, 5 other interns and I concluded WKIP by receiving training in community ethnography and ʻāina field methods. We also spent time creating and designing our 2020 cohort inoa and logo, which is representative of both our WKIP hui and Kohala's ʻāina. This inoa, Kūikaunupaʻa refers to the "solid stone like attributes" of Kohala’s people, as well as the strong unupaʻa winds of the area. Throughout our time in the program we were determined to withstand the obstacles of the virtual world. We chose Kūikaunupaʻa as a way to commemorate our determination to push past these obstacles and stand firm in our abilities to create pilina with Kohala. This pilina is showcased in our individual projects we created for the Kohala community and will be shared in next months newsletter. Stay tuned!
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STAFF & FACULTY DEVELOPMENT |
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GOALS:
- Native Hawaiian staff & faculty are holistically supported from recruitment through promotion and leadership development in every unit across the campus.
- All staff & faculty at UH Mānoa are more knowledgeable and culturally rooted in Mānoa and Hawai‘i.
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Deepening Our Roots
By: Punihei Lipe
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ʻAʻalʻi
When I describe in summary what it means to be a Native Hawaiian place of learning, I talk about a two-fold focus:
- Being responsive to the needs and gifts of Native Hawaiian communities on and off campus
- Becoming a campus more rooted in and reflective of Indigenous Hawai‘i
In order to do that work we - staff and faculty members - need to deepen our own roots in Native Hawaiian language, history, and culture so that we can model that for our students and co-create a campus culture that reflects a Native Hawaiian place of learning. I'm not exempt from this work. Even as your Native Hawaiian Affairs Program Officer I have to find ways to constantly deepen my own roots in Hawai‘i so that what I bring to the campus can continue to grow. As such, I joined a group last month to learn chants of healing. Being a part of that group has been such a good reminder of how much more there is to learn; that all of us have to learn. So I invite you to think about one thing you might be able to do in the coming months to support your growing knowledge of Indigenous Hawai‘i. If you would like to receive our weekly email full of opportunities for learning and growth, please click here.
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GOAL:
UH Mānoa campus is a physical, cultural, spiritual, and interactive environment that exemplifies the values of ‘ohana and community, mālama ‘āina, and kuleana; thereby, perpetuating Native Hawaiian values, culture, language, traditions, and customs.
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UHM as a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center: 3 Years and Growing
By: Sonya Zabala
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TRHT UHM Logo
Last month, under the first two moons of Māhoemua, we held our Summer 2020 TRHT Summit. Pariticipants of the summit included those who were a part of one of our four cohorts over the past three years including UHM students, staff, faculty, executive management, and community members. We gathered using a three-pronged pedagogical approach including a‘o, learning from and with one another; alu, connecting to work together; and ‘auamo, carrying the kuleana together. We focused on our shared kuleana: truth, racial healing and transformation for the ʻāina and to one another through deep listening and critical reflection. From this summit we are planning next steps to advance the ultimate kuleana as a TRHT Campus Center: jettisoning racism. Next month we will share our final report from the summit.
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GOAL:
UH Mānoa and Native Hawaiian communities are consistently connected and engaged in order that there can be reciprocal teaching and learning for positive impact throughout Hawai‘i.
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Next Phase of Restoration Project at
Heʻeia Fishpond Underway
By: Cindy Knapman
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Left photo: UH Mānoa graduate student Becca Lensing with the Alegado Lab sampling at Heʻeia Fishpond.
Right photo: Hoaka Thomas, graduate student in the marine biology graduate program, sampling at Heʻeia Fishpond.
In addition to growing fish, He‘eia Fishpond collaborates with researchers and provides a unique cultural learning environment for students and communities across the state. Two University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa graduate students in the Marine Biology Graduate Program, Becca Lensing and Hoaka Thomas, are monitoring concentrations of nutrient pollutants, sediment, microbial contaminants, and circulation and flow rate in the fishpond.
The project is funded by the Hawaiʻi Department of Health Clean Water Branch.
Click here to read full UH News Story.
