Day 3: KEYNOTE: Aloha, Hello and Goodbye with Kuʻuleinani Maunupau

 

“Aloha does not mean hello and goodbye. Aloha has a much deeper meaning of love and respect. Hello to the return of our Indigenous kupuna knowledge and goodbye to the profit-making capitalistic colonization types of thinking that put profit over people.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau

 

2024 WILDFIRE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

 

Colonization has disrupted the deep connection between the land and its indigenous people in Hawaii. The once-thriving Hawaiian land management practice that fostered a harmonious relationship between the people and the environment, has been largely eroded by decades of over-development. As we explore disaster recovery efforts, we are reminded of the urgent need to reclaim the wisdom of our ancestors and restore the harmonious relationship between the people and the land that Aloha embodies. 

Ku’uleinani Maunupau is the CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, an organization dedicated to improving the social and economic conditions of Native Hawaiians and their families. With over 30 years of experience as a grant writer, Kuuleinani brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep commitment to supporting her community.

In this empowering talk, Ku’uleinani shares the story of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy’s unplanned yet crucial involvement in disaster recovery efforts, the organization’s focus on mental health and cultural activities, and their plans for long-term community support. 

 

Highlights:

  • 00:22 Mission: Improving the Socio-Economy of Hawaiian Families
  • 04:42 Caring for Children’s Mental Health
  • 08:34 Preserving Cultural History 
  • 13:21 Aloha— Hello and Goodbye
  • 15:22 Mental Health The Cultural Way

 

Twitter:

Aloha means so much more than just “hello” and “goodbye.” It is about honoring the deep wisdom and connection to the land. Hear more about reclaiming this Aloha spirit with Ku’uleinani Maunupau, the CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy. #Recover #Rebuild #Reimagine #podcast #wildfire #DisasterRecovery #AfterTheFire #2024WildfireLeadershipSummit #NativeHawaiianPhilanthropy #MentalHealthSupport #CulturalActivities #Fundraising #CommunityEngagement #HealingAfterTrauma #SuicidePrevention #IndigenousWisdom #SustainableCommunities

 

Quotes:

01:30 “Native Hawaiian Philanthropy did not set out to be involved in disaster recovery, it ended up leading us there.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau 

08:35 “What we wanted to make sure is that the people we’re working with understood the deep cultural history of Lahaina and its importance.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau

10:42 “Our kupuna had wisdom. We understand the land like no other. It is not separate from us. And so if we can start building communities with this wisdom, not just the Indigenous from all around the world, we will have a safer world.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau

13:29 “Aloha does not mean hello and goodbye. Aloha has a much deeper meaning of love and respect. Hello to the return of our Indigenous kupuna knowledge and goodbye to the profit-making capitalistic colonization types of thinking that put profit over people.” —Ku’uleinani Maunupau

14:25 “We are the servants of the land, and if we do not take care of the land, the land will not take care of us.”  —Ku’uleinani Maunupau

 

Kuʻuleinani Maunupau, CEO, Native Hawaiian Philanthropy

Ku’uleinani Maunupau is the CEO of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, bringing over 30 years of expertise in grant writing, project management, and nonprofit consulting. She has successfully collaborated with 14 nonprofit organizations to promote Hawaiian culture and has secured over $2 million in funding for various programs. Kuuleinani’s skills include grant writing, program development, strategic planning, and media production, where she has directed and produced educational videos. Her dedication to community engagement is evident through her work in developing educational projects and promoting sustainable community development.

Connect with Native Hawaiian Philantrophy: 

 

Transcription:

