From the Heartland Hawaiians living in the Midwest use their civic club as a cultural home.
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana‘ole founded the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs (AOHCC) in 1918, making it the oldest Hawaiian grassroots organization. The AOHCC is now 58 clubs strong, with the majority based in Hawai‘i and more than a dozen scattered across the Mainland, including the Ke Ali‘i Victoria Ka‘iulani Hawaiian Civic Club (KVKHCC) in Chicago. Founded in 2005, KVKHCC was the vision of its fi rst pelekikena (president), Joelladean Hinano Keli‘ikoa-Lee. A Hawaiian whose job in the Air Force brought her to Chicago in the late 1950s, Keli‘ikoa-Lee found it challenging to stay true to her roots while so far removed, both physically
and culturally, from the Islands. “She realized that there wasn’t anyone here who actually spoke or taught [Hawaiian] or was perpetuating the culture in the ways she recalled growing up,” says Keli‘ikoa-Lee’s daughter, Carole Lanialoha Lee-Sumberg, KVKHCC’s current pelekikena. The club, which has 33 members residing in both Illinois and Hawai‘i, is named for Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani, a fi tting choice given members’ blended backgrounds. “What we found very interesting is that she was mixed, or hapa,” says Lee-Sumberg. “She was half-Hawaiian and half-Scottish, like many of the Hawaiians here in the Midwest.” KVKHCC will host a Festival
of Aloha, May 24 to 27, which will include a health-awareness brunch and workshops on the Hawaiian language; Prince Kuhio; the nuts and bolts of starting a civic club; and what it means to serve the Hawaiian community. And on May 26, approximately 1,800 ‘ukulele players will gather at Welles Park in Chicago to try to earn
a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest ‘ukulele lesson. “The song that we’re teaching— ‘E Huli Makou’—is a traditional Hawaiian song that will help others to see that we are, in fact, connected to the Islands,” says Lee-Sumberg.
Article from: MANA magazine April 2012 edition
and culturally, from the Islands. “She realized that there wasn’t anyone here who actually spoke or taught [Hawaiian] or was perpetuating the culture in the ways she recalled growing up,” says Keli‘ikoa-Lee’s daughter, Carole Lanialoha Lee-Sumberg, KVKHCC’s current pelekikena. The club, which has 33 members residing in both Illinois and Hawai‘i, is named for Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani, a fi tting choice given members’ blended backgrounds. “What we found very interesting is that she was mixed, or hapa,” says Lee-Sumberg. “She was half-Hawaiian and half-Scottish, like many of the Hawaiians here in the Midwest.” KVKHCC will host a Festival
of Aloha, May 24 to 27, which will include a health-awareness brunch and workshops on the Hawaiian language; Prince Kuhio; the nuts and bolts of starting a civic club; and what it means to serve the Hawaiian community. And on May 26, approximately 1,800 ‘ukulele players will gather at Welles Park in Chicago to try to earn
a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest ‘ukulele lesson. “The song that we’re teaching— ‘E Huli Makou’—is a traditional Hawaiian song that will help others to see that we are, in fact, connected to the Islands,” says Lee-Sumberg.
Article from: MANA magazine April 2012 edition