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Website Work
By: Punihei Lipe
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NHPoL Website Homepage
We are going to be totally honest. We have been working on our website for the last couple of years. Eek! We won't get into the details of our challenges, but we want to let you know that our small team has been working extremely hard. And what we have decided is that we will continue to roll out new parts of our website every month via our newsletter. The focus of our website for all of you is two-fold:
- To share the work of our office and the many moving and growing parts of our campus' journey to become a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
- To be a landing page that anyone can come to and connect with other people, programs, and initiatives that are helping our campus become a Native Hawaiian place of learning.
We will be announcing the launch of our website next month via this newsletter, so stay tuned!
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Nā Lamakū o Ke Aloha ʻĀina
Kanaka Highlight Series
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Lilinoe Kauahikaua
Birthplace: Piʻihonua, Hilo, Hawaiʻi
High School: Turlock High School (California)
UH Degrees: AA Hawaiʻi Lifestyles (HawCC), BA Adminstration of Justice w/ Hawaiian Studies minor (UH Hilo), Currently pursing Masters of Social Work (UHM)
Current Occupation: Graduate Student; Project Intern, Hawaii Appleseed/Hawaiʻi Budget and Policy Center; Intern, BluePrint for Change; Intern, ʻEkolu Mea Nui; C3-OD2A Fellow, Myron B. Thompson Department of Social Work; Fellow, Affordable Housing for All; Program Coordinator, Mālama Project; Hope Poʻo o ka ʻOihana, Nā Wai Chamber Choir; President, Hui Mālama; Vice President, Department of Social Work Graduate Student Organization
What inspired/inspires the path for your academic major?
I was inspired to embark on my academic journey into social work due to my own personal experience within the criminal justice system, and with substance use. About 12 years ago, I went through this hulihia. Prior to that, I was headed down a very dark and destructive path. I found myself in this moment in time, a moment I did not know if I would get out of, and a moment where I had to make a decision about the future of my life and where I was headed. This moment allowed me to reflect on myself and my worth, it allowed me to see a different path for myself, a path out of the darkness. At this time, I was existing on the continent. In this hulihia, it was like a realization, a kāhea to return home. There was something more for me, something else I was meant to be doing. Everything that was meant to be, aligned for me after that point. I can tell you that in all honesty, because if it hadn’t, I could very well still be sitting right there in that exact same spot, or worse. I returned home to Hilo on Hawai‘i Island. Although I was born in Honolulu, Hilo is also my one hānau. Hilo healed me. I found a new life, and new purpose there. Growing up, my time was split between the continent and Hilo, although I grew up very disconnected from my culture and the ʻāina. I always felt that that disconnection contributed greatly to this loss of identity I had felt early on. So returning home to Hilo allowed me to grow roots, learn, and connect. My healing journey heavily involved reconnecting to my cultural learning about my ʻohana, ʻōlelo, our history, hula, mele, moʻolelo, and kind of just trying to kilo and absorb everything around me. It has been a journey of ongoing learning that will continue to inform everything I do. I originally thought I would major in Hawaiian Studies. Life had other plans and I just couldn't cut it in ʻōlelo, so I went for the minor instead. After I finished my B.A., I tried for a few years to get into law school, although things never seemed to work out. I came to realize it was not the path I was supposed to be on. So after these failed attempts at law school, I decided to pursue this program at Hawai‘i CC called Hawai‘i Lifestyles. It was a program I had always wanted to do, but never seemed to have the time while pursuing my BA. It was through the guidance of all of my Kumu there that I really began to see a pathway for helping others walking paths similar to my own. The cultural learning and grounding I learned as a haumana of that program really opened up a new way of understanding healing for me; something I had been looking for for so long, but never really knew how to explain. That cultural reconnection, that ʻāina reconnection, and connection to moʻolelo of resilience. I decided to apply to the Masters of Social Work program about halfway through the Hawaiʻi Lifestyles certificate.
What are your future goals in your work?
