Such an issue has, in fact, been evident in installations like Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, which documented severe contamination due to asbestos and other hazardous chemicals.

Consequently, as exposed individuals eventually battle debilitating illnesses, spouses and parents become primary caregivers – cutting back work hours while facing rising medical and household expenses. Worse, such burdens frequently persist and even intensify after a veteran’s passing.

Recognizing this crisis, the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) was thereby implemented to extend a monthly payment of $1,699.36 – subject to conditions. However, even this vital program cannot capture the full economic toll left behind. If recognition is to be meaningful, survivor benefits must better reflect the long-term necessities of veterans’ dependents.

Cristina Johnson

Cristina Johnson is an advocate at the Asbestos Ships Organization, a nonprofit that raises awareness of veterans’ exposure to toxic substances. For more info go to: asbestos-ships.com.

The post Better Support Needed for Veterans’ Survivors in Hawaiʻi appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

The values we learned as children are not the same values we live by as adults. Although the ones we acquire as children stay with us throughout our lives, they become meaningful as we experience and remember life as it once was.

The standards we value are to help us shape and guide our lives, so that we can realize our full potential. In many cultures, a “good life” is always achieved by our belief in the values that we hold to be true:

1. Hoʻohiki – keeping your word
2. Hoʻomanawanui – patience
3. Kela – excellence
4. Kūpono – honesty
5. Alakaʻi – to lead
6. Koa – warrior
7. Haʻahaʻa – humility
8. Huikala – forgiveness
9. Hoʻomana – spirituality
10. ʻIkaika – strength

These values encompass the aspect of life through the eyes of Native Hawaiians and their world view.

Mahalo nui loa,
David V. Kahalewai, III
Pālolo Valley

The post Belief in the Values We Hold True appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Thus, the spiritual healing that is needed in producing mana is a source for Native Hawaiians. But how do you heal an entire nation? Needless to say, Native Hawaiians have been healing themselves for years on their own, waiting to rise-up and KŪ I KA MANA!!

We have made great strides since the overthrow and should be respected for the qualities we have perpetuated. The strength to endure and the humility to build from, united all Native Hawaiians to their ancestors of long ago.

Mahalo nui loa,
David V. Kahalewai, III
Pālolo Valley

The post A Manaʻo on Healing appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Places in the “Hawaiian sense” are inseparably linked to our self-identity to have roots in the soil of permanence and continuity. There’s history in all places across the islands. If you knew the place names, then you knew the history of them.

This is how we discover our spiritual self by the ʻāina, of the ʻāina, and for the ʻāina.

It would serve us well as Indigenous people to these lands, to seek the “sacredness” while accepting present day conditions.

The resistance to Americanization in Hawaiʻi happens only for the selfish reason that this is our home, we belong here. All connections, spiritual and physical, made by us here links us to Ka Pae ʻĀina o Hawaiʻi and our ancestors of long ago who continue to reach out to us because it is our time.

As we keep honoring our wahi pana where we can continue to come together as a people, it preserves our right to self-determination, while we revitalize and restore ourselves to our sense of places.

David Kahalewai
Pālolo, O’ahu

The Tuna Industry in American Samoa

This letter is in response to your article published on May 1, 2025, “Marine National Monument in Jeopardy.”

The Ka Wai Ola article is misleading and attempts to distort the truth regarding tuna fishing and American Samoa’s role in the Western Pacific. Contrary to the article’s assertions, tuna is not being overfished in the waters surrounding American Samoa or elsewhere in the region. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which governs tuna fishing in this area, bases its rules on rigorous scientific data and confirms that tuna stocks remain healthy and sustainable.

American Samoa has hosted a tuna industry for over 60 years – an industry introduced after World War II and vital to our economic survival. The StarKist cannery in Pago Pago supports more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. Although StarKist’s parent company is based overseas, the company itself is registered and operates legally in both American Samoa and the United States.

To suggest that our economy’s dependence on tuna threatens biodiversity is not only inaccurate – it ignores the sustainability measures already in place. We support conservation, as long as it is science-based and allows for economic balance. The effort to paint us as exploiters of the ocean is disrespectful, factually wrong, and ignores the real economic realities faced by American Samoans.

