the Pacific American Foundation
Kahea Loko is "the call of the pond. " From the ocean currents surging through the stone-walled channels to the excited cries of haumana (students) discovering fishpond life, the loko ia (fishpond) calls to us in many ways. From the broad perspective of the ahupuaa (major land division), the loko ia helps us to appreciate the connection between land and sea and to experience the rhythm of tides and seasons. From an intimate perspective, the pond leads us to discover how the tiniest life forms fit into the web of pond life. The loko ia calls to us to honor the values, traditions, and achievements of Hawaiian kupuna (ancestors) so that we may incorporate these into our own lives. These kupuna had the highest regard for the loko ia believing in the interrelationship of all things: sky and earth; ocean and land; land and human; human and gods. "The Hawaiian and all other natural forms of his world were the beneficiaries of this primal cadence and flowed with the rhythm of the universe" (Kanahele, 1997). The Hawaiians' intimate knowledge of life cycles, seasonal rhythms, and tides and currents was the foundation for the remarkable engineering feats they achieved in the construction of loko ia. Hawaiian kupuna revered the mauli (life force) of the fishpond. This humility and respect for all things, living and nonliving, helped them to be pono or in balance with nature. Values such as mahalo, aloha, and malama had multiple meanings for these kupuna, and these values were deeply imbedded into the culture, language, and lifestyle. It is our kuleana (responsibility) as teachers to enlighten our students—using these values within contextual frameworks such as the loko ia so that our haumana can connect with and nurture that life force inside themselves and in their environment. The overall goal of Project Kahea Loko is malama i ka aina (to care for the land)—to help our students understand why it is so important to conserve cultural and natural resources and to discover how we
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