ʻĀinaaloha Ioane
Name ʻĀinaaloha Ioane
social media @aina.ioane.9
Age 38
Town/Moku I was born at Waikaʻalulu, Waiakea, Hilo, Hawaii (Kingʻs Landing).
Island Hawaiʻi Island
Leadership Category Civic Engagement/Emerging Law
Nominated by Blossom Feiteira
Share with us a little about yourself and what you do.
Aloha my name is ʻĀinaaloha Waikaalulu Ioane. I was born at home at Waikaʻalulu bay, on the ʻāina pulapula of Kingʻs Landing, in the Waiakea Ahupuaʻa, on Moku O Keawe. My parents sent my siblings and me to the first Hawaiian Immersion school in Keaukaha, Ke Kula Kaiapuni o Keaukaha. I have been dancing hula for Hālau o Kekuhi for over 30 years and recently completed with my fellow ʻŌlapa, our Piʻi Kūʻahu ceremony, which signifies our collective commitment to the kūʻahu practice and hula. I am a middle school teacher and have been teaching for over 12 years.
During the Covid Pandemic, like many others, I took the time to reflect upon my ʻohana relationships and commitments, and when my father, Kelii William Ioane Jr., known in the community as Skippy Ioane, turned 70, I realized it was time for our ʻohana to collect his life work and contributions to the lāhui, to perpetuate it into perpetuity. My twin sister and I began to organize his teachings, and philosophies and opened up the Kelii William Ioane Legacy Foundation, a 501(c)3.
One of these legacies is that of the establishment of MAHA, Malama Ka Aina Hana ka Aina. Hearing the call of the ʻāina, and the kahea of the kūpuna of the lands, my father, Skippy Ioane moved his ʻohana into the ʻāina of Kingʻs Landing. Alongside Kūpuna William Kulakauka Pakani, they established the kauhale Hawaiian beneficiary community of Kingʻs Landing. Malama Ka Aina Hana Ka Aina Inc. (M.A.H.A) is an alternative development model of subsistence lifestyle living created to address the waiting list issues of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
At the request of my father, I began to get involved in the 40-year-old struggle for land security and lease establishment for the Hawaiian beneficiaries of the MAHA and Kingʻs Landing community. I currently serve as the Board Support, Communicating with DHHL and the larger community.
Why is the work that you do important to you? The community?
Growing up in Kingʻs Landing, I never knew that we lived on borrowed time. As a keiki, I was afforded by my parents and the community a sense of innocence. The parents kept the stress of eviction to themselves. The keiki were allowed to build their aloha to ʻāina, and strengthen our self-sustainability skill sets. At that time, MAHA only held a 30-day revocable Right-Of-Entry, providing DHHL the right to evict the beneficiaries ʻohana with a 30-day, for any reason clause.
When I became a mother, my Father, took me to community meetings and I learned of the Right-of-Entry and the NEED for Hawaiian Homestead Leases for our community. I took for granted that my ʻonehānau would always be there and accessible to our ʻohana.
However, I was wrong. Currently, there are no successorship rights for beneficiaries living in Kingʻs Landing. When my father is called to the stars by our Kūpuna, I will lose the right to my ʻonehānau.
I will no longer be able to raise my keiki on the ʻāina that raised me.
The work that I do with MAHA to secure leases and successorship rights to the lands of Kingʻs landing is important because, the MAHA community is a multigenerational community, raising our keiki on and with ʻāina.
Aloha ʻāina is a foundational community philosophy, which needs to be recognized by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.
The establishment and continuance of the Waiting List is an insult to native Hawaiians and the efforts of Kealii Kuhio. It is unacceptable for any Hawaiian to die on the waitlist, while the Department takes generations to open up and establish homesteading lots.
Share with us the qualities of leadership you admire and how you express those in your life.
Aloha ʻĀina is what guides purity in leadership. Understanding our kuleana and reciprocal relationship with Mama ʻĀina, builds an unwavering motivation toward reaching our ʻohana and community goals.
A leader must be courageous. At times it is very difficult to communicate with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. They are not on the same time-sensitive awareness as their beneficiaries, and it can be very hard to wait patiently for their commitment to the community. In addition, bravery is needed when encouraging community members to build trust with the Department, when we see their long-standing track record of supporting foreign interests over beneficiary rights.
Consistency and patience are needed to stay on the long and rough road of building community. My father began the discussion for leases in Kingʻs landing when he received his first eviction notice in 1982. Forty years later, I am taking lead for my father. We are now in our second generation of fighting for security.
This should not be something my keiki have to take over. It should be something that they are allowed to build upon.
Who has inspired you to do the work that you are doing?
My father Skippy Ioane is my motivation. I've watched him fight the good Kingdom of Hawaii fight my whole life. He was brave when he took his ʻohana into the depth of the undeveloped lands of Kingʻs Landing to raise us with mama ʻāina, with no common amenities, like electricity and running water. His innovation and drive raised us in an off-grid subsistence lifestyle. This made my siblings and me resilient. It made us brave and it sparked our understanding and connection to ʻāina.
What is one word that describes something you are excited about for the lāhui?
Ola a Ola loa no e. Life in perpetuity.
What is one word that describes a pressing issue that is facing our lāhui?
Doubt