Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 8, 1 August 2014 — Kauaʻi shares manaʻo with OHA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kauaʻi shares manaʻo with OHA

Aloha from Kaua'i and Ni'ihau! Mahalo this month to the people of Kaua'i, who served as gracious hosts while also sharing their mana 'o for our 2014 OHA Kaua'i eommu-

nity and Board of Trustees meetings in Iuly. As the Kaua'i and Ni'ihau Trustee, these island community meetings are a highlight for me as I am able to have my fellow Trustees hear directly from my friends, neighbors and community members on what's important to them. This year, the Kaua'i Museum (www.kauaimuseum.org) served as our site visit for OHA visitors. I want to thank the Museum's leadership, staff and volun-

teers for allowing us to visit and learn more about Kaua'i's history. We were fortunate to also have Mayor Bernard Carvalho, Council Chair Jay Furfaro and Mrs. Dorothy Cataluna take time out of their schedules to join us for luneh, to talk story about the upcoming projects on Kaua'i and to fellowship with eaeh other. If you haven't had a ehanee to visit the Museum, you ean stop by MondaySaturday, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Trustee Oz Stender is retiring at the end of his tenn in November, so I'm glad we had a ehanee to honor him at his last Kaua'i meeting and thank him for his service to Hawaiians and especially the charter school movement on Kaua'i. Kaua'i's long and storied history of fiercely independent thinking was exhibited for all to see as beneficiaries discussed Hawaiian governance, Mauna Kea, kuleana land taxes and tax relief, as well as other issues of importance. It takes time to hear about all of these issues, so I am glad that people had an opportunity to eome and be heard. The invited community meeting speakers included the following: • Kamealoha Hanohano Smith of Kaiāulu Anahola (kaiauluanahola. eom) for the blessing at the eommunity meeting and oli and mele at the BOT meeting. • Kane Milne and Kris Kua of the

High Tech Youth Network for updating us on HTYN's projects on Kaua'i, throughout Hawai'i and the rest of the Pacific. Kane traveled all the way from Aotearoa and Kris eame from Hilo to share. • John Kaohelauli'i,

Dirk Soma and Jennifer Ingersoll of the Kaua'i Native Hawaiian Chamber of Conunerce (knhcc.org) who updated the Trustees on their efforts to support eeonomie initiatives. I'm proud to report that OHA Kaua'i maintains a corporate membership with KNHCC. • Anela Pa and Rowena Pangan of Ho'omana, who again had several of their participants share stories of how Ho'omana's pro-

grams have helped them overcome struggles. • Thomas Atou of OHA, who extended a trip to Kaua'i so that he could present about OHA's Mālama Loan (www.oha.org/malamaloan) and Hua Kanu loan program. Mahalo to Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center for allowing us to use their lānai area to hold our meeting. And finally, to the helping hands of Ka Hale Pono, a grass-roots nonprofit from Anahola, mahalo for preparing 'ono meals for us at the site visit, community and BOT meetings. Finally, here's a shout-out to the Queen Enuna Hawaiian Civic Club. It celebrated its 50th anniversary at a Ho'omau event at the Hale Koa Hotel where they honored recipients Art Ushijima (President and CEO of The Queen's Heahh Systems), Dr. Gerard Akaka (Vice President of Native Hawaiian Heahh, Medical Education and Clinical Support for The Queen's Medical Center), Dr. David Paperny (Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine), and Dr. Baron Ching (Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at JABSOM) for their work in the heahh care arena to unprove heahh conditions of Native Hawaiians. Congratulations again to the Club and to its Honor Recipients. Mahalo nui loa! ■

Dan Ahuna

TrustEE, Kaua'i aud Ni'ihau