Sincerely,
Taotasi Archie Soliai
Executive Advisor,
Natural Resources American Samoa Government

Conservation and Commercial Fishing

We write to correct misleading claims made about WPRFMC in the article, “Marine National Monument in Jeopardy.”

The article implies WPRFMC opposes conservation – this is false. We are mandated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to manage U.S. fisheries sustainably, ensuring stock health and protecting marine ecosystems to support wise use of these resources. We agree that conservation is critical – but it must be guided by sound science and balanced with the needs of Pacific Island communities like American Samoa.

We support the current 0–50-mile closure that remains within the PIHMNM, which continues to protect nearshore ecosystems and biodiversity. Our well-managed longline fleet, which includes kanaka lawaiʻa, is also prohibited from fishing within Papahānaumokuākea and 50-75 miles around the main Hawaiian Islands.

Contrary to the article’s claims, there is no overfishing occurring in American Samoa waters. To suggest otherwise is untrue and unfair to the AS fishing community who depend on these fisheries for their livelihoods and to uphold Faʻa Samoa.

We believe ocean protection and sustainable fishing can – and must – coexist. This is how we honor both the natural heritage of the Pacific and the cultural and economic lifelines of its Indigenous communities, such as American Samoa and Hawaiʻi.

Taulapapa William Sword Seutaʻatia

Kitty M. Simonds
Chair, WPRFMC Executive Director, WPRFMC and Kanaka

Dr. Judith Guthertz Sylvan Igisomar
Guam Vice Chair, WPRFMC CNMI Vice Chair, WPRFMC

The post Letters to the Editor | June 2025 appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

It’s true that jails and prisons house a lot of Native Hawaiians who do not know their culture, language, and history. Most cannot identify or choose not to upon release. More than half live even more dangerously producing a state of “suicide by lifestyle.” Encouraging a “healing of culture” within ourselves must happen to replace the resentments and feelings of guilt, bringing an acceptance and tolerance of differences.

Reconnecting Native Hawaiians to the values and restoration of positive cultural pride is important today in raising levels of self-esteem through achievements in cultural advancement.

Healing is moving beyond the hurt, the pain, the disease dysfunction to establish new patterns of living and letting go of the ones that no longer serve us.

– David Kahalewai, Pālolo, Oʻahu

The post Cultural Pride Raises Self-Esteem appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

For example, he is proposing to re-open an OHA office in Washington, D.C., provide housing and serve other Native Hawaiian needs. Some of these are a pie in the sky. My suggestion is to start at the ground level.

OHA has its administrative offices in a small shopping area on Nimitz Highway, yet it owns a vast amount of ʻāina in Kakaʻako. There has been too much ʻōlelo about high-rise buildings being built. I suggest building a Hawaiian cultural center there in Kakaʻako. Other cultures have their respective community centers, like Filipino Community Center, Hawaiʻi Okinawa Center and Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi.

Where is the Hawaiian Cultural Center for all Kānaka to get together, meet, share their culture and plan for all of us?

– Miriam Kuʻulei Mata
Pearl City, Oʻahu

The post Bring Hawaiians Together with OHA Cultural Center appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

I wanted to send a big mahalo for your nūpepa. I enjoy reading the articles and I especially enjoyed this most recent volume titled “Kānaka, Come Home.”

My husband, born and raised in Nānākuli, was forced/encouraged by his dad to leave Hawaiʻi to “grow up” after high school. He was away 45 years, made a great living in California but always desired to return home. We agreed that at retirement we would leave California and live out our kupuna years on his kulāiwi. He retired five years ago and here we are on beautiful Moku o Keawe.

There is no greater joy and peace than to have our feet planted on this ʻāina.

All the festivals, the dedication to hula, the weekly kanikapila we attended was the lifeline we gripped on to so tightly to maintain our connection to Hawaiʻi. Looking back, all of that was great, but as we awake to the rooster each morning and hear ʻōlelo spoken by the waitress at our favorite restaurant, we now realize that what the continent offered pales in comparison to being fully present here.

