Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 2, Number 12, 1 December 1985 — Kupuna Loves All Her 900 Keikis [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kupuna Loves All Her 900 Keikis

Kupuna Kaimi Kealoha of Haleiwa is just one of many loyal and dedicated elderly men and women who have contributed to the immense success of the Department of Education's kupuna program throughout the state. Ka Wai Ola O OHA recently asked her about the program and her feelings on it. Her observations may very well express the sentiments of all the kupuna. Kealoha is the kupuna at Wheeler Elementary School where she has over 900 students from kindergarten to Grade 6 "and I love them all." She adds that one of the most beautiful things she experiences eaeh school year is "to have all kinds of kamalii leam about the Hawaiian culture and language." "I have Chinese, Japanese, Caucasians, Blacks, Filipino, Vietnamese and children of many other ethnic backgrounds who eome together and leam Hawaiian. This is so beautiful, especially when they greet you with 'Aloha, Kupuna' and other words and sentences they have picked up."

Before joining the kupuna program. Kealoha said she was tied up at home keeping busy with a variety of things. In the kupuna program, Kealoha said she encountered a different feeling trying to help other children than your own, whieh includes eight sons and a daughter. Together they have given her 12 grandchildren. Kealoha got into the kupuna program at the urging of Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kupuna Coordinator Betty Jenkins who worked with her in Halau O Haleiwa, a concept organized and established by the OHA coordinator. Kealoha, who has been widowed since 1966, was born in Kahuku at a little village she calls Marconi but was raised in Haleiwa where she has lived for 62 years. During a "Nana I Ke Kumu" workshop at the OHA eonference room Oct. 30, Kealoha rocked the room with laughter when she apologized to the other kupuna that she was embarrased because this was the first time she ever visited the OHA headquarters. "I'm hilahila and embarrassed. I guess this is what to expect from a country girl like me," she declared.

Kupuna Kaimi Kealoha