 This is Sincere Kawate, Community Matters here. Oh, hi. I'm your host, Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. Welcome and thank you for joining Sister Power. Our topic for this episode is strength of a woman. Sister Power's vision is that everywhere, women, everywhere were learned to live as sisters, to respect each other's differences, to heal each other's wounds, to promote each other's progress and to benefit from each other's knowledge. This afternoon, our Sister Power VIP guest, Vicky Ho Takamine, Kumu Hula, Pua Ali'i Alima, Executive Director Pa'i Foundation. Vicky is recognized as a native Hawaiian leader for social justice, issues and the protection of the cultural and cultural resources of Hawaii. She is a co-founder and Executive Director of Pa'i Foundation, an arts organization that is established to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian cultural traditions for future generations. Welcome to Sister Power, Vicky. Thank you so much for having me here. It's great to see you again. Thank you. March is National Women's History Month, and Sisters in Pardon Hawaii was very honored to honor you as one of the women making history, Crystal Awards, Social Justice at Honorary. Thank you so much for that. We had a lot of fun. That was a wonderful experience. It was a wonderful day with some really wonderful and great women. Very powerful women. Very powerful women. You were definitely one of them. And we're moving on. So we have a lot to cover. Yes. So let's get started. This afternoon, Sister Power would like to cover several topics pertaining to our episode Strength of a Woman. And a few of them will cover personal challenges, affordable housing, tribute to a queen that would take place on Saturday 23rd at the Iolani Palace. And I can't wait to talk about this one later on. Festival of Pacific Arts in 2020. Let's talk about your personal challenges. What major challenges has occurred in your life in the last year? Oh my gosh. I'm going to go back two years. Okay. Two years. It's been a challenging two years for me and for my family and my halau, hula, and all of... I'm so grateful for their support. So last year in February, my husband passed away just suddenly. Had a heart attack and we talked about it. That's how we wanted to go. Just boom kanani and we're out. So he checked out in February of last year. And this year, my father died one year and one day after my husband. So my husband died February 28th of 2016. My dad died March 1st of 2017. And just a couple of days before his... Ho'oleva or his funeral services, I was diagnosed with invasive carcinoma, breast cancer. And I had, you know, I felt a lump. So ladies, if you feel a lump, you've got to go... I went and did a mammogram the year before last year. I kind of sensed that I had... But they didn't find anything. So they said, no, nothing's wrong. I went back this year, it was invasive carcinoma. And so I... At my dad's services, I just gathered the halal and I mentioned to my family, I said, this is going to be the last time you're going to see me for a couple of months, perhaps. I have breast cancer and, you know, the halal was busy helping. They're just always there for me, supporting me in whatever challenges and whatever endeavor to take on. And we were all devastated, but I was like, let me take care of this. If I don't take care of this and I'm not healed and I'm not back, then I'm of no use to anybody and not my community, the Lahuwi, or our Hawaii and the people that I love dearly. So I just told them I'm going to check out for a couple of months. I'll let you know how I'm doing. I'm going to go, I decided that I would have a double mastectomy. And so ladies, don't be afraid of that because, you know, your insurance will cover the reconstruction. So I'm thinking like, all right, you know, I had a choice. I could do a lumpectomy and then have six weeks of radiation and maybe chemotherapy and that was not going to happen. I did not want to go that route. My mother had a lumpectomy and she went through chemo and radiation for almost a year. And that was so taxing on her. I could not see how I could do the work that I want to do. All the things that I have, you know, planned for my halau and my community and all the work that I had laid out for the next year, I was not going to be able to continue with that. So that was not an option for me. I could have done a mastectomy on one side and I was like, and then what, you know, you reconstruct that side and what happens to the other side. You get a lump on the other side. Is it going to come back and the possibility was that, yeah, if I have it on one side, I might get it on the other side. Let's just do a double mastectomy and let's just get some new babies put in and figure that, you know, there'll be a lot per cure than the ones I have now. Or I had then because I haven't done the reconstruction yet. We've got little spacers and I go and I get pumped up a little bit every couple weeks and I put little 50 cc's in it. I am fine with sharing my story with everybody. I would like you to be more aggressive and more involved in your own personal health care so women do not be afraid. And I'm fine with you calling me and asking me for, you know, give me a call. You need, you need, I'm not, I'm not, this may not be the best route for everyone, but I will tell you that I have never looked back on that decision. I