He was a Kanaka who came home, and I agree that we need more like him. The more Kānaka are physically present here, the stronger the lāhui can be. My hope is that we find a way to encourage them to come home and at the same time discourage the droves of Americans and foreigners settling on these islands and diluting the beauty of this culture through their ignorance and lack of respect.

Mahalo hou for the great work you do. Eō Hawaiʻi nei.

– Julia Kamaile Estigoy-Kaho‘onei

Aloha Readers,

Due to COVID-19 and various personal reasons, it took me more than four years to be able to return to my beloved motherland. Finally, in mid-November 2023, I boarded the flight that would take me back to the country of my birth.

Then what happened next left me shocked and perplexed. There, in the inflight magazine, was an article titled “The Guns of Yesteryear.” These guns, as stated in the article, were the weapons used by the “Citizens Guard of Hawaiʻi” and are planned to be donated and displayed inside the ʻIolani Palace.

In Hawaiʻi, and most of the civilized world, the Citizens Guard with their sharpshooters would be called a terrorist group that had murdered our kūpuna especially during the revolts by our people against the criminal theft of our nation.

And now the murderous weapons of the enemy of our people are to be displayed in the home of our Queen. Would anyone be proud to display weapons in their homes that had killed their family? INSANE! The only way they should be displayed is all broken up with a note that states “murder weapons of enemy terrorists that killed Hawaiians loyal to the Queen and nation.”

Kānaka people, please be aware of cruel acts that hurt the Hawaiian soul and resist and fight in kapu aloha. If not, slowly Hawaiʻi will be lost forever. AUWĒ.

– Kaihinu Namokuea

Aloha e Ka Wai Ola,

I just read the article, “Kānaka, Come Home” written by guest author Naka Nathaniel and found it quite provoking.

In 2010, I composed a mele, Lā Hea Manu, for my late sister’s 70th birthday. The song is based on her Hawaiian name “Lāheamanu.” But it’s really not about her, but rather her name which I used to basically issue a call to our “manu ‘ōiwi” (native birds) who are living in the diaspora to come home because of the important work that needs to be done here.

Reading the article reminded me of my mele. I am sharing the lyrics and translation of that mele. I also have a recording of the group, Holunape, singing the mele at my sister’s birthday party.

That was back in 2010 and we’re now in 2023, as we recognize that now a majority of our Kānaka are living outside of Hawaiʻi.

– Julian Keikilani Ako

Lā Hea Manu

Ke hea nei
Auhea wale ana ʻoe e ka manu ʻōiwi?
ʻO ka lā hea manu e hoʻi mai nō
I ka puʻuhonua i ka pūnana ʻolu.
Kahi pumehana me nā kūpuna.

Hui:
E maliu mai i ke kāhea nui
E hoʻi mai i ko kulāiwi nei
I ke aumoe i moe ʻuhane ai.

‘Ike i nā manu ma kēlā ʻāina ʻē
Me ka ʻiʻini nui aʻo ka puʻuwai
E hoʻolaʻi paʻa ma Hawaiʻi nei

Hui:
Pehea hoʻi ke ola i ua ʻāina ʻē?
Pehea ka ʻono aʻo ka ʻai ma ʻō?
ʻO ka lawa mikiʻai a kena e ka puʻu.
He hana koʻikoʻi a nā Hawaiʻi

The Day the Birds Are Called to Gather

A call is being made
Where are you our dear native birds?
This is the day a call is being made for the birds to return
To the place of refuge, to the comfortable nest.
A place of warmth with your kūpuna.

Chorus:
Harken to the important call
To return to this, your homeland.
It was in the wee hours of the night that a dream occurred.

The birds were seen on that foreign land
With a deep yearning in their hearts
To alight permanently once more in Hawaiʻi.

Chorus:
So how is life over there in that foreign land?
How tasty is the food over there?
A simple fingertip of poi is sufficient to quench the thirst.
There is important work to be done by us native Hawaiians

Chorus:
A call is being made.

