Purpose Statement: ILA - A Essay #1

The intended purpose of this Individualized Learning Achievement is to discover new dimensions of my ancestral roots, and to reconnect with my culture of origin by increasing my knowledge and appreciation of the Hawaiian language, our native values, culture, and traditions. During this segment of the journey, I have taken the beginning steps in reclaiming ownership of my native heritage.

I thought it might be wise to take three A’o Makua classes offered by Kamehameha Distance Learning Program – Malama ‘Aina, the Hawaiian Cultures, and the Introduction to Hawaiian Language classes – at the same time to compound my knowledge. Clearly, it would be extra work to take all three classes in a six-week time frame, however the sweet payoff of being immersed in “Hawaiian-ness” would be exactly that – immersion – deep learning in a short amount of time, about different facets of my heritage. In taking the opportunities available, perhaps a strong foundation could be built for the long dissertation work ahead.

As luck would have it, all three courses were offered just as I was ready to start my ILA! It wasn’t actually luck; the experienced kumu (educators) knew exactly what they were doing when they planned the curriculum! Little did I know how profound the synergy would be for my learning. Valuable resources like Ulukau (www.ulukau.org) which is the Hawaiian Electronic Dictionary, Baibala Hemolele (www.baibala.org) – also known as the Hawaiian Bible, and Huapala (www.huapala.org) – a site that houses Hawaiian Music and Archives were unearthed. I made delightful yet fundamental discoveries about Hawaiian epistemology, like how the concepts of ‘aina (land), language, and culture wili (entwine) together seamlessly. For the Kanaka Maoli (n. Full-blooded Hawaiian person; wehewehe.org), there was no separation between spirituality and their gods, mankind, and the ‘aina (Nā Waiwai Hawai’i part 1, 1987) which belonged to the gods (Dunford, The Hawaiians of Old, p. 40). I learned about traditional Hawaiian values which include the essential concept of reconnecting to the three piko: piko ma’i, piko ‘ōpū and piko po’o which I will explain later in a future post.