Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 7, 1 July 2013 — 'One board, one stone, for every home' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'One board, one stone, for every home'

By Sarah Paeheeo t is an understatement to say that kalo played an important role in the lives of Native Hawaiians. From politics to economics to spirituality, taro in its various forms sat at the center of ancient Hawaiian society. Today, the starchy tuber remains a viable resource whose impact extends far beyond the dinner plate. To see how a simple plant ean have such far-reaching roots, travel deep into the back of Kalihi Valley to the nonprofit Keiki O Kā 'Āina, where a series of workshops in whieh participants create their own poi-pounding boards and stone poi pounders is helping to rebuild relationships, strengthen family ties

and move communities one step closer toward self-sufficiency. "It's one board, one stone, for every home - with the idea being that if we ean get our families back to pounding poi, they'll be strengthened, as well," says Keiki O Ka 'Āina Executive Director Momi Akana. The "board and stone class," as it is called, is the brainchild of "Unele" Earl Kawa'a, who was approached by Keiki O Ka 'Āina in 2010 to implement his vision of rebuilding 'ohana through good old-fashioned hard work. "He didn't want people to eome and dip their foot in and take their foot out," Akana says. "If you want to do this class, you better be ready to dive in." Indeed, this class is not for the weak-hearted. Over the course of five months, families participate in hands-on learning activities that involve

trekking into the woods to ehop down a tree for the board (with a ko'i, or ax, crafted out of raw materials they had to gather, as well) and selecting rocks that ean take a pounding without shattering. "It's not a shop class," Akana states. "If it was a shop class, we'd tell you go buy a grinder and a sander and we're going to make a board. No, that's not how it is. You're going to work hard, and you're going to struggle. "That wood is going to teach you," she eontinues. "And the rocks, some of them break, and what you learn is that it doesn't matter if it's broken, you ean still put it back together. Even a rock teaches you lessons and makes you look at things differently." Every month there are poi-pounding classes in whieh participants learn how to properly pound

poi and care for their boards. Scientists and geologists from the University of Hawai'i, as well as wood experts from around the state, also are brought in to lead participants in lessons on identifying different stones and how to properly sand wood. Families even get to visit open lo'i in Waiāhole and Waikāne to work in the patches, either shoring up 'auwai (ditches) or constructing an entire terrace system from nothing. "It's amazing to see how you ean transform a plaee so quickly and so completely just by everybody working together. It really gives you the feeling that, wow, when Hawaiians worked together, they got so mueh done!" Akana says, beaming. A large pā'ina and hō'ike at the Keiki O Ka 'Āina campus eap off the program. To mark the occasion, families prepare food for the graduation lū'au from scratch - kālua pork, laulau, 'opihi, poke, 'ō'io, 'inamona and, of course, poi - before getting to try out their boards and stones for the very first time in a eommunal celebration in the on-site hale. As the evening winds down, participants are asked to share their personal journeys with others. At the most recent graduation, Akana says, one girl spoke about how the experience had mended the relationship between her and her sister. "Attending the class every other week brought them together, and then they both invited their whole family to the graduation ceremony, whieh brought the whole family together. It was just an amazing healing process for the whole family," Akana says. Another family, she noted, decided that they are going to start a business using their new implements. "They are going to make pa'iai and they're going to sell it in the community," she says. "This heeame eeonomie sustainability for this family. "So many things happened during this class, and it's so inspiring to see what it did," Akana continues. "The feeling you get, the empowerment that this class gives you - when you're able to be in charge of every pieee of the process, pounding the poi is the easy part." Keiki O Ka 'Āina recently received a grant from OH A to grow its board and stone program, whieh Akana says will help deliver this life-changing opportunity to more communities both on O'ahu and on Neighbor Islands. "We're going to be training people from (O'ahu), Moloka'i and Hawai'i Island, and Unele Earl wants to (eventually) open it up to Maui and Kaua'i as well," she says. "This class meant different things to different people, and I'mjust excited to see as it expands, what it's going to mean." ■

Sarah Paeheeo, an 0'ahu-basedfreeīance writer, is aformer assistant regional editorfor MidWeek.

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CULTURE

A young girl, second from right, looks on as Nieole Kamai and her two keiki pound poi for the first time on their papa ku'i 'ai (poi-pounding board) as part of the dedication ceremony in May. At top: Stone poi pounders sit atop a papa ku'i 'ai. - Courtesy photos