"He wa'a he moku he moku he wa'a."
The Na Kālai Waʻa Mission Statement "He waʻa he moku, he moku he waʻa" simply translates to "The canoe is our island, and the island is our canoe."
On a canoe you have finite resources, both natural and human.
Clay Bertelmann, founder of Na Kālai Waʻa, uttered these words when explaining the unique holistic nature of wa'a practices and how they relate to us individually and as a larger community.
A voyaging canoe is a maritime parallel to the kauhale (village) system of Hawaiʻi. The success of a canoe depends on all kūlana (roles) of society. Crew consist of lawaiʻa (fishermen), mahiʻai (farmers), kahuna pule (priests), kahuna noeʻau (craftsmen), aliʻi (leaders), and makaʻāinana (the people). The canoe presents a platform for each individual to pracitice their cultural lifestyle in a synergetic way. Simply put, what we do on land we do on the canoe.
This is what makes Makaliʻi programs unique; each individual is celebrated for what they can contribrute to the whole 'ohana. We are the village. What we do to survive on land, we do to survive on the canoe.
Recent News
 |
Pwo Chadd Paishon to Sail Hikianalia Home to Hawai'i on Maiden VoyagePwo Chadd Paishon, Sr. Captain of Nā Kālai Waʻa and Makaliʻi, will be departing on October 27, 2012 to Tahiti to assist the Captain and crew of Hikianalia home to Hawaiʻi. Hikianalia is the newest vessel in our Hawaiʻi fleet of canoes. She will be accompanying Hōkūleʻa on their World Wide Voyage that is currently set to launch in June, 2012. "Being given Pwo is a responsibility to share your... Read more >> |
 |
Cowboys and CanoesIn the 1970s, two brothers from a paniolo family in Waimea fell in love with a double-hulled voyaging canoe, a man with the vision of our ancestors and a dream for our future. Clay Bertelmann and his brother Shorty Bertelmann would spend the next 20 years of their lives, sailing the Pacific with Papa Mau Piailug on Hōkūleʻa. In the early 1990s, Clay found himself with a new dream, a dream about a... Read more >> |