Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 38, Number 7, 1 July 2021 — He Leo Aloha A Beloved Voice of Comfort and Rest for the Kupa 'Āina [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

He Leo Aloha A Beloved Voice of Comfort and Rest for the Kupa 'Āina

By Ku'ulei Perreira-Keawekane

To you who have given your breath to the frontlines of Mauna Kea, Haleakalā, Hakipu'u, Kalaeloa, Kahuku, Hūnānāniho, Kaho'olawe, Waikīkī. To the mothers and fathers, the tutus and papas, the

Ku'ulei Perreira-Keawekane sons, daughters, and descendants - Photo: Courtesy 0f kūpuna Hawai'i. To you also who sit on the frontlines of healing childhood trauma, neglect, abuse, violence, grief - and also land sales, the rising cost of living, the death of a loved one, the loss of our mother tongue. To you who hold the pain of the commercialization of 'āina aloha in your bones, and to you, also, who have traded this pain for the comfort and numbness of the void. We have experienced deep grief for the loss of our land, language and cultural identity. Some of us have forgotten how to wrap our lips around the names and plaee names of our kūpuna, and some of us are tired of being the only ones who know how. This grief has led us to eope by using substances that hurt us, but that also help us to numb this 'eha. I am writing this to the kua'āina who are ready to address the depth of this generational hurt and find a way to the truth of our piko - the wellness of our mauli. Do you know that word - mauli? It is the ancestral fire within us that we feed and keep lit every time we pray or acknowledge the beauty and mana of the sunrise. It is the warmth we feel when we remember or learn something new about who we are and the land we eome ffom as

Hawai'i people. Our mauli is the safety we find when we plant a seed or elean a huli. It's the truth of our cultural identity. Mauli ola is this safety - stabilized and normalized for us in our bodies, our families, workplaces and communities. In his work, Dr. Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula shares the four corner posts of mauli ola, or Native Hawaiian Heahh: Nā Pou Kihi. Our wellness is dependent on Ke Ao 'Ōiwi, Ka Mālama 'Āina, Ka 'Ai Pono, and Ka Wai Ola - Indigenous space, environmental stewardship, healthy consumption and social justice. This means that our illness as Hawai'i people is directly related to the ways we are no longer prioritized as stakeholders in the affairs of our plaee. Our illness is related to the overdevelopment of our land and the ways we are restricted access in spaces mai uka i kai - from the mountains to the sea. Our illness is related to the relationships that we no longer have to our food and where it comes from, and our illness is related to the ways we are ignored in our fight to attain and restore justice for our land and our people. When we finally work up the time, space, energy, and courage to get help with our addictions to things like processed food, instant gratification, aleohol, substances, and stress, we ought to understand the kind of help we need - and where to find it. So I am writing this to share the Kanilehua Framework - a cultural and linguistic framework based on the ohi'a tree - to remind us of the many sources of healing we ean eall upon when we need it most (see graphic). As the ohi'a grows, when rain falls to the earth and filters through the hard lava rock of our forests, it is eollected in an underground drum of water called the pahu moanaliha. Meanwhile, the mole, or taproot of the 'ōhi'a, literally cracks the rock to access the water in the underground drum. Water travels through the root and feeds the tree as it grows

Framework Clarity (Diagram)

Kanilehua (Rain) True Wellness Pahu Moanaiiha (Aquifer) Culture/Language Bearers Mole (Taproot) lmmediate Relief from Within Ma alewa (Aenal Root) Trusted Peers/Friends/Family Pahu Ma ukple (Snrrntinding Fnrpst) Doctors/Clinlcs/Community Resources 'Ōhia ( MeUosidetos polymorpha ) Puhlie Health as a Relational Process

Using the 'ohi'a tree as a metaphor, the Kanilehua Framework was designed to remind us of the many sources of heoling we ean eall upon when we are in need. - Artwork: Joki Knaus

upward. When ohi'a can't access water from the ground, it sprouts ma'alewa, aerial roots, that hang from the branches above. The roots that grow from the branches draw from the moisture of the surrounding forest, or the pahu ma'ukele. This process models the ways we are able to grow and heal. The rain represents mauli ola, the underground drum of water represents we who are the culture and language bearers, frontline activists - the people struggling through the "trenches."

The taproot represents the medicine whieh is accessible directly to us - like prayer, chant, dance and aina. The aerial roots represent the people we reach for in times of need, and the surrounding moisture represents the professionals, practitioners and community resources that also support us through our healing. The purpose of the Kanilehua Framework, then, is to teach us that our healing will eome from all different directions. It will require us to deepen our relationships with ourselves and our culture, the people and the plaees around us. Doctors and treatment centers ean help to guide us on our healing journeys, especially when we suffer from ehemieal dependency and emotional, physical or spiritual trauma. SEE HE LEO ALOHA ON PAGE 19

HE LEO ALOHA

Continued from page 7 When we dig deep and remember the truth of our pain and where it comes from - where it started, and how it's related to our illness - it's a deep work that leads us to the people, places and practices that we've always known: oeean, land, play, song, joy, family, rest. I am grateful to the Hawai'i State Department of Heahh and the Thompson School of Social Work and Puhlie Heahh at UH Mānoa for sponsoring the creation of the Kanilehua Webinar Series, where kānaka and practitioners eome together to learn about this fr amework in depth. I invite you to learn more and engage. Ask yourself these questions: What is heahh and wellness to me? How do I take care of myself when the pressures of being Hawaiian in Hawai'i get to be too mueh? What do I do on a daily basis that pulls me closer to my heritage, my culture and my peaee? Who ean I rely on for spiritual and emotional support? Am I open to outside help? Am I willing to trust myself and the people who support me? E ku'u wahi kulāiwi, now is the time - to reclaim our language, our cultural truth, our wellness, our relationship to our food and 'āina aloha. Now is the time for

us to do the work to heal the trauma that we inherited from our kūpuna by remembering the strength, power, and grace we inherited also. Iwi o ku'u iwi, koko o ku'u koko, pili ka mo'o, a mau loa. Your bones are my bones, your blood is my blood, our story is secure - now and forever. This letter is a kāhea for us to return home, to the peaee of our pule and the safety of who we are as a people. Let us heal, let us strengthen our spirits and soften our hearts. Let us find our water, remember our breath, and grow, so that our children eome to wellness and rest, so that we continue to eome together to the ea of this aina aloha. Eō mai. ■ Ku'ulei Perreira- Keawekane is from Panaewa, Waiākea and Hilo on Hawai'i Island. She is the cultural advisor for the Pacific Heahh Analytics Collaborative at the Center of Aging at the Thompson School ofSocial Work and Puhlie Heahh at UH Mānoa. Through her social media platform on Instagram (@mauli.ola), shefacilitates dialogue on native identity, systemic change, generational trauma, and ancestral relations.