Ku’uleinani Maunupau: Aloha, everyone. It’s a true honor to be here. I have to admit, many of the movers and shakers are in this room in the wildfires. I’ve been a grant writer for over 30 years, and as a grant writer, I get to work in my home office and be secluded from sometimes the craziness. So it’s really these people here from Maui that came today, that Jen brought, that are the movers and shakers, really. So we’re native Hawaiian Philanthropy. I’m the CEO, and we help to improve the social economic conditions of native Hawaiians and families. Interestingly enough, we started developing it in 20 to 21 and on August 8, we actually posted on social media that we are opening up and not knowing the impact that the fires were having for me on August 8 in Kula, I live in Waialua Homestead, and we were dealing with two fires. One was coming from Olinda, from above us, and there was one by [inaudible] rode below us. So we were up all night monitoring the fires, and were definitely devastated waking up the next day. Native Hawaiian Philanthropy did not set out to be involved in disaster recovery. It ended up leading us there. So this is kind of, I’m not going to give you data, because that’s all been provided. Kind of the things that we did in helping communities we work with World Central Kitchen, and what we we had saw immediately that Lahaina, the Lahaina community, was pulling together, Molokai was helping and so we knew that 1000s were being displaced on the other side of the island. 

So we wanted to help those displaced families. We gave out $1,000 cash to the survivors, and we had spoken to Hawaii Community Foundation to make sure we didn’t have to get a w9. This isn’t going to be taxable. We were asked to purchase tools and equipment for businesses, and our agreement was as long as it was going to be used in the hubs to build shelving, to build temporary housing. So we were excited to do that. That was the heva heva family that was involved. And then we were doing keiki events for Pacific Whale Foundation, and they also gave away school supplies and backpacks. We also partnered with Kamehameha, the third parent teacher association, and got teacher supplies and school supplies. And this is the heal through play program, through Maui tumblers, that was funded by the YMCA. And this took children from four years old to 17 and a place for them to get involved in gymnastics and different activities, and they also engaged in what they call talk story, talking with the kids. And it was devastating to hear some of the kids talk about not wanting to live anymore, how sad they were all the time. Some of them said that the only time they laughed was when they came to play. So this was definitely impacting our volunteers and our staff and our board of directors. One of our board of directors, Alexis Phyllis Silva, her family lost their family home, and she was helping deliver the cash and making meals. So we were looking ahead and we were going to do this year the same thing, Thanksgiving turkey and food box distribution and Christmas activities for families who were displaced again, who had had to leave, there were 1000s who had to leave Lahaina. 

How that came about this Maui Ola, sacred spaces for disaster recovery. So Hawaii Community Foundation, the Maui strong fund, they were talking about the work we were doing in the community. So Jen had called me, and we got a call from Center for Disaster philanthropy. And the main points that I remember from them was one, the money’s going to be running out in six months, and you need to prepare for that. And as a grant writer, that was good for me to know, because in the beginning, the money was pouring in, and just to have that awareness that it’s going to be gone, and you need to prepare long term, that really helped me in our strategic planning. 

The second from Center for Disaster philanthropy, which guided our next step was that in Hurricane Katrina, the two year olds to the eight year olds are now the highest population in the prisons, their drug addiction, violence, and they were. Literally killing each other. And so that really flipped the switch in me that we had to work with the Keiki and make sure that the children to make sure that their mental health was being addressed, and we were helping them through that process. So we partnered with Aloha House and Maui Behavioral Health Resources, KA’EHU, Ho’ōla ‘Āina ‘O Kula, Kalei Kanuha from the University of Washington School of Social Work, Dr. Adrienne Hienz, who is in here, she’s with the National Center for PTSD, and Jolie Wills from Hummingly and Resiliency Warriors, which is the Health Through Play. So Dr. Hienz and and Wills both were connected through Jen and she brought them to our event on Maui at Kaihu Bay, and that’s where we had the massage therapists that they get to experience. We had cultural activities, and I think what we have 22 mental health practitioners there, half local, half from across the US. And what they all said was they didn’t know that they needed that. They didn’t know that they needed the massage or that they needed to talk about their own healing. And so it was definitely a healing day for the mental health practitioners. And this is where we get we began the Mauli Ola sacred spaces for disaster recovery. This one was, comes the song Come to me, all I want to do is zoom a zoom, zoom, zoom and boom, boom.

We are on zooms all the time, constantly. So I really appreciate all these people constantly coming up to help develop this Mauli Ola program. So county of Maui held great events and activities for the survivors during the week of August, 8, and so we had our team come down from all over and they were helping. The first picture is in Kula, up country, and this is at the Lahaina events that Mahina spoke about. And we had Kaehua Native Hawaiian philanthropy staff going to Lahaina Luna and teaching lauhala. And what was interesting the two workers, kule and lohe, all of the activities, including engaging with other people. So the teenagers that went to halawi said, I don’t want to talk to anybody. So I came to this group to and that was really nice for them to have that option. And the other was in Kula, and this is our team. This is a farm that we also do cultural activities at, and they actually had to evacuate for the fires. 

