Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 8, 1 August 1996 — OHA attends World Indigenous Peoples Conference [ARTICLE]

OHA attends World Indigenous Peoples Conference

By Kelli Meskin

Representatives from OHA's Education division travelled to Albuquerque, New Mexico as hosts, and representatives of native Hawaiians, at the 1996 World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education (WIPC:E) last June. The eonference is held every three years and focuses on the educational rights of indigenous peoples around the world. The hosts of this year's conference were the indigenous peoples of the United States: native Hawaiians, Alaskan Indians and Native American Indians. Members from Kamehameha Schools, UH Hilo and Alu Like also attended. OHA representatives provided two

workshops at the conference. Kupuna Alaka'i Betty Jenkins and Kupuna Kako'o Nālehua Knox presented information on OHA's Kupuna program. Kamele Kapaona, a coordinator of OHA's 'Aha 'Opio gave a presentation on the leadership development program. "'Aha 'Ōpio teaches kids to voice their opinions and to be heard, but first to listen and take everything in before they speak," Kapaona said. "Those are very well known Hawaiian values, ho'olohe, ho'omaka and 'imi na'au'ao." Indigenous groups from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Canada and indigenous people from Costa Rica, Guatamala, Ghana and the Lapps people

(the reindeer herding people) who live in Russia, Norway and other nearby areas, attended the conference. The theme of this year's conference — "Listen to the voices of the elders, the voices of the youth, the answers lie within us" - — addressed the halanee needed to participate in a non-indigenous society and still maintain one's cultural identity. "We have the same social problems and the same education problems," said Kapaona, referring to the struggles of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Because of these struggles and hardships, the National Organizing Committee of the 1993 WIPC:E organized a task force of indigenous people from different

countries who met in Coolangata, New South Wales. Together they drafted an international document on the educational rights of indigenous peoples called the Coolangata Statement. The statement addresses the rights of indigenous people to establish their eultural values and philosophies through an educational format. The WIPC:E reviews different programs, tools and vehicles used by different cultures to incorporate their cultural ideologies in an educational manner. This year was the fourth WIPC:E. Previous conference hosts were Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Hawai'i has been selected for the next conference site.