think it was the best decision for me. I had my mastectomy on April 6th. I was at my mama wearable art show on May 14th. And I am kicking butt as it is now as we speak. So I'm back in the saddle and give me two months to recover and I'm back. It's great. I'm sitting here. This is why the name of this show is Strength of a Woman. So this is how you cope by sharing your stories and encouraging other women to speak about it and ask questions. Yes, ask questions. Talk to your doctors. Find out the best route for you. Don't be, and I'm very, you know, I think I'm kind of coupé in that, coupé is mean to stand up and be, I want to be as aggressive, aggressive, as the cancer will be aggressive if you don't take care of it. So take care of that first and then you can take care of everything else afterwards. So where are you in your life now? Where am I in my life? Oh my gosh, okay. So I am, the pathology report came back negative. So I have no chemo, no radiation. I see my oncologist in six months. I'm scheduling, I haven't scheduled reconstruction yet because I'm too dang busy to do it right now. But I've got to figure it out soon when is the down time for me. Right after that we were right into MAMO, MAMO Wearable Arts Show. MAMO is a Maui arts movement. So we do a whole series of activities and events to support Native Hawaiian art and artists. We have our gallery at Alamoana Center, Pa'i Arts Gallery, that's open. We hold our juried exhibit. We change the exhibit out every six weeks. So that's wonderful if you want to look for Hawaiian art. That's at Alamoana Center every single day, seven days a week. It's a wonderful place. We do artist talks there and share stories. We've had flaky guitar players. So check out our website and we can get hooked up with some Native Hawaiian art and artists. I am just excited to be back and helping to serve our Native Hawaiian community and support that community in general. I'm happy to be here and talking to you. I'm excited. It's just as when I tell you at our first annual Women Making History to say when I think it's all about attitude, talk a little bit about attitude. I have a really positive attitude. I think when we are faced with challenges, I like to face those challenges head on. I'm not going to step back and retreat from challenges. I like to really look at all the options that are laid out for me, find the best track for me to move forward. I don't like people telling me no. I'm going to figure out how to navigate myself around, figure out how to get where I want to be. So I really think that we need to be more... I think my attitude is a very positive attitude and I can do attitude. We can do it. Together we can do it. You and I can do it together. So with strength in other women and empowering other women, we can do that. We can be very supportive of each other. That's what it's all about. Empowering, motivating, and educating each other. Do you. Do what's best for you. Yes. Think about how, for me, I made the decision based on what I thought was best for me. I knew the things that I wanted to get done in the coming year and I knew that I would not have the energy and the strength if I went through chemo and radiation. And I thought, okay, two months of recovery and recuperation. And then, and I also really did take the time. I told Halal, don't call me. I will call you. Don't come and visit. I really need to think about healing myself and resting and recuperating. I had a nice group. I had my son who, you know, was able to care for me every day. My mother, my granddaughter, surrounded by family that really took care of me. And I kind of really enjoyed sitting there in my little recliner chair and being waited on a lot of time. It wasn't, that was really best being surrounded by family that you know really loves you. And they cared for me out of love for me. And I was not a burden to them. And I knew that I wasn't being a burden to them. Everybody that supported us were really there to support. And that's what we need. And I know that not many of our women can afford that. You can't just walk off your job and say, I'm not going to be here for the next two months. I got to take care of myself. But we have to make those decisions. Because if you're not healthy and you're not strong, then you can't take care of other people, the people that you love. You know, my mother often told me, it's all right to be selfish with yourself. Because if you're not taking care of yourself, how can you take care of anyone else? So your support system, you are very blessed to have your halal and have your family here. And when I say that, the reason why I'm so compassionate about helping women, this is why sisters in Pong, Hawaii is so important. People like us, like me, move here from the mainland. You don't have family. So I encourage people to call sisters in Pong, Hawaii. We make sure you get to your radiation treatment. And if I can't do it, I can call someone like you, call your organization, and we just help each other out. Yes, and we have some really great healthcare systems out there. So I was fortunate to be with Polly Momi Women's Center. And the minute I got diagnosed, I got a patient navigator that called me, say, I'm your patient navigator. Do you need any help with your kids getting to your appointments? Do you need help with preparing your food or cleaning your house? I was like, driving you, shuffling you