The tables at our Huli Ka Lima I Lalo fundraiser were graced with 24 'umeke made from Ulupō mud and native-plant glazes by Kauka de Silva, a potter raised in the muds of Kailua. The pots were also stamped with pewa (the "fishtail" peg used to repair cracks in cherished wooden objects), and in them were placed living kalo manaulu from Ulupō along with nanea and 'ākulikuli donated by Hui Kū Maoli Ola. The layers of meaning expressed in this convergence of mud, glaze, plant, and pewa are a reflection, we think, of Hika‘alni's efforts at Kawainui to turn the hands down and bind us up again in the things we hold most dear. Huli Ka Lima I Lalo raised more than $10k in funds that will go directly to keeping the hands of Kaleomanu‘iwa Wong engaged in this resurgence of aloha ‘āina. Mahalo to all who helped. -- Kihei de Silva

HULI KA LIMA I LALO
Sunday, Sept. 25, 5-8:30 pm
at Hale Kealoha in Kailua
Hawaiian food: Aunty Tammy Smith & ‘Ohana
Hawaiian music: Nā Hoa
Hawaiian hula: Hālau Mōhala ‘Ilima 
Silent Auction (of one-of-a-kind hana maiau Hawai‘i
Tickets: $50 from Mapuana de Silva -- 222-2243 or [email protected]
Our big fundraiser is coming up this Sunday. Its purpose: to help our non-profit organization keep Kaleo Wong on board as the Paku‘i Hou of Ulupō and Wai‘auia. Please kōkua, if can, the efforts of someone who turns his hands down daily to do the work of reclaiming land and identity at the once and future "big-fresh-water."

Mahalo to Lynn Cook for her carefully written article about our battle with the invasives of Ulupo, rooted and rooting alike. Credit is shared, as it should be, with the anchor individuals and organizations of our Hawaiian community, with Doc Burrows and Lehuakona Isaacs, with the Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club and Ahahui Malama i ka Lokahi. Kaleo and Hika‘alani are the new kids in the mud, and we have great examples to follow. -- Kihei de Silva

Saturday began with a community workday hosted by Kaleo Wong, Kamuela Bannister, and Hanaloa Helelā. 80+ students (mostly from Chaminade) showed up for a morning of clearing and cleaning. A couple of hours later, Chad Takatsugi and Kahikina de Silva worked on a stereotype-busting video project (taro patch hula as opposed to sunset on the beach hula). And the day ended with all hands in the mud, "kanu i ka hull a pa‘a ka lo‘i." As an old farmer's prayer reminds us: "May our efforts yield a storehouse of kalo, may the stems be as large as banana stalks, may the leaves be as large as banana leaves, may the kalo grow so tall that a man can be lost in them…" -- Kihei de Silva

Wahi a ka Pakui Hou: "Awesome to work with Mālama Honua school again this year and seeing the kids grow up. We prepared ʻāina and planted ʻuala on this Hoku moon so that the ʻuala grow big and full like the moon. When that was pau, we jumped in the loʻi for some waele action. Mahalo e @mrs_piiohia no ka lawe ʻana mai i na haumana keu a ke akamai.

We have begun to suspect that the best IUCN excursions are unscheduled and unsanctioned. Eight Aborigine "escapees" showed up at Ulupo today, joking that they had to get out of the Waikiki Convention Centerī before ʻwe lost all our color.ʻ Although Kaleo and I had nothing prepared, we found ourselves engaged with keia po'e maoli no Aukekulia in the most comfortable and meaningful of cultural exchanges. We talked story is what we did. We talked in particular about our shared, ongoing struggle with a west-knows-best version of conservation that 1) views man and nature as separate entities, and 2) gives little or no credit to indigenous care-for-our-mother stewardship. -- Kihei de Silva

Kaleo Wong (in his capacity as Pāku‘i Hou of Hika‘alani) has organized a small, invitation-only pā‘ina on Sunday, May 15, on the lawn below Ulupō Heiau. His purpose is to bring together the many organizations that have worked with him at Kūkanono (along with the Ahau family that has lived there for many generations) to share fellowship, stories, and food, and to celebrate “the return of our land to ‘āina, that which feeds us.” He and his crew will open the long-unused KHCC imu and serve us the pua‘a that have been raiding our lo‘i; we will also supplement our home-grown fare with mea ‘ai from Dean Wilhelm, Kapalai de Silva, and Hale Kealoha of Kailua. If all goes as planned, this will be the first in a series imu events at which we will endeavor to feed and engage our community in an ongoing effort to restore Kawainui to its former status as ‘āina momona.

IUCN EXTINCTION AND RECOVERY PANEL 9-5-16
Steve Perlman, Sheila Conant, Kaleomanuiwa Wong
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A heads-up from Maya Saffery: "There are so many amazing panels and sessions going on at the IUCN, but in case folks will be at the conference tomorrow and looking for a panel at 11:00, theres going to be a great one about the biological and cultural impacts of losing and recovering native species--"I ola oe, i ola makou. My life depends on yours and your life depends on mine." Oh yeah and Kaleomanuiwa Wong is one of the panelists. Open to the public. Species Conservation Pavillion, Level 1."

Wahi a Kaleo: "Today down at Ulupō we held a youth-led huakaʻi as part of the IUCN, and we hosted @kupuhawaii and an exchange program they are running that brings together students from Hawaiʻi and Canada."