Since beginning the Social Work program, I have focused my research primarily on issues impacting our Native Hawaiian community, as well as culturally anchored programming, particularly in the areas of substance work and reentry from incarceration. Recently I’ve began working on a project, looking into data disaggregation practices across state agencies and working with community organizations to change the narrative of how data is collected and used. I have recently become very interested in the implications of this project and its impact on indigenous data sovereignty and data governance movements. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to live on Oʻahu and learn from the community and those who have been working in these fields for years. Ultimately my overall goal is to be able to go home and help those living on Hawaiʻi Island, working alongside those already doing the work and helping in any way I can to develop programming, doing policy work, and research to help move toward decolonized frameworks of healing.
We believe that at the heart of a Hawaiian place of learning is aloha ʻāina: the constant care for and reciprocation with Hawaiʻi’s people, places and practices.” How do you see your time at UH shaping the way you aloha ʻāina?
ʻĀina is our ʻohana, so I see aloha ʻāina, as to mālama ʻāina caring for that conection to ʻāina, being rooted, but also to mālama kekahi i kekahi. Last year, I was accepted into the Safe Project Collegiate Recovery Academy. The program provides connections to resources, mentorship, technical assistance and training. Through this opportunity, I was able to institute a campus-wide impact project. Under the guidance of Kuʻulei Salzer-Vitale, our program administrator, and Kateri Coyhis, a member of the Mohican Nation and the executive director of White Bison, my impact project focused on the growth of Hawaiʻi’s first collegiate recovery program, Mālama Project, grounded in cultural values, and using methodologies that speak more to indigenous perspectives. Mālama Project provides a space where all students can feel safe, accepted, understood, and empowered on their healing journey from substance use. Cultural sensitivity and congruent practices, grounded in Hawaiian values, are embedded in our practice. We embrace all forms of recovery and students at any point in their journey. As a Native Hawaiian woman in recovery, I have often felt like I didn’t belong in some of the other recovery spaces, and 12-step programs. In my early recovery walking into those spaces, I felt like the content didn’t really resonate with me and how I needed or wanted to heal. The further development of an inclusive space, where we can celebrate our resilience, has been an experience shaped by my time at UH.
These ʻōlelo noʻeau embody how we aloha ʻāina, mālama ʻāina, and mālama kekahi i kekahi. He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauā ke kanaka, it is our responsibility to show stewardship to the land. There are many lessons the land can teach us. We encourage the hui (group) to reconnect to the land and how indigenous practices can help rebuild a sense of self-worth and restore cultural connections often severed in earlier generations of their families due to colonization. For those joining us from other cultural backgrounds, this connection serves to honor the host culture and develop a sense of place in Hawaiʻi. As we learn about the cycle of how kalo grows, is harvested and then replanted, we think about how this process can be representative of healing and resilience. When roots begin to establish through the connections of indigenous practice, growth begins. ‘A‘ohe pau ka ‘ike i ka hālau ho‘okahi, one can learn from many sources. We explore the many pathways to recovery, focusing primarily on healing, education, and training through non-western approaches. He ‘a‘ali‘i kū makani mai au; ‘a‘ohe makani nana e kula‘i, the ‘a‘ali‘i bush can stand the worst of gales, twisting and bending but seldom breaking off or falling over. We are strong and resilient, standing firm no matter what obstacles we may face. This goal provides the context for which our peer support systems grow and flourish. I ka ‘ōlelo no ke ola, i ka ‘ōlelo nō ka make, words can heal, and words can destroy. The way we choose to speak to those who use substances makes a difference in their outcomes because language perpetuates stigma. This goal allows us the context through which we will develop our culturally resonant recovery ally training, speaker series, and recovery month events.
What does UHM as a Hawaiian place of learning mean to you?
If UH is a Native Hawaiian Place of Larning, we should have a Native Hawaiian Place of Recovery and Resilience. That is what we have aimed to do with Mālama Project. A Native Hawaiian place of learning should exist throughout the campus, not only siloed within one school or department. A Native Hawaiian Place of Learning to me means a place where I can continue to learn indigenous knowledge from indigenous sources, a place where indigenous methodologies are championed, indigenous thought in encouraged and is discussed often. As a haumana of a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning, I feel that it is crucial to see myself represented among those I am learning from.
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