If you were lost, would you use a compass?

"The 'Original Instructions' (like the tools of the makua o'o) are not commandments. They are a compass, providing orientation, not a map." - Robin Wall Kimmerer

Aloha ka'ua and welcome to Leo Kaona. My name is Yvonne Mokihana Calizar. I am the daughter of Helen Mokihana Amona Calizar and David Calizar, Sr. sister to David Calizar Jr. mother to Christopher Kawika Brown and wife to Dean "Pete" Little. I was born and raised on the island of O'ahu, first to breath the cool valley air of Palolo Valley as an infant, but moved with my Ma and Daddy to Kuli'ou'ou by the time my younger brother arrived in December of 1949. My brother and I are Filipino-Hawaiian and Chinese. Daddy was a windward side O'ahu plantation boy, Ma was a city girl born and raised on Aupuni Street in Honolulu's downtown neighborhoods.

Pete and me with our wagon home

This brief mo'okuauhau (genealogy) acknowledges with great aloha, the family upon whose strong shoulders, calloused hands and feet squeezed into shoes once too tight, with their voices telling many crisscrossing stories, with meaning barely understood but never forgotten, feeding my hungry soul. Mahalo nui "Papa Honey" for the many hours you waited for me at the old Ala Moana Shopping Center, amazed to see the small package of little something I'd found in my wanderings. A clue to the lifetime to come. Mahalo nui Mama for the safety pins, the light from your flashlight walking down Kuli'ou'ou Road waiting for your auana daughter to return from her wanderings. Another clue. Mahalo to my Bruddah, David. Wanderer with a Cancer Moon who always knew 'home' was most important. I miss all of you everyday.

Leo Kaona is in so many ways, the compass readings of a wandering Kuli'ou'ou girl who crossed an ocean many many times to learn what is important.

The Makua o'o are tomorrow's kupuna, elders, in training today. In the Hawaiian culture, the Makua o'o is urged to be in honest preparation under the tutelage of kupuna now. The o'o (with kahako, accentuation, over both vowels) is a cultivating tool used to work the ground, weed unwanted growth and prepare for planting. The art of becoming Makua o'o develops as a tailor-made journey of discovery, practice and confidence with that cultivating too.

Kumu Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins

Meeting Aunty
Our paths crossed on the sandy shore of Ka'anapali on the island of Maui. We, 'Aunty' and I, are teachers. Our beginnings were similar; we both started as elementary school teachers. When we met Aunty was long retired from the public school classrooms and was facilitating a workshop with Hawaiian elders just down the beach from the resort where I worked as the training manager. Word had traveled to me, via my cousin Mokihana, "Go meet this aunty. You are doing similar work." It's not exactly what my cousin said, but, the translation is close enough and our history was to expand with that meeting.

I met my kumu that day, the "honest preparation under the tutelage of kupuna now" began in 1995. My journey needed to re-start -- after almost twenty-five years away -- on my islands of birth to remember what I had forgotten and make space for ripening in ways unimaginable.

The original Nine
Makua o'o in Hawaiian means maturing adult. As a practice it means kupuna, elder, in training. These are the 9 Basic Tools for the Makua O'o as shared with me by my kumu Aunty Betty Kawohiokalani Ellis Jenkins. 

1. Keep a keen sense of observation … NOTICE, PAY ATTENTION 
2. Listen … with your whole body … LISTEN RESPECTFULLY 
3. Do your best in all things … LIVE LIFE WITH A PASSION 
4. Know that wisdom is found in many places … SOFTEN THE GROUND OF YOUR BEING
5. Question for clarity when making decisions … ASK
6. Practice patience and endurance … TIMING IS DIVINE
7. Engage in good health practices … CARE
8. Feel the heartbeat of the culture … SENSE YOUR PLACE, KNOW YOUR ROOTS
9. Believe in Ke Akua, for this higher power makes all life possible … WE ARE NEVER ALONE, ALWAYS LOVED

Time and experiences with Aunty Betty prepared me through apprenticeship: Pete and I both helped to set up workshops with my kumu during the years we lived back home. Aunty included me in her workshops, introduced me to many Hawaiian communities on O'ahu and I in turn involved her in the work I was doing.

The evolving role of teacher 
One of the meaningful moments in this journey came when a writing opportunity came my way. As the century turned Ka'u Landing editor Michael Gibson was looking for ideas for a new column. My life with Aunty Betty and makua o'o was ripe for expansion. I asked for permission to share the practice of kupuna in training via a twice-monthly column. The door opened, Aunty said yes and my love of words and story led to a regular 'Makua O'o' column for several years.

Twenty-five years later, the place that sustains me, my community, is an island in the middle of the Salish Sea in occupied Coast Salish People land. Whidbey Island on the maps. I am an old woman living in a wagon-home built together with my husband to accommodate the paradox of the many ways the human culture has lost touch with the values that are of most importance.

Since 2008 I learned to blog. Blogs became my wa'a my canoe to navigate uncertainty. Writing, my original vessel for sensing my place, continues to surprise me with its gifts.

The NecessaryTenth 

10. Be brave ... KNOW IT COUNTS TO BE SOME ONE TO BE COUNTED ON.

NOW, as the affects of lock-down during the time of pandemic spin the dial on my internal compass, this place, Leo Kaona, is a place to teach the practical and the many metaphoric variations of 'finding home.'

So, if you were lost would you use a compass?
If you answered 'yes' and are ready to begin your journey as makua o'o CONTACT Mokihana to begin.