Pouhana ‘O Na Wahine Organizing Efforts Continue
“I was born and raised on Molokai and have been blessed to be part of a family that has always been part of the fight to restore the sovereign rights of the Hawaiian people. As a survivor and having worked to implement cultural experiences in all that I do, I know we need to address domestic violence as Native Hawaiian women working closely with our kupuna who are rooted spiritually and culturally.”—Wanette Lee
In partnership with the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center, the Pouhana 'O Na Wahine, Pillars of Women, continue to build their grassroots organizing efforts to increase the safety of wahine (women) and their families on the islands of Hawaii looking to their history, culture, and language, including their values of aloha.
"We are inspired to organize ourselves as indigenous Native Hawaiian women with a long history as a people that pre-existed the formation of the United States to increase the safety of our people,” said Wanette Lee. “Our efforts bring together advocates from across our islands providing services to Native Hawaiian wahine who are dedicated to addressing the urgent needs of our wahine because our people have suffered for too long,” said Mililani Martin. “We selected pouhana (central wood pole used in traditional Native Hawaiian homes) as part of our name because we recognize without the pouhana, the house falls apart, and wahine, like pouhana, are the strength of the family. We come together as a hui (group) to serve as pouhana and help our people to address domestic violence and related injustices. We also recognize that we have both long term and urgent, “in the meantime” work to help our people heal from domestic violence and trauma as recognized by Public Law 103-150 or the Apology Bill,” said NaniFay Paglinawan. “Meeting at Living Life Source afforded Pouhana 'O Na Wahine the opportunity to have a safe space to kuka kuka (talk story) and sense of Lokahi (balance) allowing each hui member to connect the mind, body, and spirit to the aina (land) and Akua (God),” said Dayna Schultz.
Pouhana ‘O Na Wahine member, Wanette Lee is also a member of the NIWRC ‘s Board of Directors. “The hui first met together in December of 2015 in Honolulu, then July of 2016 on the island of Molokai, and then January 21-22, 2017, in Mānoa Valley on the island of Oahu. While we meet regularly through conference calls, these face-to-face meetings are essential to building unity within our hui. We invited our sisters from the NIWRC to join our efforts and have organized regular conference calls to move our work forward.”
The NIWRC strongly supports the efforts of the Pouhana ‘O Na Wahine. “We are committed to supporting the hui’s efforts to use their history, language, and teachings to end domestic violence and related injustices,” said Paula Julian, NIWRC Policy Specialist. “The NIWRC supports the hui's efforts to ensure the development of technical assistance and training, resources, policies, and system engagement on domestic violence as it affects Native Hawaiians,” said Rose Quilt, NIWRC Director of Policy and Research.
Backdrop of Pouhana ‘O Na Wahine Organizing Efforts
Since 2013 and because of the amendments to FVPSA in 2010, the hui and NIWRC have worked in partnership to identify activities to address the needs of Native Hawaiians that experience domestic violence. “The December 2015 meeting was groundbreaking. It was a three-day regional meeting in Honolulu on “Domestic and Gender-Based Violence and Increasing the Safety of Native Women,” said Paula Julian. “We, as NIWRC joined indigenous women active in their Native Hawaiian communities to discuss how to move forward to increase the safety of Native Hawaiian women.”
The Division of Family Violence Prevention & Services, Administration on Children, Youth & Families, U.S Department of Health and Human Services supported the hui’s December 2015 meeting. “We want to give a special thank you to Shena Williams of the FVPSA office for understanding our struggles and barriers as indigenous people,” said Wanette Lee. “Ms. Williams and the FVPSA office’s support is very important to us. To be consulted, and asked what we needed and wanted to address domestic violence changes a long patronizing history of being told how we will address problems our people face.”
“The discussion over the last 3 years has been eye- opening and inspirational. NIWRC has provided the time and space to discuss how the hui understands domestic violence and the path forward to safety from our history as a people with a unique political status and trust relationship with the federal government,” said Rose Pettigrew. “We agree that it is important for the hui to oni paʻa (stand firm or balance between being grounded and moving purposefully/ intentionally) to achieve safer and healthier communities for our ohana,” said Dolly Tatofi.