to and from your doctors. I was like, oh no, I'm really good, but I'm so glad that there is... They made all my appointments. I didn't have to really worry about all of those things. He said, you have an appointment with your plastic surgeon. If you can't make it, any of them call me and I'll rearrange them. I was like, wow. I was impressed. Now this is how a queen should be taken care of. Absolutely. And we do have literature here that if anyone wants to contact you or contact the American Cancer Society and you see we have our pins. We have our pins. I am so pleased to have been asked to be the honorary chair for the Susan G. Coleman Race for the Cure October 15th. So come out and walk with us. You can join Team Vicki. So I just formed my own little team. I'm Team Vicki. And meet us there October 15th. We're going to be walking for the cure for Susan G. Coleman Race for the Cure. Now what time should we be there October 15th? I think it's early, like 7 a.m. We're going to do the opening early. We're probably going to do a little hula. And if you're a survivor wear your survivor's shirt. Come with your ohana. Alright, well when we come back we have more to talk about. Strength of a woman. Stay tuned to Sister Power. And we're going to talk about some more exciting things. Thank you. Aloha. I'm Marcia Joyner inviting you to navigate the journey. Spend your time with us as we look through and discover all of the ins and outs of this journey through life. We're on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. And I would love to have you with us. Come. Navigate the journey. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Kaui Lucas, host of Hawaii Is My Main Land. I think to Hawaii Fridays at 3 p.m. boy in standard time. We explore environmental issues, political issues, keeping it local any way we can. Aloha. Welcome back to Sister Power and our topic for today is Strength of a Woman. And we're going to move forward and talk a little bit about a subject that many people are talking about and I'm going to talk about what it means in Honolulu. Tell us about Olacah Ilima Art Space Loft and where is it located? Great. We just are breaking ground right now. As we speak the diggers are going into digging through the asphalt. We're breaking ground on a new affordable housing project for artists. There are four units of affordable housing on about eight stories and at the bottom level will be a 4,000 square foot space that Paid will manage of dance studios and an art gallery so that we can showcase art from the artists that are above and native Hawaiian artists and artist residents. They were showing a beautiful picture of the arts and it's called Olacah Ilima Art Space. That's absolutely gorgeous in Kakaako. In Kakaako between Waimanu and Kauaihao Street. Just Makai of the Pacifica where Chai is located so we'll be right across the street from Chai. It'll be the back end of Chai. But it's a wonderful opportunity for local artists to apply at artspace.org. Art Space is the largest developer non-profit developer in this housing in the nation. There in 14 different states they have maybe 30 completed projects and another 15 in different phases of development and they're dedicated to provide artist space for artists. So affordable will be rentals probably between like 400 to 1500 for a studio two or three bedroom. How do you qualify? You have to income qualify number one and then you have to be an artist number two so we're all artists. I can figure out how to make myself an artist but you know show up and I think there's going to be a screening process. But you can't just paint something today and say here I did this painting and I'm an artist. We want you to come in with a body of work so you've got a few months that you can start working on your artwork and you don't have to make a living off of your art because we know that artists cannot survive on their artwork alone. Most of us have a regular day job and then we'll do our artwork in the evening or after work but we've dedicated our lives to perpetuating our art. So whether you're a fisherman or a farmer or a gardener or somebody that does things with flowers or crafting and weaving and you know making ojepala or painting, ceramics all of the things we use for artwork is beautiful. Storytellers, writers, composers I think I fit somewhere in between I'm sure you do. Absolutely. This is exciting. Well let's move on with the strength of a woman and what I'm loving about what we're going to speak about next is tribute to a queen now. Let's chat about that. That's a free concert. It's a free concert on the grounds of Ilani Palace on September 23rd at 6 o'clock in the evening so bring your lawn chairs bring your hale'i, your mats you can sit on the grass and watch a performance in the front of Ilani Palace. This is the 100th centennial anniversary of the passing of Queen Lili Uokalani so in November 11th of 1917 was when she passed away and recognizing that for the last three years I've been talking to my halal about it and other people we need to do a concert of mele of songs, chants that were written for and by Queen Lili Uokalani so I've been kind of collecting mele, chants and songs and wanting to do the things that she wrote over 300 songs she was a prolific composer that was collected in a I think Dorothy Gillette and Barbara Smith university professors made a collection of her and published