Prince Jonah Kūhiō
Kalanianaole Pi’ikoi
The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 as amended was authored and introduced into the United States Congress by the elected Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaole. The Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association and all other Hawaiian homesteads, its residents and applicant are beneficiaries of Prince Kūhiō foresight, diligence and commitment to protect the Native Hawaiian population.
The Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association (WHHA) was founded in 1938 by the first resident homesteaders awarded leases by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands then under the authority of the Territory of Hawaii.
The purpose and objectives of the Waimanalo Hawaiian Homes Association is to promote the welfare of its members in home, school, church, and community; raise the standard of home life of its members; secure adequate laws for the care and protection of the property and children of its members; and develop between its members and government officials, such united efforts as will secure for every member, the Rehabilitation Program Act 1920, Hawaiian Homes Commission.
Aunty Rebecca Chun, a WHHA member who had passed on recalled during her early teen years of living on Kaiona Beach with her family before being awarded a lease to property they now reside on fronting Kalanianaole highway. She had shared showing black and white photos of herself standing on the beach next to their “squatters” home before moving and “I’ve enjoyed every moment since then…” were her last words recounting the early years of the Waimanalo Hawaiian homestead.
As later homesteaders moved onto the property extended from Ala Koa Street and Kalanianaole Highway to the present-day 7-11 convenience store their names echo the history of an honored past…Grandma Ho, Joseph Kaakua, Joe “Gang” Kupahu and many more whose descendants still have moved onto other homesteads or married and assumed the leases their great grandparents once received.
WHHA takes pride in learning and hopefully preserving this oral and candid history of this organization and those who had made this community a “strength and guide to all native Hawaiians.” Our WHHA Historian is tasked in keeping these events which affected our lives directly or indirectly and to ensure we remember our heritage and history.