HOʻOLAUNA
Ma kekahi mo'olelo, ʻo Haumea ke akua wahine pale keiki, a he mau pua kaulana loa kāna ʻo Kanikawi lāua ʻo Kanikawā, no ke kumu kupaianaha ʻo Kalauokekahuli mai. ʻO kēia mau pua hoʻi, kāna lāʻau hoʻohānau keiki. Na ka ʻike o kēia moʻolelo e hoʻoulu ana iā mākou e hoʻomanaʻo a hoʻohana mau i ka ʻike o nā kupuna i mea e hoʻoponopono ai i nā hopena hānau hemahema e hoʻopilikia ana i nā wahine a me nā keiki Hawaiʻi/ʻōiwi.
A moʻolelo of Haumea, the Hawaiian goddess and pale keiki associated with fertility and childbirth, tells of how she utilized Kalauokekahuli and its flowers, Kanikawī and Kanikawā, as lāʻau hoʻohānau keiki (child-birthing medicine). Imbued with ancestral knowledge, this moʻolelo inspires the work that Kalauokekahuli seeks to do by breathing new life into traditional and cultural practices in order to overturn the negative birth and postpartum outcomes that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women and babies currently face in Hawaiʻi.
E kākoʻo ana ʻo Kalauokekahuli i nā ʻohana Hawaiʻi a me na ʻohana ʻōiwi o ka Moananuiākea ma o ka mālama ʻana i nā papa e hoʻomakaukau ai iā lakou no ka hānau keiki, ka mālama ʻana i ke keiki, ka hānai poli, a pela wale aku. ʻO kekahi pahuhopu nui o mākou ka hiki ke kākoʻo i nā ʻohana ma ke ʻano he koʻokua, me ka hoʻi mau ʻana i ka 'ike ku'una 'oiai, ua lehulehu a manomano ka 'ikena a ka Hawai'i. He manaʻolana ko mākou e hōʻola hou i nā hana o ko kākou poʻe kupuna mai ka wā hoʻokauhua, ka wā hānau keiki, a ma hope pono iho i mea e ho'omaika'i a'e ai i ka nohona o nā 'ohana.
Kalauokekahuli encourages the healthy growth of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families by supporting and enhancing the well-being of makua and their keiki with holistic, multi-generational, and culturally-rooted care regardless of socioeconomic privilege. In doing so, we seek to revitalize and normalize ʻŌiwi prenatal, birth, and postpartum practices by foregrounding ʻike kūpuna and Indigenous knowledge and by centering the care/support of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families through community outreach. By offering culturally relevant educational classes and workshops, in addition to providing access to high quality prenatal, birth, and postpartum services, we strive to positively influence birth and postpartum outcomes for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AND LEADERSHIP
MĀLIA KAUPE
Mālia Kaupe is a wife and homeschooling mother of two, born and raised in Wailuku, Maui. She has personal experience with both hospital and home birth and has supported well over 200 wahine in her birthwork journey. She is passionate about all things birth and babies. Mālia is a full time koʻokua (doula) as well as a midwife’s assistant, childbirth educator, Indigenous breastfeeding counselor and Hānai Pono educator. She is proud of her involvement with Kalauokekahuli as a co-founder, Executive Director and koʻokua.
ʻIOLANI BROSIO
ʻIolani Brosio is a wife, māmā, and a co-founder of Kalauokekahuli. She currently serves on the Board of Directors as the Secretary and is the hui's Grant Writer.
In addition to empowering ka lāhui Hawaiʻi and Pasifika birthing people through her work with Kalauokekahuli, she teaches English composition and literature courses at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College.
