Ke Kā o Makaliʻi (The Canoe Bailer of Makaliʻi) is the name of a star line that rises in the night sky above Hawaiʻi as well as South Africa. This is also the name of a youth delegation of eight KS Kapālama and four Hālau Kū Māna Public Charter School students who travelled to Cape Town, South Africa recently to engage in cultural-educational exchange, participate in service projects, and represent Hawaiʻi in welcoming ceremonies for the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa.
The delegation is being led by KS Executive Culture Officer Dr. Randie Fong. Since arriving in Cape Town on Nov. 11, the students have already participated in a ceremony of friendship with the arrival of Hōkūle‘a, a tribute to Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu and his Legacy Foundation and visited Robben Island, known mostly as the place of the maximum security prison where Nelson Mandela was held.
They will also visit schools and interact with South African students and teachers, participate in a community service project and explore Pinnacle Point Cave at Mossel Bay, Table Mountain and a South African game reserve.
Kamehameha Schools is an education sponsor of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage and Hālau Kū Māna is among the 17 Hawaiian-focused public charter and conversion schools KS supports throughout the state.
Both schools support the voyage and its goals to promote ancestral wisdom, care for the world’s oceans, and global sustainability. To prepare for this journey to a destination literally on the other side of the world, students rehearsed oli, mele and hula, and studied two main themes:
Oppression to Freedom
Students researched the late President Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu (who sailed on Hōkūleʻa and is hosting the Hawaiʻi delegation), and segregation during the Apartheid era. At the same time, they are reflecting on the ideas of culture/language oppression and revitalization in Hawaiʻi’s history, the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, as well as the hopeful prospect of self-determination.
Point of Human Origins
Pinnacle Point Cave in Mossel Bay is the site where the earliest evidence of human life was discovered by world-renowned archaeologist Dr. Peter Nilssen. That coastal region provided extensive seafood resources, rich in Omega-3, that accelerate brain development. This resulted in the invention of tools, practice of rituals, and eventually movement outward to populate the entire planet beginning some 170,000 years ago – far earlier than previously thought. The San Bushmen today are the direct genetic descendants of these early humans. Dr. Nilssen himself will be hosting the students’ visit to the site. In addition to the scientific significance, students are reflecting on Hawaiian traditions of creation as found in the Kumulipo (a Hawaiian creation chant), as well as stories of Kāne, Kiʻi, Laʻilaʻi, Wākea, Papa, and Hāloa.
Visit KSHKM.weebly.com to join the virtual study tour to Cape Town and Mossel Bay which continues through November 23.
Follow the students' educational journey in South Africa through a virtual study tour at KSHKM.weebly.com.
Hōkūle‘a docked in the Cape Town harbor on Nov. 12. The destination marks the midpoint of the canoe's worldwide journey.
KS Executive Culture Officer Dr. Randie Fong and Hōkūle‘a crew member Kālepa Baybayan share a honi - a traditional Hawaiian greeting of respect.
Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson (r), president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, sits beside Archbishop Desmond Tutu (center) during the ceremony.
South African dancers share a performance during the friendship ceremony.
TAGS
kapalama,campus,malama honua voyage,imua kamehameha
CATEGORIES
Kaipuolono Article, I Mua Kamehameha, Newsroom, Campus Programs, Kapalama, Department News
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