Kahoʻolawe is a small island, right at the center of Hawaii. For most of its history, the island has been recognized by Hawaiians as a sacred place - a sacred place of learning, tool-production, and communicating with the gods. More recently, Kahoʻolawe has been known as "that place that no one can go to", mostly because it is just way too dangerous to go there. The island is dangerous because the United States military seized the island and then proceeded to use the island as a target practice at the outset of World War II. The U.S. practiced war on Kahoʻolawe throughout World War II, then the Korean War, then the Vietnam War, for fifty years. As this small island was nearly bombed out of existence, the land and even the waters around the island became filled with unexploded weapons like bombs. PKO - the Protect Kahoʻolawe Ohana - is the same working group of people that led the decades-long struggle to stop the U.S. military from destroying Kahoʻolawe. It took enormous sacrifices and an extensive time, but eventually they prevailed and the bombing at Kahoʻolawe stopped. The PKO people are doing the most radical form of education possible; they are actually living according to the wisdom and knowledge of their ancestors. On Kahoʻolawe, the Hawaiian cosmology creates all relationships, practices, and micro-practices. The kua of PKO are doing everything they can to help the island heal, to become a safe place of learning and growth again. And in the process I think they are healing themselves too. I’ve never been to the island of Kahoʻolawe, but I would love to one day. I believe that there is an astounding mana that is attached to Kahoʻolawe and I would be honored to just be standing on that island, let alone learning there from the habitants. I’m going to go there one day, if Akua permits, to help, grow, and most importantly, learn.
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