PŌLANI KAHAKALAU-KALIMA
Raised in rural Waipiʻo Valley, Pōlanimakamae Kahakalau-Kalima is a loving wife and makuahine. A proud graduate of both Hawaiʻi Community College with an AA in Hawaiian Studies, with emphasis on Hula, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo with a BA in Performing Arts. Pōlani serves as the President of Kalauokekahuli. She is also the Executive Director for EA Ecoversity, a culture-based higher education and career exploration and training for Native Hawaiian youth and young adults, ages 15 - 30, created by KŪ-A-KANAKA. She also serves as a culture consultant for KAʻEHU, a non-profit organization, where she shares Hawaiian culture and knowledge with various programs on the island of Maui. Since becoming a Kumu Hula, Pōlani and husband Noʻeau Kalima opened Hālau Hula Kauluola on Hawaiʻi and Maui. Pōlani strives to protect, preserve, and perpetuate her Hawaiian culture and serve her community at large.
TYRA FONSECA-SMITH
Tyra Maukaʻa Fonseca-Smith was born and raised in Puʻuloa, Oʻahu and currently resides in the ahupuaʻa o Waiau. She is a wife and māmā to her daughter Emalani, an Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor, and a Birth Doula. She is passionate about Native Hawaiian Practices such as ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, pule, oli, and is currently studying more in-depth traditional Native Hawaiian birth and breastfeeding practices while obtaining her Masters in Public Health at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa specializing in Native Hawaiian and Indigenous Health.
In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, Tyra's kuleana is to serve as an advocate for breastfeeding families in the state of Hawaiʻi and to empower the voices of the community. She is also passionate about educating and perpetuating the ways of her kūpuna by staying grounded in traditions.
LEILANI DIGMON
Aloha mai e ka mea heluhelu mai ka lā hiki i Haʻehaʻe a ka lā kau i Lehua, aloha nō. ‘O wau nō ʻo Leilani Digmon, a i Lahaina ma ka mokupuni ʻo Maui wau e noho ai me kuʻu kāne, ‘o Kapali Keahi, a me kā māua mau keiki. Greetings readers from the rising sun in Haehae until the setting sun in Lehua, greetings indeed. My name is Leilani and I live in Lahaina on the island of Maui with my husband Kapali Keahi and our children. I am a 39 year old Kanaka Maoli birth worker (student midwife, haumana pale keiki, doula, koʻokua, childbirth educator, Indigenous Lactation Counselor), cultural practitioner, and homeschool mother of an 11 year old, 9 year old, and 7 year old.
Kanaka Maoli traditions and beliefs surrounding childbirth and childrearing is my passion. I am here to serve our community and to help foster the reclamation of Kanaka Maoli birth practices. E ola nō ka ‘ike hānau Hawaiʻi!
KAHEALANI COLLINS
Kāhealani was raised in the puna area of moku o keawe and now lives on Kaua’i where she and her kāne raise their three keiki.
A recent graduate of the Kalauokekahuli Ka ‘amana Mentorship program, she couldn’t be more excited to serve ka lāhui o Kaua’i as a ko’okua as well as Kalauokekahuli board member.
She is passionate about perpetuating hawai’i birth practices and empowering ‘ohana on their journey of becoming mākua. She strives to support wāhine so that they may best hold themselves, their ‘ohana and their kaiaulu in safety and comfort.
NICOLE RELACION
Nicole Leilani Relacion was born and raised in Wailua, Kauaʻi and over the last decade has made a home in Hilo, Oregon, back to Hawaiʻi, and now New Mexico. She brings her a passion for ensuring the health and well-being of kanaka ʻōiwi and our Pacific Islander ʻohana as well as her experience working in the mental health field as a counselor, social worker, and systems change advocate.
Nicole has received a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work, but most of her learnings come from the children, ʻohana, and colleagues she has been able to work with over the last ten years - as well as her own ʻohana and friends that have supported her through it all. She is continually learning more about Native Hawaiian practices and moʻolelo that can support our lāhui, and believes that we can begin to heal from the historical trauma we have experienced through integrating our traditional cultural practices into our present day lives, and finding the joy in doing things the way our kūpuna did. Nānā i ke kumu.
