KA LEO KAIĀULU - LETTERS

Ka Leo Kaiāulu

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A Māori reader seeks your kōkua in identifying the four Hawaiian musicians in this photo taken in 1940 in Aotearoa. - Photo: Courtesy of June Te Rina Mead

Identify 4 musicians

In November/December 1940, a group of four Hawaiian musicians toured our country, Aotearoa. Many of us who attended their concert still have very pleasant memories of their visit. Many still remember some of the songs that were sung by this group.

I am enclosing a photograph taken on the occasion of their visit to a local Māori school in the hope that you will publish it with a view to seeing whether any of these people or their family members can identify them.

There is a gentlemen standing at the rear wearing a hat, and another in white with women on either side. On the right is a woman whose name is Momi Ka'imoku, wearing a lei, and at the end of the row is another member of the group and I think his name is Al'i. One of the other names I recall is someone called Dan (wearing the hat, I think).

I would be very interested in receiving any information that might come should you choose to publish the photograph.

June Te Rina Mead
Wellington, New Zealand
Contact Mead via e-mail at terina.mead@paradise.net.nz

Kūpuna memories

Sharing my thoughts through Ka Wai Ola o OHA is a new experience for me. Sharing my thoughts about kūpuna and our kuleana to their well-being is second nature. My dear mother, Hulu Kupuna Elizabeth Nalani Mersberg Ellis, called it “koho 'ia,” choice no choice.

Taken by the impact of Claire Hughes' most recent column in Ka Wai Ola titled Traditional behaviors and kūpuna, I recognize words that speak of times past. How grateful I am that you have surfaced a concern we as Hawaiians should better understand to be our kuleana to kūpuna in our fast-changing Hawai'i. Change is inevitable, yet how we choose to practice what we know to be pono with our kūpuna is pa'a, a learned tradition. Mahalo, dear Claire!

Remember? Our mothers were “kupuna buddies.” Your mother, whom we all addressed as Aunty Violet chose not to drive, mine drove them everywhere. They taught in both the mother tongue and English, dressed in highest fashion, exampled kūpuna behaviors and shared openly with honesty and passion. Laughter was one of their trademarks, tears as well. Both are gone now, yet each day is one of honoring their times past.

Where one begins to recapture and restore what remains is a challenge, not an impossibility, for people like you.

“Aunty Betty” Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins
Waialua, O'ahu

Kamehameha lawsuit

Another lawsuit against the Kamehameha Schools is being filed and is frivolous because it seems to duplicate a former suit to extract funds from the defendant, Kamehameha Schools. In the first case, no one – not the denied student or the students of other schools or even the general public benefited. Why? Because Kamehameha Schools is a full public-service institution.

Kamehameha Schools holds about half of its estate lands in conservation to protect our fresh water in the forest reserve, where water can be purified as it filters down into aquifers for dwindling drinking water supplies. It receives no compensation for this.

The other half of the estate's lands is mostly in agriculture. The state, through zoning, has determined that agriculture is important, and we can be more self-sustainable by raising our own fresh food instead of being vulnerable and held hostage to so many needed imports.

A small part of the second half of its estate lands, like 2 to 3 percent, has been developed, and all of that income is dedicated to support the only mission of the estate and to educate children. Which it does quite well. This should mean that all of the Kamehameha assets are in pubic service as it is providing or assuming the foregoing public services.

Education is not being denied. There are other schools open and each has specific criteria to enter.

Buzzy Agard
Honolulu
Kamehameha Schools, Class of '42

Maui, tomorrow

I attended the Aug. 13 West Maui GPAC (General Planning and Advisory Committee preparation/forum and the controversy and frustration are very apparent. The future we want and the one that is unfolding are not the same.

Many who have been involved with the general plan process from the start have little faith, as the plans they intended to provide for today were not followed. This may be interpreted as a sign of failure for the GPAC process, but knowing what went wrong and resolving it could also be the beginning of our success.

Our plans clearly state that the ahupua'a concept – that everything is connected – is important to us. We need to honor and keep our ecosystems functional to keep Maui, Maui. Watershed-management planning as outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency is the key to this logical process of evaluating water-quality problems and deciding where to spend resources to solve them. I believe that too much emphasis is being put on protecting the supply side of consumptive uses and greater emphasis is needed on protection of aquatic life and their ecosystems. If we protect the most sensitive uses, it will lead to adequate quality of water for human endeavors.

Tamara Paltin
Kahana, Mau

Notice to Readers Ka Wai Ola o OHA will accept for consideration news releases and letters to the editor on topics of relevance and interest to OHA and Hawaiians, as well as special events and reunion notices. Ka Wai Ola o OHA reserves the right to edit all material for length and content, or not to publish as available space or other considerations may require. Ka Wai Ola o OHA does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Deadline for submissions is the 15th day of every month. Late submissions are considered only on a space-available basis.