Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 3, 1 March 2022 — Ka Loli o ke Au [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Ka Loli o ke Au

V HE LEO HOU V ^ A NEW VOICE '

Na Malia Kukahiwa, Papa 11 Ke Kula 'ū Nāwahīokalani'ōpu'u Iki Lab Puhlie Charter School

Enā mamo, nā koa, me nā kani'āina mai kēia pae 'āina aku, e welina mai me ke aloha pumehana! He olelo kalalea ka'u e ka'ana aku ai iā 'oe e ka mea heluhelu, 'o ia ho'i kēia 'a'ohe mea kūmau ma ke ola koe ka loli. He olelo kēia me nā mana'o no nā kau ā kau, me nā ha'awina ola. 'A'ole wau i 'ike i ka 'oia'i'o o kēia olelo a i ka ho'omaka 'ana o kēia ma'i ahulau, 'o ia ho'i ka ma'i kolona. Ma kēia wā o ka ma'i, ua kupu a'e he mau ālaina i ho'opilikia iā kākou a pau, keu ho'i ma ka hele 'ana i ke kula. 'O kekahi o nā ālaina i kupu a'e, 'o ia ho'i ka ho'opa'a pono 'ana i ka mana'o o ka ha'awina ma ke kelea'o. Ua nui ka huikau i kekahi mau manawa, akā, ma ka ho'omanawanui 'ana, ua hiki no ke ho'opa'a. Hiki ke ho'ohālikelike 'ia kēia me nā hana a Kumu Kamanā mā, ua pono lākou e ho'omanawa nui i ka mea i ho'oholo 'ia e ke aupuni. Ma ia ho'omanawa nui 'ana, ua ho'okō, a puka lanakila. Mana'o 'ia, 'o ke kula kahi e ho ola ai i nā hana ku'una a me ka 'ōlelo Hawai'i, a he 'oia'i'o kēlā, akā, he aha ka hana inā 'a'ole hiki ke hele i ke kula? I kēlā mau pule i mālama 'ole 'ia ai ke kula, ua pau ka mālama 'ana i ka piko me nā mo'oki'ina e a'e. Ma ka 'ike 'ana i ia mau loli, ua 'ike 'oia'i'o nō au 'o ka olelo ka mea ho'okahi i kūmau ma ko'u ola. 'O ka olelo ka mea i hiki 'ole ke lawe 'ia mai ke kanaka, a pōmaika'i kākou i ka hiki ke mālama i ka olelo ma nā pō'aiapili a pau o ke ola. 'O ka olelo ka mea e ikaika ai ka lāhui. Inā 'a'ohe olelo, 'a'ohe ola o ka mō'aukala. E ma'a kākou

I i ka loli, he 'ao'ao kanaka nō ia, a pau, akā 'a'ole poina ma loko o nā wā pilikia, e mau ana ka olelo me jj kākou pākahi a pau no ka mālama | a ho ola ia nō nā hanauna e hiki s mai ana. There is nothing more consistent in life than change. Before being affected by the pandemic I never truly understood the value behind this saying. We were overwhelmed by a lot of changes and obstacles, especially when it eame to having to adapt to online schooling. Days turned into weeks of not knowing what we were going to do and the fear of losing our language to an invisible enemy made everyone uneasy. Something that was personally challenging for me was trying to understand a certain assignment, but when I put my mind to it, I could get it done and I realized I just had to be patient and trust my teachers. I remembered that this wasn't the first time that our school had to be patient. In the beginning Kumu Kamanā, Kumu Pila and Kumu Lale had to be patient in waiting for Congress to oppose or agree with the generation of a fully Hawaiian-edu-cated school. Even when things got hard, they persevered and kept going. People thought that school was the only plaee where we could revive our language. Although there is some truth to that, we knew that language wasn't a plaee but a people - it didn't matter where we were as long as there were people to speak it. Throughout all the adjusting that had to be done, I realized that the one thing that didn't change was the love and perpetuation of our language. Whether at school or at home, we were going to keep going because the longer we waited for others, the higher the ehanee of us losing something we love. Just like at school we could learn and adapt and we were able to keep our language alive. I think that it made us stronger as a school and as a new generation of Hawaiians. ■