Aloha Aina Definitions/Conversation

More than just love for land
Responsibility
Kuleana as people for land and selves
Educating ourselves on history, identity
Educating next generation
Decolonizing our mind and recolonize naau
We are just stewards of this place
We do not own it
Huli ka lima I lalo
When we hear the call we have to answer
Ua ka ua, ma hea oe?
Symbolism and relationship
Land and kanaka are connected and we can’t live without one another
For our careers: how does your career choice benefit the lahui?
What can you literally do?
How is that we can take ourselves off pause and go into fastforward?
What is the difference between aloha aina and aloha honua?
Aloha aina: grow and eat
Aloha honua: like an ahu, so sacred, put a kapu over yourself
Aloha aina: being grounded in Hawaii
Aloha honua: what we do here has an impact on world around us
Awareness vs. consciousness
some aware
Future goal: make everybody aware
Restore proper balance between kanaka and aina
Our relationship between land and kanaka: spiritual
Our connection is still there, It just needs to be revived
Being introduced early to ahupuaa; ko kula uka, ko kula kai
It is still there we just need to use it today
Might not have large consensus
Patriotism
How can we be a kula Hawaii but we are not well versed in our culture yet?
You can take what you learn from your culture and use it all facets of life
We are so used to getting things instantly; but we need to know that things take time
Aloha aina is a lifetime process
We grow the knowledge and help other people see the passion as well
Huli ka lima I lalo; putting your phone down, putting your hands in the mud
Gotta know your past
Aina: we are part of the aina but we live as if aina and kanaka are different/separate
Aloha kanaka as well
A state of pono
When we aloha aina, things are pono
He Hawaii au: we are Hawaiit
Aloha aina is not only land; aloha aina is yourself and the community you are around
What you think you are doing is right
Aina aloha
Aloha aina: yourself, your kupuna, your past
Kapu aloha: we cannot get mad; we have to use the resources we have today
Make everything we have today better than we had before
Respect and connection with yourself; character, personality, actions
Proving with your words rather than proving with your actions
Be the connection to aina
Plug the light in so the light can guide you
Find the bridge to today’s kuleana
Awareness and education
Find successful avenues to translate what is in our naau to malihini
Resistance to the assimilation to America
Don’t forget where we come from
What does aloha mean?
We need to get deeper
He alii ka āina, he kaua ke kanaka

Career Focused Conversations

Education:
You have to have a strong connection/passion to be an educator of aloha ‘āina. Then the resources like land, money, supplies, etc will follow to kōkua in making it happen. Having a strong support system (kumu, programs) to guide students in this direction so we can build an army with passion.
resources do not define if a school is better or not; Passion is #1 factor for the educational environment
It is important for us to look back at our foundation to hoomau
We do need more resources but we are also resourceful with what we have
Resources we need:
Teachers prepared in aloha ‘āina for all levels of education
Funding to run a school for things like:
Lunches
Transportation
Classrooms, hale
Cultural practitioners:
we all need spiritual connection between us and the land and us and what we want to do
We need passion
Coming together to have conversations beyond boundaries like schools, organizations is helpful
We cannot go back to wa kahiko but we can connect naau to naau with our peers
In order to practice our practices we need:
Forest preservation
Laws in protecting land
We all need that spiritual connection
Government/Law:
We aloha ‘āina, want to protect our land, water, and cultural resources from further desecration. We understand the socioeconomic challenges facing our lāhui. Our history has been hidden from us and current laws and political systems on the most part do not benefit our people as a whole and we aim to change that. As aloha ‘āina we will remain loyal patriots of our country while working within and without the oppressors’ system towards the change we seek.
Health:
Incorporating healing through the land (spirituality)
La‘au lapa‘au
Ho‘oponopono
Lomilomi
Cleaning your ‘auwai (cleanse yourself)
Need to have makawalu
Understand other points of view
Challenges:
getting people to trust Hawaiian healing
Finding people who have ‘ike in healing
Might be too overwhelming for others
Business:
No matter what branch of business you choose to go into, you have to have aloha for yourself and your customers, which will translate for future generations. When you put good mana and mana‘o into your work, you will reap the fruits of your labor. Business owners who show aloha ‘āina take joy in the process and love their job instead of only focusing on the financial side all the time. If you love what you do, the joy you receive will be enough.
We spoke about how big economic players make immoral sacrifices for their business in order to become and stay financially stable. We thought a good way to stray away from making huge economic mistakes would be making divestments, which take money used for investments and use them elsewhere. How can CNHA help small, local businesses? Funds are something needed to advocate for small, local businesses to thrive. We also need more exposure and internships or seminars so young Hawaiians can voice their opinion first hand (during high school). We also discussed how KS can allot their money towards programs and businesses that have good intentions for our lāhui but are also practical and moral as well.