So a lot of the Kula residents, not a lot, those who were displaced feel, often feel like they’re ignored, because Lahaina takes so much precedence because of the impact. And you just can’t compare what happened in Lahaina. You cannot and in Kula, they could walk to their neighbor’s house and they could rent another house down the street. It was much easier for the Kula residents, not downplaying their impact of losing their homes, but it was losing an entire town what was devastating for Maui. So during that week, this past in August, we went to Aloha house, and we met with cultural practitioners in developing the Mauli Ola. And we brought in Dr Ron Williams. He is a Hawaii historian and has done extensive research on Lahaina. What we wanted to make sure is that the people we’re working with understood the deep cultural history of Lahaina and its importance. This is from King Liholiho, Na wai ho’i ka ‘ole oke akamai, he alahele i ma’a i ka hele ‘ia e o’i mau makua. Who would not be wise on the path walked upon by my parents and ancestors. And what the important message here, and I’ve heard it sprinkled throughout, is about indigenous wisdom. Our ancestors were brilliant. They were amazing. They were the best scientists that you could find. And yet, due to colonization, a lot of our wisdom was pushed to the side. And even though us, as Kanaka, has held onto it, have held onto it. It is a challenge with government, with over development, it is always a challenge. And this is a picture of old Lahaina. These next few slides are from Dr Ron Williams. 

And so I’m just showing it to give you a depiction of what Lahaina used to look like, lots of water. Moku’ula just in Lahaina is an axis Mandai of the Hawaiian world. And we had Kahuna Kuhikuhi Pu’uone. Now just read it straight up, Seer, soothsayer, especially a class of priests who advise concerning building and locating of temples, homes, fish ponds, hence, a professional architect. Our kupuna were brilliant about where to build. He told a really nice story about Lahaina, where these missionaries had come in. They wanted to build a church, and the Hawaiians were like, Oh, don’t build there. Oh, we’re going to build here. So they built the church. It burnt down. They built it again. It burnt out, and they built it the third time, and it burnt out. And on the third time, they finally said, Ah, went to the Hawaiians and asked, Oh, where should we go? And what I’m trying to, you know, put the message across which Kahuna helped to do was our kupuna had wisdom. We understand the land like no other. It is not separate from us. And so if we can start building communities with this wisdom, not just the indigenous of Hawaii, the indigenous from all around the world, we will have a safer world, if you notice, most of the even in the presentations, you’re always here native plants. Make sure you plant native plants, native plants. Now why is that? Because our kupuna knew they understood plants. They understood the environment. Lahaina was a site for the courts and others. It was a place of abundance, where fresh water springs combined with streams from nearby mountains flowing Makai to create loko a’i, alawai, ame lo’i kalo, that’s fish ponds and taro patches and ancient irrigation systems. 

17 acres in the center of Lahaina Moku’ula. And we want to quote these visitors who came way back when even the shelving cliffs of rocks were planted with escalate roots banked in and watered by aqueducts from the rivulet with as much art as if their level had been taken by the most ingenious engineer. We could not but indeed admire the laudable ingenuity of these people in cultivating their soil with so much economy, the indefatigable labor in making these little fields and so rugged a situation, the care and industry with which they were transplanted, watered and kept in order surpassed anything of the kind we had ever seen before. And these are people who traveled the world back then. This is from 179. Again, the environs of Lahaina are like a garden. It would be difficult to find a soil more fertile or a people who could turn it to a greater advantage. 

