An exchange to Mars for students
- Roberta Cross | March 21, 2014
Two powerhouse women one in Alberta, another in Hawai'i made a life-changing exchange happen for students in their indigenous communities.
Rachelle MacDonald is Senior Advisor, Strategic Development at the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (AWN), located near Grande Cache, Alberta. In early 2013, she was asked to host a summer culture camp for exchange students from the Hawai'ian island of Moloka'i. She agreed, and then saw a chance for young people from her community to participate.
"Sometimes you have to be brave," she explains. "Hawai'i is so far away. It was like saying to our kids, 'hey, do you want to go to Mars next week?'"The AWN is descended mostly from Cree who moved west and integrated with the eastern Rocky Mountain tribes. The community has no recognized Constitutional status. Their Elders lived traditionally, and the upheaval of mining, oil and gas began only in the 1960s. McDonald quotes one of the AWN Elders, saying, "We went from the stone age to the computer age in four decades 1969 to 2009." Dara Lukonen believes students deserve high-quality education despite living remotely. She is an educational entrepreneur, a Founding Teacher at Aka'ula School on Moloka'i. This exchange to the Rocky Mountains was essential for her students, she says, "to meet other indigenous people and understand how they live like us and share the same values."
Lukonen and her mentor, Vicki Newberry, invested their life savings to start Aka'ula as a private school in 2003. She Aka'ula teaches environmental action, leadership capacity and critical thinking all based on the islands culture and environment. Lukonen's work day includes full-time teaching as well as administration, fundraising, and working with community and parents. Aka'ula receives no government funding, and relies on tuition and donations.
The seven Moloka'i students first flew to Alberta for four days at AWN.
Students made hand drums, participated in round dances and a sweat lodge, helped hand-scrape moose hide, and were taught about local medicinal plants.
"The sense of humour was something in common," says McDonald, remembering the Moloka'i girls swimming in a cold Rocky Mountain lake.
The students slept in tipis, and spent time talking around the fire with community members and Elders. This felt really familiar to the Molokai students.
"A couple of times," says McDonald, "visitors couldn't pick out which were the Alberta kids and which were the Moloka'i kids."
Culture crossed all boundaries, as both students and community members enthusiastically danced together, and worked together, chopping firewood and putting up the tipi.
They had more than culture in common. "Even though we are so far apart, some of the social challenges we face are identical," says Lukonen.
"We took the kids to see our development corporation, a big welding shop," explains McDonald. "We talked about how our community had to work really hard to build what we have. We spent a lot of time talking about having dreams and how going to school and participating on exchanges can help them be successful."
Four students and one chaperone from AWN then travelled to Moloka'i where they were hosted by Aka'ula and the local community for ten days.
Moloka'i is home for 8,000 people. Sixty-one percent of the population are full or part Native Hawai'ian. Known as "the abundant land" in Hawai'ian, many people on the island hunt, fish and farm to provide for their families. There is some industrial farming and ranching, and only one hotel.
"Moloka'i is a community of people who choose to live their cultural practices, just like AWN," says Lukonen.
The AWN students learned traditional practices like throw-net fishing, and to dance hula. The Hawai'ian immersion teacher taught students to play ukulele and sing in Hawai'ian. The Moloka'i kids taught their AWN friends the ancient traditional warrior exercises called makahiki games.
The AWN students learned to cook imu style, the traditional underground cooking. Moloka'i kupuna (elders) taught lei-making and pounding taro root to make poi. They also learned about Hawai'ian healing plants, and worked to remove an invasive species from an ancient Hawai'ian fishpond.
Even though the visits ended last summer, the exchanges benefits continue.
"We got so close so fast," says Lukonen. "They were our family when we were so far from home."
The Moloka'i students miss their new family in the AWN community, and often tell stories from their time in Alberta.
"This exchange was a life-changing opportunity for our children," says McDonald. "It filled me with hope for what the future can hold."