Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 2, 1 February 1989 — OHAʻs Important Milestones [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHAʻs Important Milestones

by Clarence F.T. Ching Trustee, O'ahu

Every onee in awhile one must slow down and assess the situation. Around Christmas time, because the airline specials to and from the mainland were so attractive, 1 decided to do a little reorienting myself. I chose to do it in Texas. I had been invited to spend some time around the holidays with one of my

very dear friends. But three weeks before my trip was to begin my friend had to make some drastic scheduling changes whieh precluded my stay there. Since I had a no-refund, no-change round trip ticket, I decided to make the best of it. So with "Kalena Kai," one of my favorite tunes humming in my head, off I went. I had last seen San Antonio on December 17, 1958, as I entered college after being there for two years in the Air Force. For 30 years I had wondered about the segment of my life that I had spent there. Had the plaee changed drastically? What happened to my old buddies?

In retrospect, return to past places may not always work out as it seems it should. Things never remain the same. I drove out to look at the barracks I had called "home" for those two years. What a surprise! It and the other buildings around it were nowhere to be seen. My home was now a part of an expanded parade ground. 1 went to look at a ehapel, a short way from the base, that I had spent some of my spare time eonstructing. I found it, but it didn't match the one that was part of my mental image. The one I saw had no grass and was on the edge of a subdivision, in the

process of running down. It didn't match the one in my mind that stood alone on the edge of a soon to be constructed subdivision and surrounded by a well cared-for lawn. There are times when, it seems, it may be a better ehoiee to leave the rose-colored past as it has been imprinted in the mind than to confront the present reality of it all. But I was glad to have made the trip and to have made my connection between the past and present.

Some say that only when one knows from whenee one comes that one ean then know where to go. And so it may be. There are those OHA beneficiaries who know too little of the details of OHA's recent past. It was surprising, as the Trustees went throughout the state in October of last year explaining details of the single beneficiary class definition, that some of our beneficiaries asked "What has OHA done for Hawaiians?" This may be as good a time as any to note some of the important milestones that OHA has aeeomDlished.

Many beneficiaries don't know that it was OHA that made the initial grant to the Federal-State Task Force on the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act resulting in the return to the trust of many misappropriated lands. OHA also provided the initial idea and money for Ho'olako— The Year of the Hawaiian. Ho'olokahi, the January 1988 event that brought Hawaiians together in unity, also had its beginnings at OHA.

OHA has sponsored conferences for 'opio, kupuna, on la'au lapa'au and is providing training and support for the DOE's Kupuna Program. OHA is providing training for potential Hawaiian business men and women in the Entrepreneurship Training Program, and is the administrator for the new*$3 million Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund that will provide loans for Hawaiian entrepreneurs to start, expand or improve their businesses. Not only is OHA involved with protecting Hawaiian historical sites such as Luluku, whieh H-3

construction would have obliterated, but it is demanding that the disinterred bones of Hawaiians, at Honokahua, Mokapu, Queen Street and everywhere else, be treated with respect and dignity. OHA is also defending privately-owned Hawaiian lands from the attack of adverse possession by supporting operations of the Native Hawaiian Land Title Proiect.

OHA sponsored the Kuleana Escheat Bill that puts a stop to the transfer of land grants and kuleanas to mostly non-Hawaiian ahupua'a owners by legal process if there are no heirs or takers. Those lands now go to OHA to benefit Hawaiians. And OHA lobbied hard for the Hawaiian Right to Sue Law whieh wiil maintain the integrity of the Hawaiian Homes Trust and OHA Ceded Lands Trust.

OHA has also supported programs for aleohol and drug abuse prevention, has assisted the homeless and has begun a self-help housing project to help Hawaiians build their own homes. On the federal level, OHA supported the School Improvement Act of 1987 and the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act of 1988 whieh will bring mulhmil-lion-dollar programs to help solve Hawaiian education and health concerns. These accomplishments are the tip of the ieeberg of OHA's activities. But they have brought us to where we are at the present. Optimism is the outlook for the future.

A eouple of present activities that will have important impacts on our Hawaiian future are the ongoing discussions between OHA and the Governor for moneys owed to OHA by the state through the ceded lands trust and a new federal reparations bill for the lands stolen when our Queen lost her throne in 1893, that are now held by the U.S. Government. As we assess the Hawaiian past and look at the Hawaiian present, we need to realize that we have many important options for the Hawaiian future. We need to prepare ourselves for the many exciting things that will be happening to us. We need to be ready for the positive changes that are heading our way.