Maile Arvin

Our project aims to create a digital resource that would provide more information on the history of boarding schools in Hawaiʻi. The ultimate goal of the digital resource is helping Native Hawaiians learn and reckon with this history as part of larger efforts towards challenging colonialism, addressing intergenerational trauma, and restoring relationships with the land. The ʻōlelo noʻeau (Hawaiian phrase for wise saying or proverb) that inspires the title of our project, is: “He lei poina ʻole ke keiki,” meaning, “a child is like a lei never forgotten.” We believe that reweaving the stories of these children, and making them truly “poina ʻole,” or not forgotten, is essential in crafting more just futures for children in Hawaiʻi today.

“Nā Lei Poina ‘Ole” is a book project analyzing the history of the incarceration and forced labor of children in government-run institutions in Hawai‘i from 1865 to 1963. Organized in two parts, the first half of the book examines how poor Native Hawaiian children first came to be incarcerated under the Hawaiian Kingdom in a reformatory, which also indentured children out to plantations, trades shops, and even the short-lived Hawaiian Kingdom navy. The second half of the book analyzes the accelerated incarceration of Native Hawaiian children in industrial schools and a home for the "feeble-minded" after Hawai‘i became a US Territory in 1900. In this Territorial era, Native Hawaiian families were pathologized by white Territorial officials as backward, unfit, and uncaring parents. The title of the project, "Nā Lei Poina ʻOle," reflects a wise saying in the Hawaiian language, namely: “He lei poina ʻole ke keiki,” which means, “a child is like a lei, or a flower garland, never forgotten.” This saying frames the book’s approach to telling an often painful history while always acknowledging the deep love and reverence for children that is reflected in Native Hawaiian traditions and knowledge.