Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 5, 1 June 1984 — $1,000 Savings Accounts for Waianae Grads Envisioned [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

$1,000 Savings Accounts for Waianae Grads Envisioned

"My dream is to have every Waianae graduate have $1,000 in savings when they are finished with school." So dreams Maili landowner and proponent of Hawaiian projects Mrs. Mary Ojerio as she viewed her three-acre holding and rambled along in telling OHA Administrator T.C. Yim how she wants to see kids earn money while learning to work the land. Mary is not a Hawaiian but she has lived and worked among Hawaiians and has served the Hawaiian community in many capacities. She even takes time during the summer to attend Hawaiian educational classes.

She is so imbued with things and people Hawaiian that her one regret is that she doesn't have an ounee of Hawaiian blood in her. "Maybe I ean get some injected into me," she jokes. But she's serious in her dealings with Hawaiians and trying to be of some assistance. She is confident her dream ean become a reality. She'd like students to elean and farm her land after school hours and during weekends. Current plans include planting 70-day corn starting on at least one acre and then gradually expand into other crops. "Whatever the kids eam from the sale of their crops will be put into an account and I guarantee you that eaeh one of them should get at least $ 1 ,000 when they grad-

uate," Ojerio enthusiastically declared. "We have the kids working, learning and earning. It's for their own good," she explained. There are, however, several things whieh need to be taken care of before she ean put her dream into practice. An irrigation system needs to be installed and equipment needs to be purchased or gotten. Hopefully, the proper funding ean be obtained. Mrs. Ojerio has been in contact with the University of Hawaii Department of Agriculture and Soil Conservation District as well as federal agencies in trying to get her dream under wav.

She says theory is fine but "you can't learn from theory alone. The kids must get back to the land and learn what it ean do for them." Mrs. Ojerio and her husband, Alejandro, have done well with their own offspring. Alexander is a research pathologist with the Upjohn Medical Laboratories in Kalamazoo, Mieh.; Marshall is an accountant in Phoenix, Ariz.; Myrna is a supervisor in the medical records section at the Waianae Comprehensive Heahh Center; Alexandria is a heahh nurse at Hale Kula Elementary School, Schofield; and Baldwin is an air conditioning meehanie at Hiekam. He is also an aircraft meehanie with the Hawaii Air National Guard.

Mary Ojerio points out the boundaries to OHA Administrator T.C. Yim and OHA Waianae representative Solomon Naone during a recent visit to Maili. It is Ojerio's dream toassist Hawaiian students in having a $1,000 bank account when they graduate through her proposed earn while learning program through farming.