Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 1, 1 January 1997 — Pai ʻOhana moves [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pai ʻOhana moves

by Kelli Meskin

DLNR has issued a temporary right of entry permit to facilitate the move of the Pai 'Ohana from federal park land to the nearby site of the proposed living Hawaiian culture and learning center at Kealakehe. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, State Department of Land and Natural Resources and Senator Daniel Inouye's office worked together on the issue to ensure Mahealani Pai and his family ean continue their cultural lifestyle as acting kahu (caretaker). The Pai 'Ohana have moved their belongings from federal land in Kaloko Honokohauiki, where nine generations of Pais have lived, to an adjacent seven acres of state land. The National Park Service (NPS) acquired the land from the Greenwell family in 1988. The Greenwells requested that NPS respect and preserve the historical Hawaiian sites on the land, including 'Ai Ōpio fishtrap and the heiau. The Greenwells acknowledged the Pai family as the live-in kahu of the area, and respected their native rights and responsibihties to their ancestral lands. NPS gave the Pai 'Ohana a fiveyear permit to eonhnue to live there after the acquisition. When the permit expired NPS offered the Pais another five-year permit. This time the family refused to sign because of the limitations of the permit. The permit didn't allow them to have an imu, to hold cultural workshops, to have a boat or make any improvements. As a result NPS sought to evict them. OHA plans to build a living Hawaiian cultural and learning center on the seven-acre site. The Pais are acting as the resident kahu of the center because they have continued to mālama the 'āina, to practice traditions and teach 'ōpio, mākua and kūpuna at Kealakehe. The center is part of OHA's master plan "to achieve revival, enhancement and maintenanee of Hawaiian culture." NPS has offered to build a hālau on the federal land to expand the living culture and learning center. The center will be open to all Hawaiians. OHA has conducted community meetings throughout Hawai'i island to receive community opinion on the center. Overall, OHA has received a very positive reaction from the various communities.