ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi students huakaʻi to Kahoʻolawe

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The annual excursions are spearheaded by UH Mānoa’s Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language in collaboration with UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.

Group photos taken outside of about three dozen students and kumu.
The group of haumāna from UH Mānoa and UH Hilo who spent three days in March 2024 on the island of Kahoʻolawe to immerse themselves in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. (Photo: I Ola Kanaloa)

Haumāna (students) from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and UH Hilo spent three days this spring on the mokupuni (island) of Kahoʻolawe to immerse themselves in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language).

The annual excursions are spearheaded by UH Mānoa’s Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language in collaboration with UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.

The program is named I Ola Kanaloa, with the purpose to sharpen students’ ʻōlelo skills through one overarching assignment: they must speak only Hawaiian while on Kahoʻolawe. The name of the program comes from Kahoʻolawe also being referred to as Kanaloa, a Hawaiian god of the ocean. The program involves students from all skill levels in Hawaiian language.

In the foreground is dry rocky landscape on Kahoʻolawe sloping down to the sea. Across the channel is Maui.
The island of Kahoʻolawe with Maui in the distance. (Courtesy photo)

Huakaʻi

Since 2014, haumāna and their kumu (teachers) go on the yearly huakaʻi (journey) to the uninhabited mokupuni of Kahoʻolawe, which is only accessible by boat and requires visitors to briefly swim to shore with their ukana (baggage) in tow. Known for its deep and complex history, the island, once used as a bombing range for the military, continues to undergo slow and careful restoration.

Kaʻimi and two classmates at outdoor shelter, guitar case on table.
Kaʻimi Galima-Elvena (at right), a UH Hilo Hawaiian studies and biology student, was part of a huakaʻi to Kahoʻolawe over the 2024 spring break. Here he works with classmates to haku mele. (Courtesy photo)

The huakaʻi take place over spring break each year. Kaʻimi Galima-Elvena, a UH Hilo Hawaiian studies and biology student was part of the 2024 trip.

“To see the place for the first time, to touch the water for the first time, it filled me with life that I really needed in the moment,” he says.

Daily activities on Kahoʻolawe focused on land or ʻāina-based care, and included invasive plant clearing, maintenance of historical sites and traditional protocols/ceremony.

Mele

Ikaakamai on stage at keyboards. Blue lighting. Hawaiʻi flag is on the right.
Ikaakamai

One of the highlights of the retreat is haku mele (song composition). Students broke into groups and composed songs in three genres: mele aloha (love), mele wahi pana (written for a place or location), and mele maʻi (procreative).

Haumāna research the various places and moʻolelo (stories) of Kahoʻolawe, and then weave it into oli (chant), hula, mele, and mele au hou (contemporary Hawaiʻi tunes).

This year joining the group was recording artist Isaac Nāhuewai (known musically as Ikaakamai), an alumnus from UH Hilo with a master of arts in Hawaiian language and literature and who is now student engagement and Hawaiian language resource coordinator at the university’s Hale Kuamoʻo Hawaiian Language Center.

“We see that mele is an avenue to showcase the vitality of our language and culture,” says Nāhuewai about the haku mele activity. “We also see how mele is a means to educate our lāhui (nation). The language truly brings life to the ʻāina and to the lāhui and to speak and hear ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi from all huakaʻi participants is truly gratifying.”

Read full story at UH System News.

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