About: Ka ʻŌlelo o ka ʻĀina ma ka Mālama ʻĀina

Ka ʻŌlelo o ka ʻĀina ma ka Mālama ʻĀina

“ʻO ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi ke kī e komo ai i loko o ka hālau o ka ʻike,” kai hoʻōho ohohia ai ʻo Kainoa Pestana, he limahana no Puʻu Kuikui Watershed ma Maui a he ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi nō hoʻi. Peia pū ke kākoʻo o kāna mau hoa pānela, he pūʻulu kanaka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi e hana nei ma nā ʻoihana mālama ʻāina ma Hawaiʻi nei, e noho ana ma ka pānela ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi piha mua loa i mālama ʻia ma ka ʻAha Kūkā Maluō o Hawaiʻi ma Iulai. Na Puaʻala Pascua, Kanoelani Steward, me Natalie Kurashima i hoʻolālā i ua pānela lā. He mau ʻōpio lākou i piha me ka ʻiʻini e hoʻololi i ka hana maluō ma hawaiʻi ma o ka paipai ʻana i ka ʻōlelo me ka ʻike kuʻuna Hawaiʻi. Ua kūpono maoli nō ʻoiai ua hoʻoholo ʻia e ka ʻAha Aupuni Hui Pū ʻIa ʻo kēia makahiki 2019 ka Makahiki Kau ʻĀina o Nā ʻŌlelo ʻŌiwi. Eia nō kahi wikiō pōkole e wehewehe ana i ka pānela ma ke ʻano nui.

Ka ʻŌlelo o ka ʻĀina ma ka Mālama ʻĀina (with English subtitles)

“Hawaiian language is the key that allows one access to the wealth of ancestral Hawaiian knowledge,” said Kainoa Pestana a conservationist who works at the Puʻu Kukui Watershed on Maui and a Hawaiian language speaker himself. His statements were widely supported by his fellow panelist, a group of Hawaiian language speakers who work in various areas of conservation in Hawaiʻi, as they sat on the first panel to be conducted completely in the Hawaiian language at the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference held in July. It was a panel put together by Puaʻala Pascua, Kanoelani Steward, and Natalie Kurashima, young women who are invested in transforming Hawaiʻi’s conservation industry by encouraging the use of Hawaiian language, culture, and perspective. It was befitting in that this year 2019 was designated as the United Nation’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. Here’s a short video explaining the panel.