Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 July 2011 — Aloha mai kākou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha mai kākou,

A truism in life is that you have to know where you eome from in order to know where you're going. In other words, our past lights the way forward. Among OHA's six Strategic Priorities is Mo'omeheu, or Culture. With our 2010-2016 Strategic Plan serving as a road map, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs strives to underscore the importance of valuing Hawaiian history and culture - among all residents of Hawai'i, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike. We also strive to increase participation in Hawaiian cultural activities and to achieve pae 'āina sustainability, including providing cultural and social opportunities for Native Hawaiians in a sustainable and balanced manner. This month, contributing writer Kekoa Enomoto takes readers on a watery voyage to her home island of Maui, where the Kīhei Canoe Club, an OHA grantee, is raising young paddlers to embrace the Hawaiian culture as a lifestyle. Fromkeeping joumals in 'ōlelo Hawai'i to dancing hula, and from vocalizing oli to handcrafting their own paddles, the youth immerse themselves in the culture as mueh as they live and breathe paddling.

"They've grown not only in the culture but in themselves," says the club's Director, 'Anela Gutierrez, adding that she loves "seeing the kids changing and realizing the values of the eanoe. He wa'a he moku - the eanoe is an island ... where we must look out for one another. We all have jobs (to do). As it is on land, is just what it is in the eanoe."

OHA is proud to partner with the Kihei Canoe Club in making this cultural program possible. It is in programs like these ^

that one ean see the future of Hawai'i taking shape - all the while being grounded in the wisdom of the past.

Me ka 'oia'i'o, LO-

Clyde W. Nāmu'o Chief Executive 0fficer