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Sustain Hawaiʻi

Since 2003, Sustain Hawaiʻi has been producing and supporting programs and services intent on enhancing the relationships of nā kanaka (the people of the Hawai’i) with our places, one another and the ‘āina (sources of food, energy, and sustenance).  The root word ‘ai, is food.  ‘Ai, is energy. ‘Ai, is medicine. ‘Ai, is to feed. ‘Ai, is to eat.  

To know your ‘āina, is to know the source of your nutrition, and the source of health.  You are what you eat, and a healthy relationship with the food you eat is what maintains a healthy relationship with Papahānaumoku, Mother Earth.

The conversation around food today tends to be about delivery systems, supply chains and carrying capacity. What we learn by looking at the practices of our ancestors is that food sovereignty and sustainability is achieved and enhanced by reducing the number of links in those chains. When producers and consumers get closer together, we become more sustainable. When we reframe, refocus, and redefine our practices and our relationships with our food, we achieve and maintain better health.

In Hawaiʻi, this means revisiting practices that enabled our ancestors to thrive in the most remote place on the planet. By bringing them forward, we too can live in harmony with the planet and one another. One of those practices is lapa‘au, medicinal healing utilizing lā‘au lapa‘au, plant based medicines.    

Thanks to a federal grant from the Administration of Native Americans (ANA), Sustain Hawai‘i is proud to sponsor and support the newest program in its offerings of services and programs,  ʻĒwekea Piʻi Moʻo Lāʻau Lapaʻau,  a Cultural Health Program in Waimānalo, Oʻahu that reconnects kanaka to the healing practice of their kupuna and to the ‘āina of Waimānalo.  Mahalo and congratulations to the program’s kumu (instructors) and haumāna (students) on taking the next step in the “walk story” for health for yourselves and for future generations. 

Ramsay Taum, Sustain Hawaiʻi Board President