Moana Pomaikaʻi Kauluwehiokaʻala Ching
Name Moana Pomaikaʻi Kauluwehiokaʻala Ching
Age 39
Town/Moku Keauhou, Kona
Island Hawaiʻi Island
Social Media Handle none
Nominated by Noelani Puniwai
Leadership Category Mālama ʻĀina - Environmental Sustainability
Share with us a little about yourself and what you do.
I am a Mother, Partner, Daughter, and a lover of learning. Though iʻve lived in the storied lands of Hilo for the last 20 years, the ʻeka winds of Kona still fill my sails and Hualalai is the graceful backdrop of my world. I come from a large family with three sisters and five brothers. Laughter, hugs, tears, and scraped knees filled our youth. Less than a year after I was born and in the most supreme show of aloha, my birth Mother gave me to her older Sister to be raised by her with my maternal Grandparents in Keauhou, Kona. My birth Mother gave me life, my hānai Mother showed me the potentiality of this life. From the beginning iʻve moved through time with feet simultaneously planted in two worlds. As a hānai, I benefited from the lessons and experiences of two households. Traditional ceremony and kuleana were mixed with the fun distractions of growing up as a member of the “Generation X”. Contemporary schooling, all the way through college was contrasted by the sacred teachings that largely occurred only within the ʻohana. I was blessed by that duality, and continue to seek out those spaces in the middle...two feet set in sometimes complimentary and often times contradictory contexts. This is what I bring to my professional world as I work to mālama all that feeds and nourishes ka lāhui o Hawaiʻi. When wearing my “work” hat I am a Senior Program Manager at Conservation International Hawaiʻi, where I am honored and privileged to work by the side of individuals, families and communities who continue the traditions of mālama ʻāina in a changing 21st century world. Deep-rooted values and traditional fishing practices sustain their ʻohana...mind, body, and spirit and they work to restore and sustain the critical resources of their wahi pana. In many pockets, large and small, across the pae ʻāina I am committed to community-driven and place-based stewardship work that returns and sustains ʻāina māhuahua and ʻaina uluwehi. What I do...is who I am. I am kanu o ka ʻāina and therefore I strive to have my actions reflect who and where I come from. To hear my family describe me, I spend my days at the computer writing proposals and managing grants to support community-based conservation...and theyʻre right. Much of what I do is in front of a computer screen...but my feet remain forever rooted in the sands of Kahaluʻu, feeling the hot black sand stoke a fire from within.
Why is the work that you do important to you? The community?
Sitting at the knees of my kūpuna I soaked in their stories and grew up watching them teach, advocate, and carve out the trails that so many of us continue to traverse today. I learned to build upon those lessons in my life and work, and have been fortunate to relive those learning moments and apply that ʻike in nearly every aspect of my professional world. In this way, I remain connected to my kūpuna. They walk in front of me, continuing to share lessons through whispers in the wind or in the roars of crashing waves. They urge me on and lift me up when the road is long and weary. My work is important to me because it connects me to things that are bigger than and will outlast me. In that way, I remain humbled.
Iʻve always loved being the cheerleader, motivator, and the supporter from behind the scenes. Mālama ʻāina happens in a million different ways, is viewable from numerous levels, and applied at many scales. I have a vantage point that is challenging at times, because its view is mainly from behind a desk, and yet I enjoy stepping slightly back to see where and how people, organizations, and institutions intersect. In doing so, I look for the nexus points that can sometimes be areas of innovation. I never claim to find these areas alone...no one ever could, rather, I am grateful for the teams and networks that I am a part of. Only together are we able to see with clarity and act through inspiration. Together we go.
From my viewscape and through the work that I do, Iʻm able to directly support the families and communities who continue the legacy of their kūpuna in stewarding ʻāina. If my role as kākoʻo brings benefit to their work, then I am made whole and better by that. My 10-year old lovingly reminds me that I donʻt get to be in the kai as much as iʻd like, but that my contributions have purpose, if from afar. She inspires and motivates me everyday. Because of that, my work is most important and satisfying to me when it perpetuates the spirit of Hawaiʻi, people and place...and ensures her vision of aloha will live on i Hawaiʻi nei.
Share with us the qualities of leadership you admire and how you express those in your life.
As I continue to learn and grow as a kanaka, leadership and the lessons it teaches me, encompass so many aspects of my life and is expressed in many different ways. Sometimes leadership is bombastic and reverberating...and other times it comes softly like a calming breeze. I believe ʻōiwi-driven leadership to be about my contributions to the well-being of my family, community, and our global lāhui. This focus on contributions versus control has meant shedding the colonized version of leadership and embracing a model that emphasizes decision-making and leadership based on aloha, compassion, and humility. Iʻve embraced, and been sometimes challenged by, leading from “behind”. Some describe that style as timid and weak, but I disagree. To lift others and to see them thrive...and to do so with all ones aloha is to know joy. The Western worldview has historically emphasized competition versus collaboration. Collaboration and reciprocity is ingrained in our ancestral DNA, however, I/we must work to shed this foreign layer of being at the front of the pack and “getting ahead”.
Who has inspired you to do the work that you are doing?
My Kūkū kāne, David Kahelemauna Roy Jr, instilled in me the value of dedication to family and community. A core tenet that he modeled for me throughout my youth was that of being of service to our lāhui, shouldering kuleana and remaining steadfast to the values instilled in him by his kūpuna.He was a mighty kumu koa that I grew up under. He provided shelter and a sturdy base to grow from. My Kūkū wahine, Verda Leialoha Vida, was the vibrant forest floor that nurtured and nourished me and created a beautiful hāliʻi that provided safety and love. My Mākua, the women who birthed and raised me, continue to demonstrate fearlessness and tenacity.
The people and places that I am of provide ample inspiration to move forward in this world with conviction, confidence, and compassion. Navigating environmental, social, and economic change can feel, at times, overwhelming ...and yet, my kūpuna...all of our kūpuna persevered before us. They not only survived, they found ways to thrive...and perhaps success didnʻt look like what outsiders said it should, but that is the point, they found success and redefined it on their own terms. Those that came before me and the many who will surely come after...thats why iʻm here doing what iʻm meant to do now.
What is one word that describes something you are excited about for the lāhui?
Potentiality
What is one word that describes a pressing issue that is facing our lāhui?
House-lessness