FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Student interns and staff at MA‘O Organic Farms on O‘ahu, which produces fruits and vegetables for local stores, restaurants and farmers’ markets. Proceeds sup- port additional educational opportunities for students.
MA‘O ORGANIC FARMS IN WAI‘ANAE, O‘AHU
W
hile we associate pictures of palm trees and sandy beaches with Hawai‘i,
food insecurity, poverty
and lack of opportunities for youth are a real- ity for its Native population. Kukui and Gary Maunakea-Forth sought to address this chal- lenge after they finished graduate school in 1999 and went to work as project managers for MA‘O Organic Farms, sponsored by the nonprofit Wai‘anae Community Re-Develop- ment Corporation located in rural Wai’anae on the west side of O‘ahu. They noted the high dropout rate for Native Hawaiian youth and the lack of a path to college for many. Through grants from the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture and Department of Health and Human Services, they were able to lease five acres. They produced 5,000 pounds of food in their first year. Working with a respected Kupuna (elder) in the community, they embraced his mantra of “love, respect and the willingness
22 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2018
to work.” They focussed on students to create an “edu-preneurial environment” – one in which they use incentivized methods to teach basic employment skills, work ethic and systems to ensure the youth succeed. Today they offer 50 paid college internships and farm 24 acres of organically certified land that produce nearly 200,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables! For more information, please contact Kukui and Gary Maunakea-Forth at
info@maorganicfarms.org. These are only a few examples of the food
movement in Native communities. For more information, including how a tribe or tribal non-profit can get involved and start its own local project, please contact First Nations Development Institute at info@firstnations. org or the Wallace Center at Winrock In- ternational at
wallace@winrock.org. Also, check out any of the Wallace Center’s food webinars through its National Good Food Network at
ngfn.org/resources.X
Carolyn J. McClellan (Cherokee Nation) is the assistant direc- tor for programs at the National Museum of the American Indian.
PROMOTING
TRIBAL TOURISM Food-related events are major highlights of tribal calendars, and many welcome outside visitors. For more information about Native tourism activities near you, please contact the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association at
aianta.org. The AIANTA describes itself as the “only organization specifically dedicated to advancing Indian Country tourism across the United States.”
It notes that Indian Country drew 1.9 million overseas visitors in 2016, a 180 percent increase since 2007, and that foreign visits to Indian Country held steady last year, when visits to the U.S. as a whole dropped slightly. It offers training and support to tourism efforts, and its website,
NativeAmerica.travel, offers tribes and Native-owned tourism businesses international marketing opportunities at no cost.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MA‘O ORGANIC FARMS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