The settlement is far more beautiful than any place we have yet seen on the islands. The entire district, stretching nearly three miles along the seaside, is covered with luxuriant groves, not only of the coconut, but also of the breadfruit and the coal, while the banana plant, kapa and sugarcane are abundant and extend almost to the beach. And this is what the Ahupuaʻa System looks like. This is the Hawaiian system of managing lands, and we have lost that to colonization that has taken over. And we are asking for it to return so the Aloha, Hello and Goodbye. Aloha does not mean hello and goodbye. Aloha has a much deeper meaning of love and respect, but in the sense of hello and goodbye, it would be hello to the return of our indigenous kupuna knowledge, and goodbye to the profit making capitalistic, colonization types of thinking that put profit over people. And that was apparent from the very beginning when disaster philanthropy hit, and people were trying to buy up homes and property in Lahaina within a few days of the disaster, The Hawaiian Proverb: He ali’i ka ‘aina, he kauwi ke kanaka. The land is Chief, man its servant. And this is the third time you’re hearing it, because I know Kainoa had it on his slide, and Paella had mentioned it on the first day. And this is an important proverb, we are the servants of the land, and if we do not take care of the land, the land will not take care of us. 

This is an envision Lahaina of what the community had been posting within a few weeks of the fire. And this is the hope. This is the hope that we have of the Lahaina that can integrate culture and our indigenous wisdom. Koko uka, Ko koa uka, Ko koa kai. Those of the upland, those of the shore. And what this proverb depicts everything that Lahaina was when the fire happened. It explains, traditionally, how the farmers brought food from the uplands and took it down to the sea, and how the fishermen took their fish up to the uplands, but just the communal collective working together to support each other. So with talking with Jen and with Center for Disaster philanthropy, after the first few weeks, four to six, eight weeks of helping the community directly, we could see the volunteers burning out. And so we had pulled back and decided we were going to focus on mental health issues and fundraising. So for the mental health issues, that is definitely a challenge. 

Our Mauli Ola training program for mental health practitioners will start September 25th and 26th on Maui will train 10 cultural practitioners and mental health practitioners. And then we have scheduled events that are cultural activities, and these have already been proven over the past year to work. In our Christmas activities we had children just painting whatever they wanted to paint or drawing, and immediately it engages them in the fire. They’re immediately talking about this is my bike that I lost in the fire. This was how my home looked. This is what my family looked like before. So we do notice that engaging them in traditional activities is a way to get them to speak, to open up. The Western Way wasn’t working. We’ve got calls and feedback from Department of Health mental health agencies that are saying they’re not coming in. No one’s coming in for mental health assistance, and that’s because they’re not going to go into a regular Western world. They’re not going to go on a couch. And then you talk to them and and they talk about their problems. And so we wanted to create a more culturally grounded way to invite them in, and that has been very successful. 

Yesterday, during the conference, I got a text because our staff is still attending the meetings. And there was a meeting yesterday on emotional health, and a man from kids heart two had talked about how the suicide rates are increasing for parents, and two parents just killed themselves, Native Hawaiians and left their two children behind. And so as much as at times, I want to pull away from the disaster recovery and focus on our capacity building. The mental health of our lahui, of our community is in my heart, and it does concern me. We saw suicide rates in the beginning, and I think we had this imagination that as time had passed, it would get better. But as I talked to two mental health professionals yesterday, they said, actually, the one year mark is really the hardest, because you think it’s going to get better, and then at the one year mark, you realize there’s so much more to do, and it’s overwhelming. And they both had experience disaster, and they both were very open about their first year and the thoughts that they had after the first year that how much longer can I do this? You know, how much more can I take? And so we’re excited to be starting up the disaster recovery, mental health program for that integrates. It’s not just for Native Hawaiians, it is for everyone, but integrates Hawaiian culture. 

And so the last piece I wanted to say was, Jen, thank you so much for everything that you’ve done for Maui and for us, educating us, bringing us mental health practitioners that we can work with, for Jolie Wills for helping us. Dr. Hienz had left already. So yeah, I wanted to just thank all of you and thank you for coming. Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, just to wrap up, sorry. I’d say one thing. So in the long term funding, what we have done is we’ve just recently partnered with Native Americans in philanthropy, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in philanthropy. We’re doing funders tour this October, we are going to visit Lahaina, and then we’re doing funders tour every year for 2025 and 2026 and the goal is to bring in $30 million both for Native Hawaiian communities and for disaster recovery. So we’re doing our part, but we are just a small piece of the puzzle to this whole break group from Maui that is doing incredible work in the disaster recovery. So thank you so much.

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