Hālau O Huluena Receives $100K Grant to Perpetuate Healing Tradition Lāʻau Lapaʻau

Hālau O Huluena announced a grant award totaling $100,000 that will support the Native Hawaiian community through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Kulia Grants. The grant will help to reinforce and strengthen Native Hawaiians’ connection to the ancient healing traditions of the poʻe kahiko.

With a $100,000 OHA grant award, Hālau O Huluena will continue to perpetuate the healing tradition of lāʻau lapaʻau as handed down from Poʻokela Kahuna Lāʻau Lapaʻau “Papa” Henry Auwae to Kahuna Lāʻau Lapaʻau and Kahu of Moanalua Roddy Akau, teaching a cohort of makua at outdoor and indoor classrooms in Moanaluaʻs Kamananui and Kamanaiki Valleys.

“This generous grant award from OHA enables us to continue to grow our current cohort of haumana while extending outwards to lāhui via huakaʻi, mālama ‘āina workdays, and workshops, and beginning to codify our naʻau-based, ʻāina-based methods into a written curriculum,” said HOH Executive Director Gabe Imaikalani Man. “To be able to offer this authentic healing tradition on preserved ʻāina stewarded by a lineal descendant is an invaluable opportunity. Kahu Roddy’s kakoʻo are all humbled to play a part in helping him preserve a vital cultural heritage for the benefit of the Native Hawaiian lāhui. We are all thrilled for Halau O Huluena to be recognized by OHA as an important culture program moving forward.”

The purpose of the Kulia Grant is to serve the Native Hawaiian lāhui in alignment with the strategic foundations, directions, and outcomes of 15-year Mana i Mauli Ola Strategic Plan.

Halau O Huluenaʻs mission is to preserve and revive a genuine lineal tradition of lāʻau lapaʻau via classes taught by Kahuna Lāʻau Lapaʻau and Kahu of Moanalua, Roddy Akau.