Makana Preparations

Hau & Puka Shell Jewelry

Hand-stripped and prepared strips of hau (above) and puka shells, or shells with holes, handmade into jewelry.

Kim Kuʻulei Birnie and Marion Ano crafting a necklace

Leotele Togafau creating puka shell earrings

Atlas curiously inspecting the strips of hau

Marion and Nicki Garces putting together a bracelet

Mahalo to Grace, Lydi, Jane & Marion for helping pick shells at Ke Iki beach in Pupukea!

Kāwika

In preparation for our journey to Puerto Rico, the 2012 Hawaiʻi delegation is learning a traditional kahiko hula from Kumu Hula James Dela Cruz, co-founder of Nā ʻŌpio o Koʻolau Hula Halau. The song was hakuʻd in honor of King David Kalākaua, the "Merrie Monarch" who brought back the hula after colonial influences had suppressed this cultural practice and tradition in Hawaiʻi. We learn this hula to honor ancestors who value expression and representation beyond conventional norms set in place by colonial influence and imperial force.

Kāwika (David) - Mele Inoa for King David Kalākaua

King Kāwika Kalākaua

 

Eia nō Kāwika ea O ka heke aʻo nā pua Ka uwila ma ka hikina ea Mālamalama Hawaiʻi Kuʻi e ka lono Pelekani ea Hoʻolohe ke kuʻini ʻo Palani Na wai e ka pua i luna ea O Kapaʻakea he makua Haʻina ʻia mai ka puana ea Kalani Kāwika he inoa

This is David The greatest of all flowers (He is) the lightning in the east That brightens Hawai`i| News reached England Also heard by the French queen Who is this flower of high rank? Kapa`akea is his father Tell the refrain King David, is his name

ONLINE SOURCE: http://www.kalena.com/huapala/Kawika.html

About the 2012 Hawai'i Delegation

Meet the 2012 Hawaiʻi Delegation to the 8th Meeting of the International Womenʻs Network Against Militarism in Puerto Rico and Vieques 

Ellen-Rae Cachola was born and raised on the island of Maui.  She is a grand daughter of Ilocano sugar and pineapple plantation workers who came from Narvacan, Ilocos Sur, Luzon, Philippines.  Ellen-Rae was one of three delegates from Hawai'i who participated in the 5th East-Asia-U.S.-Puerto Rico Women's Network Against Militarism (former name of the International women's Network Against Militarism) meeting in Manila, Philippines in 2004. Since then, this women's network is raising her consciousness on the interconnected histories of imperialism and colonization between the Philippines and Hawaii; the Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Caribbean at large. Ellen-Rae is currently a doctoral student at UCLA's Archival Studies program, to understand how recordkeeping systems participated in the colonization of Ilocanos, but also, how recordkeeping systems can be created to support liberatory social movements. 

Terri Kekoʻolani (bio to come)

Elise Leimomi Davis
 is a kanaka maoli and filipina, born and raised in Hawaii before living in New York and California for school and work. She is currently an Assistant Researcher at `Imi Hale Native Hawaiian Cancer Network, in Honolulu, HI. Elise received a BS in Biology with a concentration in genetics and development and a Masters in Public Health with a concentration is social and behavioral health sciences. She also worked as a Community Intervention Specialist and as an Evaluation Research Assistant with the Office of Public Health Studies at the University of Hawaii. Her interests include community health education, community capacity building for health promotion, healthy food systems, and reducing health disparities.

Kim Kuʻulei Birnie:

Mother, grandmother, daughter, auntie and sister, her professional and community work has centered on issues of social justice and aloha ‘āina. She has worked in Hawai‘i’s public health arena addressing health disparities among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She has been accessing the island of Kaho‘olawe for more than 20 years, and is active with the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana. 

Eri Oura is a womyn, born and raised in Hawai′i, of Japanese ancestry, but raised by a Korean woman from Daegu. In 2008, Eri co-founded the Collective for Equality, Justice & Empowerment (a student group at the University of Hawaiʻi), and has worked with various anti-violence, justice-oriented, women- and queer-focused organizations. She works on the administrative side of non-profits in Hawai′i and have worked on different projects and programs that encourage peaceful resistance in communities where injustice is the norm.

Special Thanks:

Our delegation would not be able to go to Puerto Rico without the support of our communities here in Hawaiʻi. There have been countless powerful and fearless sisters and brothers in Hawaiʻi nei who have supported work towards genuine security and continues to lift up this delegation to be able to be on this journey. Special mahalo nui to Grace Caligtan, Darlene Rodrigues, Marion Ano, Kyle Kajihiro, Pete Doktor, Monique Yuen, Gigi Miranda, Nicki Garces, Leotele Togafau, Darshan Mendoza, the Passionista! Fashion Show Project, Hawaiʻi Peace & Justice, liberated cuts, Kānehūnāmoku Voyaging Program and Third Path Movement for Reproductive Justice!