Ohana Waa

Lahaina: After the devastating August 2023 wildfires, which destroyed the heart of the Maui's voyaging community in Lahaina, Ohana Waa took in grants and donations specifically to support that voyaging community. As one ohana (family) across all our islands, we have always come together to support the individual canoe communities that make up Ohana Waa when there is need. The support and generosity for our Maui ohana was heart lifting for that community to experience and for all of us to witness. Donations and messages from across the world reminded us that we are not isolated in the middle of the Pacific; the ocean continues to connect us. The funding platform was temporary (only through 2023), with funds used for short-term relief efforts toward the health of the broader Lahaina voyaging community, as that community decided its own direction and where resources should flow. The grants and donations exceeded our hopes, and while must of the funds were expended in 2024, some will continue to be used for Lahaina resident recovery and community building into early 2025. None of these funds went toward administrative costs; they have been and will be all directed to voyaging community members and are provided on a reimbursement basis only, and only up to $5,000 per voyager. For example, the funds were used to help rebuild portions of multi-generational homes, to partial payments for purchases of replacement vehicles, food for families living out of hotel rooms without kitchens, a forklift rental to move pallets of donated supplies, portable toilet rentals, replacement fishing supplies used for sustenance fishing, voyaging canoe repair and replacement engines and trailers, and replacement home supplies. In early 2024, we also supported our Lahaina voyaging community by sailing our large and small voyaging canoes to Lahaina from all of our islands, with our crew and leadership joining the Lahaina Unity March of several thousand people in support of the traditional, multi-ethnic and multi-generational community of Lahaina. The March was organized by an Ohana Waa captain, who lives in Lahaina.

Unity among voyaging leadership around the Pacific: In 2024, Ohana Waa continued our cultural exchanges and leadership support for Pacific voyagers. We continued engagement with voyaging leadership by attending and supporting the attendance of significant voyaging events, so that we can continue learn from each other and stay connected, realize synergies, and create opportunities, all of which is best done in person from an indigenous perspective. We also developed makana (cultural gifts) and outreach materials for cultural exchanges, such as banners, table covers, tents, coolers and jugs for traditional provisioning. Specific support was provided for inter-island cross-generational training of crew members and leadership in voyaging and canoe preparation. We began the year by sailing our canoes into Lahaina and joining a Lahaina Unity March with members of the Lahaina, Maui and Hawaii communities. Then, in June, we again sailed in our voyaging canoes from around the islands and flew in voyaging leadership to participate in the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture held in Hawaii. This festival is the world's largest celebration of indigenous Pacific Islanders, and it was the first time it had been held in Hawaii, and it brought indigenous people from more than 20 nations here. Ohana Waa's waa kaulua sailed FestPac leadership into the Opening Ceremony, and members of Ohana Waa participated in FestPac's Waa Community Day, Waa Symposium, and Holomoana (Voyaging) Day. All of these events brought together voyagers, waa elders, and the broader community to experience and engage in activities, presentations, and discussions centered around our rich voyaging history. Next, in the fall, we participated in the Hilo Fill the Bay with small, traditional sailing canoes, including one that was built entirely out of native woods and fibers, and we participated in the annual Ikuwa festival, based on traditional wayfinding, in Hilo's Imiloa Center, which is a member organization of Ohana Waa.