Kau'i Pelekane — Mo'olelo of Hokule'a
Photo by Sam Low
Mo'olelo of Hokule'a — The Stories of Our Star of Joy and Gladness
In 2000 photographer Sam Low interviewed members of the Polynesian voyage to Tahiti. He interviewed OR nurse Kau'i Pelekane and has graciously allowed me to share his words and a photograph of Kau’i.
“Among those called to healthcare, it is probably accurate to say that the innermost sanctum of practice is the operating room of a hospital. Kau'i Pelekane has been a surgical nurse at The Queen's Hospital in Honolulu, Hawai'i's largest, for the last four years. Her ascent to this highly demanding position has not been easy - calling for a complex juggling act in which the needs of a career had to be constantly matched against those of her two children, Ikaika and Kaimipono, now thirteen and eleven years old.”
“Kau'i was born in Long Beach, California, but was raised in Kailua-Kona by her parents, Mike and Monique Pelekane. In 1983 Kau'i graduated from Konawaena high school and enrolled in nursing school at the University of Hawai'i, which she attended for a year before taking time off to marry and have children. To support her family, Kau'i worked for a time at a bank.”
"Then I began to consider my life and my responsibility to myself and my kids and decided that I didn't want to be a bank teller for the rest of my life," Kauai says. "When I was in high school, I worked in a doctor's office as a secretary, and when the doctor did minor surgery, I occasionally was called on to assist him. I liked helping people, and I think that's where I got the idea to become a nurse."
“In 1989, pregnant with her second son, Kau'i returned to nursing school, enrolling in a two-year associate degree program which resulted in her qualification as a registered nurse. She worked in the oncology ward for three and a half years and then learned that Queen's was opening a six-month surgical training program. Only four applicants were accepted from many candidates.”
"I got in the second time I applied," Kau'i explains, "and have been working as a surgical nurse since then. It's very intense sometimes," she adds, "but I feel that I am helping people."
“Although Kau'i was born on the mainland, she doesn't remember much about her life there because she was so young when she returned to Hawai'i.”
"My family on the Big Island was very involved in paddling," she remembers, "and they started the Kaiopua canoe club in Kona. I have been paddling since I was ten years old. My dad took me fishing and taught me how to pick `opihi. My family had a catering business, so I learned to cook for a luau.”
“Kau'i and her two children and grandchild live in Kailua, and she paddled for the Hui Nalu canoe club, where she first met Nainoa Thompson, native Hawaiian navigator and CEO of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.”
"I have always known about Hokule'a," Kau'i remembers, "but I never dreamed I would ever sail aboard her. Then, late in 1998, Nainoa asked me if I would be willing to be the medic on board for the last leg of the Rapa Nui voyage. How could I say no? Even though I had big reservations about it - taking on such a large responsibility - I said 'yes, I'll go."
“Kau'i was concerned about being responsible for the crew's health during a voyage far from land and her two young children. How would they deal with her absence for such a long time, and could she endure the separation herself?”
"I spent about a year preparing them - maybe I should say preparing us - for the voyage. We talked about how important it was. I told them that I would be safe. They said, 'Okay.' Then they asked, 'How long?' I told them five weeks."
"It's difficult. I know my children are being well cared for, and they understand the voyage's meaning. They were in the Hawaiian immersion program for a long time, so maybe they even understand it better than I do. But I just can't help worrying about them."
“To prepare for her anticipated role as both Hokule'a's only health care provider and as a crew member, Kau'i stepped up her regular regime of paddling and read about the medical problems she was likely to encounter aboard the canoe - heat stroke, dehydration, common illnesses and various psychological issues which she subsumes under the heading of "cabin fever." She now feels well-prepared for any eventuality.”
“Kau'i remembers attending the first meeting for crew members at the Maritime Center in January 1999. "We heard about the goals of the voyage and the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and I became even more excited about going. They talked about the opportunity to pass on the knowledge they gained to the next generation of sailors and do something our ancestors had done centuries ago. And then I thought about my children. I realized that I was not making the voyage just for myself but also for them. When I come home, I will have learned something I can pass on to them."
In my interview with Kau'i in the spring of 2023, she described how cleansing it is to go to the ocean, "I could have the worst day and find myself renewed when I walk on the beach." “And at sunrise, I reconnect with myself and the natural world.”
For a state that thrives on tourism, the pandemic impacted Hawaii economically. Yet Kau'i pointed out that their islands healed. "Our ocean, beaches, land, and air were all cleansed."
Kau'i has also volunteered for the Aloha Medical Mission, where medical-surgical teams journey to Asia and the Pacific developing countries.
Many thanks to photographer Sam Low, who wrote the excerpts above in 2000 when he chronicled Hokule'a's journey to Tahiti. (http://www.samlow.com/mooleloHokulea.htm). Sam is the author of Hawaiki Rising, Sailing in the Wake of Our Ancestors. In the summer of 2023, Moananuiākea will be Hōkūle'a's 15th major voyage in her first 50 years (https://hokulea.com/moananuiakea/). It is a voyage for the earth and the oceans.
Mahalo Kau’i and Sam.
