Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 6, 1 June 2014 — Earth Day celebrated by keiki on Molokaʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Earth Day celebrated by keiki on Molokaʻi

The Nature Conservaney's volunteers organized a Keiki Earth Day for fourth-grade students. On April 17, 2014, Moloka'i's 160 stu-

dents were bused to Kūlana 'Ōiwi for an environmental and eultural fair. This event was geared toward fourth graders who are learning Hawaiian eulture as part of the Department of Edueation currieulum. This was a great opportunity for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to get involved and to assist with the transportation for the students, goodie bags for those that attended, and the facility.

This year's Earth Day theme was, "Your eanoe is like an island, an island is like a eanoe." Both the eanoe and an island are surrounded by water, is isolated and has limited resources. This is a powerful message for our island children. Ten exhibitors set up displays and eame ready with hands-on activities for the students. The students visited eaeh exhibitor in groups of 15 and the exhibitor had

the students for 15 minutes, and then the children moved on to another exhibitor. "We learned why we want to keep the little red ant off of Moloka'i and to eheek all dirt and plant materials," said Leo Mahe, a fourth grader. Then students listened about the challenges of reintroducing native wiliwili at Mokio Preserve. The students left with their own wiliwili seeds to propagate at home. Students had a firsthand look at taxidermy ducks to compare bills, feathers and other physical attributes. Sadly, the children leamed that the introduced mallard is interbreeding with Hawai'i's native duck, the koloa maoli, and is pushing the native duck to the brink of extinction. The koloa maoli has been a part of the Hawaiian eeo-

system for more than 100,000 years and is found nowhere else on Earth. Akakū Conununity Television also showed students how a video camera is a tool for

environmental and cultural conservation by documenting the land and cultural sites to see if areas are improving or degrading. At NOAA's table, students heard the legends and meanings of the islands' names in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. "The students are surprised that the islands

so far north are part of Hawai'i and have cultural and sacred sites just like their own island," said Brad Wong, Papahānaumokuākea Program Specialist for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The Moloka'i High School Hawaiian immersion class also had a station and they taught the younger students the essential parts of a voyaging eanoe. As part of the presentation, the immersion class taught all the fourth graders a Hawaiian chant for a canoe's journey. At the day's end, all 160 students stood together and chanted the oli. The Keiki Earth Day was a great success and it demonstrated that the students are learning culture by caring for our island's natural resources. ■

<LEO 'ELELE V www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org TRUSTEE MESSSAGES ' NATiVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS l FEATURES I EVENT S

Cūlette Y. Machade

ChairpErsūn, TrustEE Mūlūka'i and Lāna'i

Moloka'i fourth graders learned ahoul koloa maoli, an endangered Hawaiian duck, at Keiki Earth Day. - Photo: Cheryl Corbiell