a book of the Queen's songs so we've got a lovely collection on paper and a book but I would love to have that shared with the general public as she shared it with the music so we're featuring the Galiard String Quartet who did an album of her songs Robert Casemaro who's a fabulous singer and one of my favorites Kathy Foy and Marlene Tsai and then Halal Hula naturally my Halal Hula Hula Ilima Robert Halal Halal Nakamale and then Mapuana De Silva my Hula sister and her Halal Mohala Ilima as well as Michael Peely Peng and other vocalist Aaron Salah but we're weaving all of that through storytelling most of the goods we'll be telling the story about some of these songs and the musical accompaniment by Mahie here a wonderful Hawaiian trio so come and join us bring your picnic lay it out on the lawn of Iolani Palace the palace will be lit up there'll be a wonderful stage and Nola Nahulu and her Lili Uokalani was the choral director for Kauai Ha'au Church the current director Nola Nahulu will be bringing her choir Kavaya Ola Onapu Kanileo to sing some of those choral arrangements that Lili U composed for the choir it'll be a wonderful evening of choral music chanting Oli Hula before we move forward let's give the date and the time and the place one more time September 23rd Iolani Palace grounds 6 p.m. a free concert of Lili U's music it sounds heavenly I always call Honolulu the bus stop to heaven but we'll be in heaven on that day beautiful evening concert another subject that I'm excited about that we can briefly talk about is Festival of Pacific Art 2020 here we are in 2017 and we're talking about a wonderful event that will take place in 2020 and congratulations on your appointment to be the Festival Director for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture tell us all about this this is a wonderful gathering of Indigenous peoples throughout the entire Pacific region all of Oceania so there are 27 nations that belong to the South Pacific community in 1772 they recognized that there was loss of traditional culture and arts and they wanted to make sure that we celebrated our Indigenous people and the cultures of the Pacific so the South Pacific community decided that they would have a concert an event, a festival to celebrate the Indigenous peoples arts of the Pacific once every four years in a Pacific Island nation throughout the entire Pacific last year 2016 it was in Guam I was fortunate to have attended in 1985 when it was held in Tahiti and then 2004 in Palau and then 2016 in Guam so Hawaii this will be the first time we're hosting it here in Hawaii How was Hawaii chosen? Well you have to submit a bid to host and they rotated it through Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia and now you've got to wait eight years before you apply again and I was like no we've got to get it now because I'm getting too old to do this so but it's a wonderful opportunity for all of our Hawaii community not just Hawaiian but our entire community and residents of Hawaii to come to really be the host of about 3,000 delegates throughout the Pacific from each of the 27 nations will be arriving in Hawaii for two weeks and they will perform, they will share their visual arts, their cultural practices through we're planning a village where every day they will be demonstrating their art they'll be selling some of the art that they brought with them they'll be doing food demonstrations we'll have forums and discussions about climate change and the things that are affecting native people we expect that heads of state will come, the ministers of cultural have their own meetings while we're there but every single day and every evening there'll be cultural demonstrations and performances so they bring the best from their island they actually auditioned for dancers and performers and rehearsed for almost a year to come to this festival it's not similar to the Mary Mon Art or anything like that it's Mary Monarch on steroids oh, okay so there is, in the way it's not a competition it's just a sharing so you will have delegations from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa American Samoa Palau, you know Guam, you've got Rotonga, Cook Islands it's all of every Pacific island, Australia, New Zealand it'll be fun now is there a particular location where this festival will take place or is it all over Hawaii? well, we have to plan that festival village we're hoping that it will be Kapiolani Park area because we think that's a nice central area and we're planning to use the Waikiki Shell for evening performances we hope that we can take some of our delegations out to the neighbor islands but that means travel, air travel it means a lot of fundraising for us, you know, the organizing committee and it's gonna it's gonna be costly so we're looking for partners we have the University of Hawaii we're hoping to partner with them on dorm I'm really excited about the Ecumenical Service that we're hosting because we think that we can invite a Tongan minister and a Samoan minister and a Hawaiian minister to share and then choose selection of the choirs and have them sing our hymns in their own languages and share that so I'm really excited about that part well, I'm excited as well we appreciate you spending part of your time with sister power strength of a woman and we are going to declare today, September 7th strength of a woman day be bold, be fearless Aloha