Mālama Honua Autobiography:
My name is Braelyn Akana and I am a senior at Kamehameha Schools. I am from and currently live in Hauʻula. I am blessed to live on the Windward side of the island. I never really knew much about where my wai and mauna comes from. Recently I have found that my wai comes from Kahaluʻu and my mauna is Koʻolau. Being from the Windward area I get to see the beautiful views starting from the mauna to the kai. When I think about the words Mālama and Honua I think of the physical actions that we do to keep the earth clean. Mālama Honua in my opinion involves us because we are a huge factor. Taking care of our land is very important because it is our environment, we are always going to be apart of it no matter what. This being a big responsibility we need to keep our setting in the best shape and form it can possibly be in. Now personally for me to take care of our earth has a much more stronger meaning because of how much the ʻāina is changing. So many man made objects have had impactful effects on our environment. An example of this would be the air pollution that are coming from companies and factories. As a Hawaiian it is always great to be apart of activities that we do to help keep our land healthy. Being apart of different actions that includes taking care of the land has definitely built me to have a “Mālama Honua mindset.” Some activities include taking the weeds out of the loʻi, keeping the beaches and fishponds clean by picking out the trash. I have came to enjoy these activities knowing that it does make a difference even if it just a small amount. There are many positive ways to keep our environment healthy we just need to do it! There are also a variety of negative actions that hurt and have major setbacks to the environment. Recently I was able to clean and take care of a loʻi in Heʻeia with my teammates. It was for sure a lot of work but at the end of the day we were very grateful that we could help out. When we first got into the loʻi there were weeds and thick piles of mud. Of course it was tough because it’s something new to us, while going through the process it became a lot easier. As a student apart of the Mālama Honua process I do have hopes and desires in the program. I want to learn more about the bigger impacts that we can do to put the environment in a healthy and positive place. As a personal goal, I want to be better at taking care of the land. Seeing how trashed the earth has become from past to present does really have a huge drop off. It is very upsetting and sad. In the past as a child I remember seeing so much greenery. Being from the Windward area I was always able to see the clean ocean, the pretty mountains, and the small local shops. Now in this time era driving through you see more homes built, dirty and mistreated oceans, and less local shops. Because I have seen this change in the years that have gone by in my community, it inspires me to be cautious and reminds me to make sure I'm not contributing to that. Being from Hawaiʻi and hearing the word “aloha” you think of various positive definitions. I personally think of the values of love, kindness, mercy, charity, and grace. Because ʻāina is meaning land and earth the literal definition with the two together means to love the land. These two words especially together have a very strong meaning. Aloha ʻāina in my opinion has a much more deeper meaning. It is basically meaning that you are going to love the land. When you think about something that you love you know without a doubt that you would do anything to make sure it is taken care of. This goes for the same thing with our land we need to take care of it. Loving the land encourages and pushes us to want the best for it. When comparing Aloha ʻĀina and Mālama Honua they both have the same type of meaning. They both have to do with taking care of our land and doing our best to make sure that it is being kept clean. Both Aloha ʻĀina and Mālama Honua are great values for us as haumana to look up to. They both carry so much mana that we are privileged to look at as great and powerful symbols with the ʻāina. |