January 12, 2012
Aloha mai e Collete Machado, Robert Lindsey, Peter Apo, Oswald Stender, Rowena Akana, Haunani Apoliona, John Waihee and Donald Cataluna,
I noticed that the agenda for the next OHA Board of Trustees meeting does not include Kawaiaha`o Church.
When will the accounting for the one million dollar grant given to Kawaiaha`o be discussed at OHA's board meeting?
When will the church trustees be called to the OHA BOT to answer for all of the continued hewa that is happening at Kawaiaha`o?
Where is the accountability?
I have been showing up to testify at OHA board meetings for ONE YEAR and have been asking for your help since January of 2011.
I have been patient. I have the luxury of time. I continue to wait. I continue to ask.
Our iwi kupuna do not have that same luxury.
THEY NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
I thought this matter would have been taken up months ago by the OHA Board of Trustees when there might have been a chance to hold the church accountable for their actions and save the iwi kupuna from the MASSIVE desecration that is NOW taking place.
Let me remind all of you -
THE IWI KUPUNA ARE BEING DUG OUT OF THE GROUND AT KAWAIAHA'O CHURCH BY THE TRUCK LOAD. THIS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL EACH AND EVERY IWI KUPUNA IS DUG UP INCLUDING ANCIENT PRE-CONTACT, PRE-CHRISTIAN BURIALS, ALI'I BURIALS ALONG WITH EVERY CHURCH MEMBER AND OHANA BURIED IN THE SHADOW OF THE CHURCH.
I have kupuna buried at Kawaiaha'o.
I ask for your help on their behalf.
I ask for your help on behalf of each and every kupuna who is being sacrificed to build something the church cannot afford and which could have easily been re-designed and does NOT have to disturb any iwi kupuna.
Remember the number 369. As Kaleikoa Kaeo of Maui told each and every one of you at the OHA board meeting in February 2011
"If 369 is used as an estimate, this will be the LARGEST digging and desecration of kupuna since the desecration of over one thousand iwi kupuna at Honokahua was stopped almost 20 years ago."
This horrific wrongdoing, this hewa nui is happening on YOUR watch.
This is the legacy YOU will leave for your children, for all of OUR children for generations to come.
Let me remind each and every one of you. It is your kuleana as the leaders you have CHOSEN to be, to step up to the front line and stand up for our iwi kupuna everywhere.
This is especially true in this case because this hewa is happening 10 minutes away from your offices.
You can watch the desecration take place from the 15th floor in the comfort of your air conditioned offices.
Never forget the Office of Hawaiian Affairs blessed this hewa when you funded it with ONE MILLION DOLLARS of beneficiary money.
I will never forget.
NEVER forget these kupuna are beneficiaries of the OHA trust.
I will never forget.
Never forget our iwi kupuna are the foundation of our lahui. Without them, we are NOTHING.
I will never forget.
Take 10 minutes out of your busy day and walk over Kawaiaha'o Church.
Stand there and be a witness to what is happening over there.
I promise you.
Your eyes will see the horror.
Your ears will hear the horror.
Your noses will smell the horror.
Your `uhane will feel the horror of what is happening on these grounds every day of every week.
You will know in your gut, you will feel it in the deepest part of your na'au.
This is one of the most despicable acts anyone could commit on our kupuna.
Your continued silence condones these HORRIFIC acts of desecration and allows them to happen on your watch.
These kupuna are YOUR kuleana.
Stand up and say something.
Stand up and be present.
Stand up and make this right.
It is not too late.
It is never too late to do the right thing.
Once again, I ask all of you, I implore each and every one of you, I beg of you all - do something NOW to help protect our iwi kupuna at Kawaiaha'o.
Always remember and never forget, our iwi kupuna deserve much better than this.
I will never forget. And neither will they.
Kamuela Andrea Kapuananialiiokama Kala`i
Concerned Mo`opuna
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