If you want to go in another direction
If you want to go in another direction,
or if you need another trail,
pick up on the other side.
When I came into this work,
It was brand new,
we were cutting down trees,
we were living in mud and mud
Just raw bush overgrown with invasives
The aina was raw. Slow by slow we began to grow.
we have given our lives,
our family, our bodies,
to the building of ho'oulu aina.
what you have been able to experience is a lot lighter than it was
And it's really a celebration to have time to sit and talk
This is a kupuna, a wahi kupuna,
and these uncles, they are our heroes,
source of foundational learning.
We wouldn't know how to build hale,
how to kalai wa'a,
we wouldn't know the importance of the work we're doing
without that generation
We’re going back into their community
with our youngest ones 13, 14, 15 years old,
to teach their babies.
This idea that the elder and the younger have this relationship,
but it continues to unfold and teach.
Itʻs like a spiral, right?
It's the kuka'a of the Hala that keeps unfolding
Now there are a lot of younger organizations that look to me
The older sister is often my role
There's a new, younger leadership and the ʻāina continues,
but the relationships flipped of older and younger.
It can be a challenge when the long vision isnʻt there.
There’s a connection and a commitment to CANNOT
Permitting, departments, leases, funding
Not any of those things, But the mindset.
Career mindedness, an idea that Hawaii is just a part of a resume.
Those that don’t understand
the commitment is generational
I have to care for what my kupuna left us.
The thing that is supportive is hope.
The hope that comes from making a circle
connecting to your kupuna and remembering
My people used to do this.
Weʻre coming up to make a circle,
Weʻre coming up to learn.
Hold a circle, have a meal,
remember our tūtūs, thatʻs when hope comes.
Iʻm supported when I can connect
to those who are connected beyond themselves.
I just keep making the circle,
keep making abundance,
keep making generosity.
Try to tell the story of the interconnectedness
Tell it in a complex way
There is humility in the storytelling
The humility allows for a multitude of stories,
the omniverses of story, The multiverses.
A sharpening stone of Paʻauilo going back to Kohala,
Each time it is equally beautiful
And equally true
Even if there is variation
A story that can change
Thatʻs where mana comes from.
– a poem of notes by Mehana Vaughn from NREM625 students quoting a presentation by Puni Jackson