The post Letters to the Editor | January 2024 appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Reading Hailama Farden’s “Mahalo Lahaina!” was like riding down Front Street to Nagasako’s in the backseat of Grandma and Grandpa’s old Datsun, listening to them talk about different things. My grandparents are the same Uncle Ned and Aunty Pua Lindsey mentioned in “Mahalo Lahaina!”

It wasn’t only the memories contained within and relived through those articles; it was the nuanced connections between them. Those connections demonstrate the power of generational memory and belonging to a place.

Moʻolele, the 42-foot long double-hulled sailing canoe celebrated in “Remembering Moʻolele o Lahaina,” was cared for by my grandparents and kept in their yard for many years. Ned Lindsey composed the song, Moʻolele, which was recorded by Makaha Sons of Niʻihau. Those verses are his poetry and storytelling, and his aloha for Moʻolele.

Like Hailama, I am transported to the Lahaina of my childhood, where I hear Grandpa on his ʻukulele singing a song he wrote about Polanui, our ʻohana home in Lahaina: “That is where I long to be, by the murmuring silvery sea, ʻneath the hau and the coconut trees, on the shores of Polanui.”

Hokulei Lindsey

Editor’s note: Mahalo nui e Hokulei for naming your grandfather, Ned Lindsey, as the haku mele (music and lyrics) of the song, “Moʻolele.” we are pleased to be able to give him the credit he deserves for composing this beloved mele and ensuring that Moʻolele o Lahaina will live on.

The post Letter to the Editor | November 2023 appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Welina mai,

What follows may be deemed too picky by many or some, but nuance and details are important, as we learn when mele, oli, and ʻōlelo are studied.

First, let’s recognize two entities: the Hawaii Board on Geographic Names (HBGN), and the US Board on Geographic Names (USBGN). The Hawaii Board sends information regarding place names to the US Board. The US Board generally accepts recommendations of the Hawaii Board for changes, corrections, or new place names.

When our Statehood Act, Public Law 86-3, March 18, 1959 [S. 50], was passed by Congress, “Hawaii” was spelled without an ʻokina, as was usual at the time. On July 2, 1959, Governor William Quinn, wrote to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, conveying the results of a vote on June 27, 1959, asking if Hawaii should immediately be admitted to the union. The vote was

132,773 (for) and 7,971 (against) of a total population of about 622,000. On Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed Proclamation #3309, admitting Hawaii to the Union. All without an ʻokina.

To remedy those misspellings, a Congressional Bill needs to be introduced, passed, and signed that will correct the spelling of “State of Hawaii” to “State of Hawaiʻi.” Until then, all federal institutions must use “State of Hawaii,” as listed in the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database of the USBGN, in their publications.

The USBGN GNIS database also lists “Island of Hawaiʻi” as the official name of Moku o Keawe. Island of Hawaiʻi, rather than “Hawaiʻi Island” must be used. Many, many institutions in Hawaii choose to use “Hawaiʻi Island,” rather than the correct Island of Hawaiʻi.

We hope that these oversights are corrected.

Me ke aloha,

Bobby Camara
Keaʻau, Island of Hawaiʻi, State of Hawaii

The post Letter to the Editor | September 2023 appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

In 1843, British Consul Richard Charlton (1791-1852) and Lord George Paulet (1803-1879), commander of the British frigate Carysfort, demanded “provisional cession” of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to Great Britain in order to settle claims made by Charlton against the monarchy. On Feb. 25, 1843, the Hawaiian flag was lowered and replaced by the British flag.

On July 26 of that year, Rear Adm. Richard Darton Thomas, R.N. (1777-1851), arrived in Hawaiʻi on the HMS flagship Dublin to rescind cession under Paulet and to restore the monarchy to Kamehameha III (Kalanikauikeaouli, 1813-1854).

On July 31, 1843, the Hawaiian flag replaced the British flag, and Kamehameha III in one sentence spoke words at Kawaiahaʻo Church, words that described relief from the five-month rule of Lord George Paulet.

Taken in context with the events of 1843, the monarch’s words stated succinctly, “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono” – The Sovereignty of the Nation is Preserved in Justice.

Wayne Hinano Brumaghim

The post Letter to the Editor | August 2023 appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.