The Value of
Heart Language
BY MARILYNN HOWE
OneVerse Partner | houseofhowe.com
I’M HAPA. PART NATIVE HAWAIIAN, LIKE MY
DAD. PART HAOLE, OR FOREIGN, LIKE MY MOM.
Never fully belonging to island people or mainland
people. As a young child, I always felt different.
Something was missing. When I discovered Seed
Company, I finally learned why.
MY CHILDHOOD WAS INFUSED WITH
STORIES about a formidable Hawaiian
woman, Kuana, my great-grandmother.
In keeping with the Hawaiian tradition
of hanai, an informal adoption process,
she raised my dad and his brothers even
though she was well into her sixties with
grandchildren of her own. She made medicines from native plants and harvested
crops. She was also a landowner and
businesswoman, renting her boats to
village fishermen.
And best of all, Kuana was famed for
being the last keeper of the sharks.
of American Indian boarding schools that
were designed to “kill the Indian, but save
the man.” Teachers were threatened with
termination of their employment if they
allowed children to speak Hawaiian. And
children like my dad were routinely beaten
for speaking their ‘ōlelo makua, or their
mother tongue. The Hawaiian quality of
life rapidly declined.
Like many other children, my dad could
understand Hawaiian, but he lost that
voice. At age 8, he began drinking. It made
him feel better. Less rejected. Less complicated. That began a 30-year commitment
Culture and language matter. Some even say that language
is at the axis of identity. When my dad lost his heart language,
it was the equivalent of losing his identity...
As a teenager, I was determined to write
her stories, to make them mine. And so
I did. Wanting the stories to feel authentic,
I asked my dad to show me how to incorporate Hawaiian words and phrases. But
he couldn’t help.
In the 19th century, the Kingdom of Hawaii
became one of the most literate nations in
the world, and most Christian too. But by
the time my dad was born in 1933, everything had changed. The kingdom had been
illegally overthrown after a rebellion led
by the American minister to Hawaii and
supported by U.S. military forces.
My dad was raised in the Territory of
Hawaii, where it became illegal for Hawaiian to be spoken at school. Local school
officials were directed to follow the model
to alcohol. And he drank heavily. Eventually he lost his arm in a tragic accident,
blacking out at the wheel and sideswiping
a semi-truck loaded with sugar cane. He
often said that losing his arm saved his life.
A man named Jesus helped, too.
THAT STORY WAS WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC
OF MY CHILDHOOD. Thankfully, by the
time I was born, my dad had reconciled
with God, choosing forgiveness for others
and himself. However, he couldn’t shake
a sense of inferiority that altered the trajectory of his life, and our family, in many
negative ways.
I always assumed the inferiority he felt was
due to losing his arm. But he corrected me
in the last months of his life. He did more
with one arm than many men did with two.
But he never could define what was missing in his life. The inferiority that plagued
him was something deeply ingrained in
his identity.
Culture and language matter. Some even
say that language is at the axis of identity.
When my dad lost his heart language, it
was the equivalent of losing his identity —
and his sense of dignity. His is a common
story experienced around the world, even
today. And that’s a problem.
But there are solutions. With access to
God’s Word, we can filter truth and share
truth. And for people groups worldwide,
this means having access to God’s Word
in the language they understand the best,
as well as leading the translation process.
It’s about respecting all people. That’s why
I am a fan of Seed Company. In being a
voice for the mission to end Bible poverty,
I’m honoring my dad’s memory and sharing the Good News. One verse at a time.
These are some of my favorite stories about
women around the world who are discovering their true identity through the holy and
humble work called Bible translation: Meet
Anna, Jenny, and Dasha. Or check out their
stories online at seedcompany.exposure.co