Cherishing Elders

The kupuna were not the only ones having fun on Friday at the second annual Kupuna Day.

There were plenty of young people on hand, volunteering their time to hand out meals, give pedicures and massages, have fun with arts and crafts and belt out some karaoke.

The morning dedicated to Molokai’s elders, was hosted by Na Pu’uwai Health Care at Kulana `Oiwi and was headed by Josette Mawae Mollena. She felt compelled to host the event again after being contacted by Tony Silva of Da Braddahs, a comedy group from Oahu.

“He called me in June and asked me to have another kupuna festival because he had so much fun the first time,” Mollena said.

She did not plan on having the event a second time and was worried about raising money to support the event, but received the funds from a local nonprofit.

Sally Trinidad of Kaunakakai, a first timer to the event, enjoyed getting her nails done and was welcomed by an old customer from the farmers market. She said she was thankful for the festival and had a great time seeing new and old friends.

“The people are friendly and they are doing us a service,” Trinidad said of the volunteers. “The lady who did [my nails] came to me at the farmers market. She was so friendly when she saw me.”

Da Braddahs played a memory game with the kupuna. It was a spin-off of the game show, “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” called “Are You Smarter than a Braddah?”
They asked several pop culture questions such as, “Why did the University of Hawaii football team drop the rainbow from their original name, Rainbow Warriors?”

An audience member responded with, “Because “rainbow” isn’t manly.”

“[My] grandparents are very important,” Silva said. “We were heavily influenced by our grandparents. We are really happy to do this event.”

“This is a family oriented place and you gain your wisdom from your elders,” Mollena said. “So when you hold something like this its like you’re remembering them.”