Hawaiʻinuiākea provides unique holiday gift possibilities in auction to help struggling students

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Malia Nobrega, (808) 286-5461
Strategic Partnerships Director, Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge
Posted: Nov 23, 2021

Lauhala hats woven by Hawaiʻinuiākea faculty.
Lauhala hats woven by Hawaiʻinuiākea faculty.
Kapa earrings hand-dyed using palaʻā fern, ʻōlena and waukē plants.
Kapa earrings hand-dyed using palaʻā fern, ʻōlena and waukē plants.
Bidders can vie for a private music performance by Dean Osorio (right) and his ʻohana.
Bidders can vie for a private music performance by Dean Osorio (right) and his ʻohana.
Hands-on workshop with a cultural practitioner to make a mea kaua (traditional Hawaiian weapon).
Hands-on workshop with a cultural practitioner to make a mea kaua (traditional Hawaiian weapon).

This fall, more than 260 undergraduate and graduate haumāna (students) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻinuākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge are working towards degrees and a majority rely on some form of financial aid or scholarships. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the need for many to seek more funding to keep up with tuition, housing and more. For more than a decade, Hawaiʻinuākea has maintained a student emergency aid fund, however the pandemic has contributed to its depletion.

“Statistically, college students living away from home with few safety nets as they pursue their education, are piling up personal debt and wondering how much longer they can continue to enroll,” said Hawaiʻinuākea Dean Jon Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio. “We are at the mid-term of the fourth semester since Hawaiʻi was seized by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have all seen our public and private schools grapple with rules, logistics, unfamiliar technologies, worried parents and teachers, and a shortage of resources to try and meet our responsibilities to educate our people. While it has not been easy for anyone, I am especially concerned with how our haumāna have fared.”

Silent auction benefit 

To help raise funds for haumāna in need, Hawaiʻinuākea will launch its very first online auction. Bidding for the virtual silent auction, Ka ea o nā iʻa he wai, opens on November 24 at 8 a.m. until December 1, 11:59 p.m. HST. Some of the featured items include one-of-a-kind items and experiences, such as a one-hour music performance by Osorio and ʻohana, hands-on workshop to make a mea kaua (traditional Hawaiian weapon), mahiʻai kalo (taro farmer) starter kit filled with 10 kalo varieties, and hand crafted jewelry and lauhala (pandanus) hats. 

A preview of some of the items up for auction will continue to be posted ahead of the event.

“We need your support,” exclaimed Malia Nobrega, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Hawaiʻinuākea. “This is an exciting and fun way to help our students, and at the same time have a chance to win creative, fun and unique items and experiences from community practitioners and friends!”

The department hopes to raise $20,000 for its haumāna emergency fund. Through the years, deans have organized annual fundraisers and maintained a fund to help students who faced unanticipated situations that could impact their education, housing, medical care and other aspects of their welfare.

The auction’s name, Ka ea o nā iʻa he wai (the ea of fish is water), traces back to an infamous speech given in Mānoa in 1871 to commemorate Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day). In it, speaker David Kahalemaile stresses ea (source of life) as a vital factor to the survival of kānaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiians).

Donations to the student aid fund can be made on the UH Foundation website.