Last month, I had the opportunity of accompanying other educators, students, and community leaders from Hawai'i to welcome the arrival of the
Hōkūleʻa to Cape Town, South Africa. The Hōkūle`a is a Hawaiian canoe that is attempting to sail across the world using no GPS or satellites. Relying only on the almost extinct knowledge of using the stars, waves, birds, and clouds, the Polynesian Voyaging Society decided to move beyond its previous expeditions of sailing to and from the Polynesian islands to making its way across the world to share the message of Mālama Honua (care for the Earth).
While the visiting Hawai'i delegation was not involved with the actual sailing of the canoe, we were tasked with a different, but equally valuable task. We were responsible for doing educational outreach and sharing the mission with schools, community groups, and others who welcomed us to Cape Town. We quickly learned that our individual schools did not matter; instead Hawai'i trumped all. The group performed traditional hula, oli (chants), and shared the Aloha spirit with those who happened to walk by the harbor docks or in the surrounding areas. For some of the schools, Hawai'i was an unknown, much less a canoe that is sailing around the world. However it was apparent that despite the cultural differences, there were more cultural elements that were similar rather than different. The value that came from sharing the home culture with others and appreciating what they had to share with us was a powerful collision of global competencies. From the 1st graders all the way up to the adults we interacted with, the opportunity to share one another's stories and values added more than we could have anticipated.
On the surface, our experiences resembled elements of service tourism and the brief encounters with the schools and community groups could be categorized as elementary attempts of service learning. But the power of the Hōkūle`a and Mālama Honua did more to enhance our visit than if we just went to Cape Town and attempted the same actions. Someone in our group had the brilliant idea of bringing inflatable globes which helped us show the physical distance that separates Hawai'i and South Africa. Teachers from those schools have shared that this realization continues to baffle some of their students and has made them more aware of life outside of their home. Our group were led by a community leader through the Khayelitsha township. I hesitated doing this because I thought we would be walking around and spending a couple of hours in a economically disadvantaged area to see the impact of apartheid in South Africa. The idea of going to a "zoo of the poor" is clearly the type of thinking and behavior we all shiver at for our global experiences. But the experience in Khayelitsha was much more than observing. We interacted, we were educated, and we made new friends. At one of the schools, there was a recent tragedy that resulted in the horrific murder of a student, which the school was still reeling from and recognizing. Our conversations and stories about the canoe, especially Eddie Aikau (if you've never heard the story, ESPN did a great 30 for 30 special on him a few years ago) provided the students with a brief respite from the sadness to think about how to honor their classmate.
Yes it would have been better to have a longer experience to build on
these new relationships, but it is up to us to remain engaged and
connected (no matter if we spent 1 hour or 1 month in the area). I've learned such opportunities are valuable and help care for the Earth,
because caring for and supporting one another is one thing we can do to
care for the larger planet. To share and care for our fellow global citizen and then carry that message back across the globe is one small thing we can do that will hopefully add up to more. To reach our physical destination, our group took a 10 hour flight to New York City, 16 hour flight to Johannesburg, and a 2 hour flight to Cape Town. It is a lot of time spent in a small space, but it's obvious that no matter the size of the space or mindsets of the people we interact with, taking care of one another in our towns or halfway across the world is a necessary component in being a global citizen.