Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 9, 1 September 2014 — Diverse health fairs on 3 islands boosted by OHA grants [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Diverse health fairs on 3 islands boosted by OHA grants

By Karin Stanton Atrio of health fairs will bring focus to domestic violenee, positive male role models and cross-cultural ties across the state. The events - one eaeh on O'ahu, Kaua'i and Hawai'i Island - are aimed at providing information to Native Hawaiians to foster healthy habits. They are being sponsored in part through grants from the Office of Hawaiian

Affairs. O'ahu fair for women's health On Sept. 12, Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Heahh Center opens its doors to women and families for its 13th annual Women's Heahh Day. The theme this year is "When love is given, love should be returned; anger is the thing that gives no life." "It's designed to empower and educate women to take better control of their heahh," said Staci Hanashiro, the heahh center's support services supervisor. "Domestic violence is a topic we've always wanted to do, but this year it all eame together." Hanashiro said domestic violence awareness has increased in recent years, but violence in families still is prevalent. "We know it's going on," she said. "Now we

want people to know what they ean do about it. Many people think it's just a family problem, but it also has serious impacts to the whole community. "It's seen as a pyschosocial issue, but the impacts have a mueh broader reach. It even affects a woman's heahh." Keynote speaker Val Kalei Kanuha, a Hilo native, is a sociology professor at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. She will share traditional ways of handling

conflict and how to use eultural values and practices to bring peaee back to families in today's society. "That cultural aspect is very important in addressing this issue," Hanashiro said. Men will be weleome, she said. "We want to encourage men. They need to know this information to support women in their lives." In addition, healthy eating will be a focus of the one-day event, whieh is expected to draw 150 to 200 participants from teens to kūpuna. "Food is always a draw. We'll be introducing new, healthy food and snacks," Hanashiro said. "We'll have demonstrations with people cooking using healthier ingredients." Hanashiro said support from OHA is appreciated. "It means a lot to us. We use that money for supplies, otherwise it would be SEE HEALĪH FAIRS ON PAGE 12

Women's Health Day

When: 10 a.m.-l p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 Where: Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Centeramphitheater, 86-260 Farrington Highway, Wai'anae, 0'ahu Highlights: Guest speaker Val Kalei Kanuha, Ph.D., of the University of Hawai'i-Mānoa Sociology Department, will share how traditional Hawaiians handled conflict. Live cooking demonstration by Dr. Stephen Bradley, educational booths on health, door prizes and free Native Hawaiian plants. Phone: (808) 697-3300 Sponsors: Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center and 0ffice of Hawaiian Affairs

Traditions to Good Health and Wellness Fair

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19 Where: Keaukaha Hawai'i Village (beach park), Hawai'i lsland What: A cultural exchange of traditions for healing with other native nations Highlights: Guest speakers Gabe Desrosiers will discuss traditional healing ways of the 0jibwa; Kamana Hunter will describethe use of healing songs and training by the Seneca, Mohawk; leanella Keopuhiwa will speak on lomi lapa'au; and Kathryn Mei Lin Wong-Gary on qigong. Demonstrations of Hawaiian traditional healing practices, and health information booths. lnfo: (808) 935-8426 Sponsors: Big lsland Resource Conservation and Development Council, Native lnter-Tribal Council for Heritage and Education, Hui Pū Laka Moku 0 Keawe Hawaiian Civic Club and 0ffice of Hawaiian Affairs

Ke Alaula a Kāne

When: Friday-Sunday, 0ct. 10-12 Where: Kōke'e, Kaua'i (Discovery Center) What: Three-day event focused on reducing chronic disease with a holistic approach through hands-on activities and cultural perspectives. Presenters will relay the message that Hawaiian men should embrace the culture and bring their lives into balance and better health through traditional teachings. lnfo: seanchun@hawaii.edu Sponsors: Ke Ho'ōla 0 Lima Lani and 0ffice of Hawaiian Affairs

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Dr. Stephen Bradley, right, provided a hands-on food demonstration at the annual Women's Health Day. - Courtesy: Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center

Participants learned how to ku'i 'ai, or pound taro into poi, at last year's Ke Alaula a Kāne eonference in Naue, Kaua'i. - Courtesy: Sean Chun

HEALĪH FAIRS

Continued from page 10 very difficult for us to put on the event," she said. Cross-cultural exchange on Hawai'i lsland On Sept. 19, at Keaukaha Hawaiian Village heaeh park, some 500 people are expected to attend the one-day heahh fair hosted by the Native Inter-Tribal Council for Heritage and Education. Dubbed "Traditions to Good Health and Wellness," the fair aims to increase awareness of resources and services for choices to keep healthy. It also is a cross-cultural exchange ahead of the second Hawai'i Island All Nations Powwow, whieh is scheduled Sept. 20-21. The fair's co-coordinator Jaydeen Webster said guest speakers include Gabe Desrosiers of the Ojibwa tribe and Kamana Hunter of the Mohawk tribe. Desrosiers is a singer, dancer and educator at the University of Minnesota, who will be sharing traditional healing arts from the Ojibwa tribe. Hunter is a traditional healer who uses music and bloodline healing in his practice. "They have some powerful information to share," Webster said. "This is a real celebration of culture and wellness." In addition, booths will offer information on such topics as diabe-

tes, cancer, bloodpressure, nutrition andprenatal care, as well as tobacco cessation and substance abuse. While the event is geared toward families, Webster said she hopes to reach the community's youth. "It's for our young people to know what we have in our eommunity," she said. "We don't always remember to do that and we have to realize there's different needs for different people. "With so mueh social media nowadays and so many available resources, everyone needs to be informed with good information to make good choices," she added. "We're working this to be a real eom-munity-centered cultural event." Weekend gathering for boys on Kaua'i Lastly, the weekend of Oct. 10-12, on Kaua'i, Ke Ho'ōla o Lima Lani is sponsoring the Ke Alaula a Kāne weekend camp-out for young men at Kōke'e. "Generally we look at families and how young men interact with their families and communities," said Sean Chun, who is a practitioner of the traditional healing art lā'au lapa'au and host of the event. "Lots of young boys grow up without male role models and we need to reinforce that positive relationship between sons and fathers, grandfathers, cousins, uncles," he said. "It's all about male leadership." The weekend camp-out, open to youth in grade eight and up, begins

with a traditional prayer opening ceremony and includes hands-on activities to prepare food, build a hale, recognize and use native plants, and stay physically fit. "There's a lot of learning - from healthy cooking and learning to build a hale from the materials we gather during a hike," Chun said. "We teach them they have a responsibility to feed others before self. We show how to build a basic foundation and stress cultural identity." Nearly three dozen youngsters will join a crew of 25 older mentors to learn how to halanee their cultural traditions with today's modern world. "If they don't understand their own culture, they start to identify with other cultures, whieh they also don't understand, and they glorify them instead of their own traditions," Chun said. "I see changes in the men that I work with as they start to recognize their responsibilities. It's very positive." Chun said this is the first year the program has the support of an OHA grant. "The OHA funding is important because now we ean reach out to a broader group in the community that might not have had access before," he said. "It just reaches more kids." ■ Karin Stanton, aformer reporter/ editor at West Hawai'i Today, works for the Associated Press and Hawai'i 24/7.

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