Kupuna
Ea Hānau Cultural Council represents kūpuna (elders) and mākua (parent-age practitioners) throughout Ka Pae ʻĀina o Hawaiʻi. Both Kupuna and Makua are knowledgeable in Kanaka birth traditions and practices. Kupuna are the decision-makers on the Ea Hānau council, and makua inform, coordinate, advise and follow kupuna orders.
OʻAHU: Aʻiaʻi Bello
Aʻiʻaʻi Bello is a mother, grandmother and auntie from Wahiawā, where she has held a lifelong ancestral connection to Kūkaniloko, the central site of sacred birthing on Oʻahu. She has been a practitioner of healing arts for 40 years, and upholds traditions of birth, motherhood and Haumea. She is a birth chanter, spiritual doula, kapa maker for birth, ʻiewe (placenta) , and ʻiwi and burial, as well as a La Leche League lactation coach, midwife advisor, and Indigenous womenʻs cultural practice representative. She actively builds bridges amongst those revitalizing hānau traditions in different ways: between different styles of cultural practice; between cultural practice and clinical medicine; and between Kanaka and other Indigenous Peoples working to revitalize birthing traditions in our communities.
KAUAʻI: Liko Martin
Liko Martin is a father, grandfather and great-grandfather with over 40 years of experience as a birth assistant and carrier of healing knowledge. He has done intensive caretakership of two sacred ancestral birthing sites on Kauaʻi, and has helped bring his own children into the world there. He was trained in Hanalei healing traditions, and carries the knowledge of many other kupuna. He assists in birth work and has taught workshops on father birth support. He is also a music carrier, farmer, fisherman, activist and peacebuilder.
MOLOKAI: Loretta Ritte and Scarlett Ritte
Pillars of activism and womenʻs strength since the earliest beginnings of the Hawaiian Rennaisance of the 1970ʻs, these two legendary women are carriers of Molokai home birthing traditions from the days of their kupuna through their hānau of their own children, and into future generations of their growing ʻōhana. Together, they represent the graceful maternal beauty of healing and fierce warrior strength of self-determination that epitomizes hānau practice and resurgence in our lāhui. Hānau traditions are a fundamental part of their work for cultural continuity and sovereignty.
HAWAIʻI: Abel Simeona Lui
Abel Simeona Lui was "given to God" by his mom, Waialoha, when he was miraculously healed from a crippling disability. He was trained as a young boy by famous Kaʻaʻawa midwife, Mrs. Domingo. He served as her apprentice during the days when midwifery was still common in rural areas, despite Territory repression. He helped to deliver his younger brother, and many other Kaʻaʻawa children, at their homes. As an adult he attended his own childrenʻs births, and eventually moved to his ancestral land of Kawaʻa, Hawaiʻi Island, where he is a beloved force of land protection, sovereignty and healing aloha. He is a visionary with "kindness and aloha" as his foundational power, and incredible stories of many kinds.
MAUI: Sam Kaʻai
Sam Kaʻai was born in the rural east side of Hana, Maui and raised as a young boy in Kaupo, where he learned from his uncle Lihau. At a young age he learned traditions in healing and ceremonial protocols. He became an amazing Hawaiian historian, cultural practitioner and carver and was part of the first crew to plan and voyage on the Hokule’a. He has dedicated his lifes work to supporting future generations to know who they are as kanaka, remembering traditions and kuleana for Kane and wāhine to be able to remember and claim who they are, in a world that has often tried to erase and forget our history. “We have become other people’s children, and we must listen to the whispering winds who are trying to remind us of who we are”
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In addition to these esteemed Moku representative elders, there are several other kupuna also working with Ea Hānau.