The Maui News

Following the spring’s annual budget session, the Maui County Council approved the appointment of a Hawaiian Language Communications Specialist on Aug. 5, providing ‘olelo Hawaii as a medium in the council’s public-information efforts.

Council vice-chair Keani N.W. Rawlins-Fernandez, who holds the Molokai residency seat, said Friday she initiated the position in the Office of Council Services and a similar position in the executive branch’s Department of Management while leading the council’s budget deliberations to ensure ‘olelo Hawaii has a regular presence in local government. 

She said in a news release that Maui County is the first county in the state to appoint a communications specialist whose routine responsibilities include Hawaiian translation of some official documents.

“So much of our culture will not be able to be practiced if the resources are not there–if the streams do not run, there will be no ‘o’opu or hihiwai,” said Rawlins-Fernandez. “The muliwai will not have limu to teach the next generation how to properly identify, harvest, prepare and enjoy the limu that was once everywhere.”

Kamehameha Schools Maui alumna Riann “Nalani” Fujihara started as the council’s Hawaiian Language Communications Specialist on Aug. 8. Fujihara, who graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Language, leads the Office of Council Services’ efforts to share legislative information with public and will translate selected documents upon councilmembers’ requests.

“It is invaluable to have advocates for ‘olelo Hawaii and mo’omeheu Hawai’i in spaces where people are making important decisions for our community,” Fujihara said. “I’m grateful because this position opens the door to produce more public documents written in Hawaiian and create more Hawai’i-centered learning environments within Maui County and elsewhere.”

Olelo Hawai’i has been an official language of Hawai’i since 1978, when the updated state constitution validated all public records that were or will be written in Hawaiian.

The council collaborated with Kumu Hula Cody Pueo Pata to issue their first press release in ‘olelo Hawai’i on Aug. 11. The release by Councilmember Tamara Paltin, titled “He halawai punaewele no no aloha ‘aina,” is available on the council’s website, MauiCounty.us

Rawlins-Fernandez said that there will be additional collaborative efforts, among Maui County government officials and others across the state, to create a Hawaiian vocabulary for technical English terms on governmental affairs.

For more information, contact the office of Vice-Council Chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez at (808) 270-7678 or the Office of Council Services at (808) 270-8008.