Mālama ‘Āina – To care for the land.

Mālama ‘Āina – To care for the land.
He ali‘i ka ‘āina, he kauwā ke kanaka. The land is a chief; the man is its servant.
Ancient Hawaiian proverb

mā.lama
1. nvt. To take care of, tend, attend, care for, preserve, protect, beware, save, maintain; to keep or observe, as a taboo; to conduct, as a service; to serve, honor, as God; care, preservation, support, fidelity, loyalty; custodian, caretaker, keeper. Cf. makemake, mālama hale, mālama hele, mālama moku, mālama pū’olo, pālama 1. Mālama ‘ana, custody. Mālama pono ‘ia, well cared for. Mālama pono! Be careful! Watch out! Mālama makua, one who cares for parents. Mālama wahine, caring for one's wife. Mālama i kou makua kāne, honor your father. Mālama kauoha, obey orders. ( http://www.wehewehe.org )

The Kumulipo and the story of Hāloa illustrate the deeply rooted concept of mālama ‘āina in Hawaiian culture. In her (1998) thesis entitled Native Hawaiian Epistemology: Contemporary Narratives, Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer (Associate Professor of Education, University of Hawai'i at Hilo) describes seven themes that comprise Hawaiian epistemology, one of which is the concept of mālama ‘āina. She references our kūpuna (ancestors) and their intelligence, their indigenous wisdom, evident in their loving relationship to the land, which is very different from what we are taught: “We have become steeped in the western mindset which ascertains that exclusion, property, ownership and accumulation of goods comprise a higher state of being.” (Meyer, 1998). “Nothing could be further than the truth in relationship to indigeneity and what will sustain us over time.”

I thought about the words mālama ‘āina. I was able to learn words, common phrases and simple sentence structure in a third A’o Makua class, ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i: “E Ola ka ‘Ohana” – The family lives. I can tell you that Mālama ‘āina translates literally, “To take care of, that which feeds”.

‘Āina. That which feeds. It is all about land. Our ability to sustain ourselves on land, with land, around land… is the point... We must stop talking about the land as property and real estate; that denotes a kind of relationship to that piece, to that land base, to that capacity for us to have a relationship with it. We have a relationship with our land. We value our relationship with our land – that’s an intelligence that our people understood. Papa was not a metaphor for mother. She IS our mother. We must nurture and revive her, and that’s one of the concepts of (Hawaiian) epistemology. We value land. We don’t teach this in our DOE schools or even our private schools. When we treat land as a commodity, as a thing to own, to change, to alter… we’re so very far from that basic epistemological truth as Hawaiians.
Manu Meyer (2005)

In a video mo’olelo (story) module to support Mālama ‘Āina, Uncle Tom Cummings, a kupuna (elder) and instructor with Kamehameha Schools stresses the importance of mālama ‘āina through stories and examples:

The land or ‘āina is a provider. It shelters us. It gives us a home to build on. Resources from the ‘āina clothe us. The land is where we get our recreation, our fun…our sports. ‘Āina is where we celebrate our accomplishments through mele (songs), ‘oli (chants, stories) and hula (dance). Above all, the ‘āina feeds all of us, and the sea is included when we talk about ‘āina.
Thomas Cummings (2009)

A’o Makua (Hawaiian Cultues classes) Curriculum Design

The knowledge imparted from the papa olelo (Hawaiiana classes) is fundamental to understanding Hawaiian truths and origin of knowledge. The mana’o (higher thought) of the program developers was that the wisdom of our ancestors would always be available to help us, to grow and nurture our knowledge in Hawaiian culture, language, and perspective, and with that knowledge inspire us - the participants - to share the wisdom with our ‘ohana and community.

The curriculum within each class of the A‘o Makua courses is divided into sections, each cleverly embodies the parts of an ‘ulu (breadfruit) tree: mole (root), kumu (trunk), lālā (branches), and hua (fruit). Ka Mole, the main root is also known as the ancestral root embodies the lesson, and includes ancestral knowledge within each papa (class). Ka mole (root) provides a firm foundation in the earth and allows the tree to grow toward the sky.

Kumu is a Hawaiian word that has many meanings: teacher, a source of knowledge, or an entire tree. However, in the A‘o Makua curriculum, ke kumu refers to the trunk of a tree which supports the branches and conducts water from the roots to the rest of the tree. Applicable, contemporary knowledge in this context is known as ke kumu. Lālā, the branches of the tree connect ke kumu (the trunk) to ka hua (the fruit). Like ke kumu, lālā represents even more contemporary knowledge taught in A‘o Makua.

Finally there is the hua (fruit). A strong foundation from ka mole (roots) and support from ke kumu (trunk) and lālā (branches) is needed to produce healthy hua (fruit); similarly, it takes a loving, supportive ‘ohana (family) to produce a healthy, successful keiki (children). In A‘o Makua, ka hua (the fruit) contains activities for students to share with their ‘ohana (family).

A’o makua is a student-centered distance learning program, and therefore the student, ke kumu is personified as the trunk, central to the tree (a’o makua). We are taught that knowledge of our kūpuna (ancestors) strengthens our mole (roots), our sense of self so that our hua (fruit), our keiki (children) can become successful in the world by first knowing who they are and where they came from.

As haumana (students) of the A‘o Makua program, we simultaneously become kumu (teachers) entrusted with a great responsibility to carry on the timeless wisdom of our kupuna (ancestors). This is truly the a‘o aku, a‘o mai concept of giving and receiving knowledge, central to the Hawaiian way of thinking, the mindful way of being, growing, and sharing. Together as a learning community, we learn to mālama (care for) our trees of cultural knowledge and ancestral wisdom, and we grow hua, fruits to share with our ‘ohana (families) and with our communities.