Hawai’i International Forgiveness Day
Combines Local and International Heroes
With Focus on Children

HONOLULU: JULY 19, 2007 -

The 5th annual Hawai'i International Forgiveness Day reaches out to a diverse audience again this year with a free festival for people of all ages and walks of life, open to the public. Doors open at 1:00 p.m., Sunday August 5, Kaimuki High School. Directions: http://snipr.com/kaimuki

 

Key Events: Hawaiian leaders Nalani Olds begins with a dramatic remembrance of Queen Lilu’oukalani and her prayer about forgiveness. Kumu Kawohiokalani (Aunty Betty Jenkins) brings the Queen’s story into the present, with the Bowl of Light, a celebration of cleansing.

 

Paula Fuga, budding Hawaiian music superstar and winner of this year’s Na Hoku Hanohano Award for most promising new artist, receives a Forgiveness Hero Award, based on her experience in the state’s foster-care system.

 

Gene and Jan Jones, aid workers who spent the past four years in Kabul, Afghanistan helping victims of war and terrorism, share stories of conscience and forgiveness.

 

IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre sends a dancer from their upcoming new show, “The Living Tarot,” called The Fool.

 

The de-facto poet-laureate of Honolulu, Jeff Gere, brings a medieval “light puppet” performance of The Return, the story of knights returning from Jerusalem.

 

From Farrington High School comes the hot student drama group, T-Shirt Theatre, with an original play in pidgin, All Because of One Egg, based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy.

 

Hosts include local teacher-authors  Jerry Jampolsky and Diane Cirincione. Featured are stories  (plus milk and cookies) with Wally Amos; free forgiveness massage from the American Institute of Massage Therapy; children’s art from the Dalai Lama’s recent Maui visit, Aloha Peace Wall; free forgiveness food from Volcano Joe’s, with a full, nutritious forgiveness meal available for $5; a participatory forgiveness canvas painted by everyone who attends.

 

Forgiveness Arts Awards will be announced, with winners of the statewide Images and Poetry Awards; entries open until August 2 at http://www.hawaiiforgivenessproject.org/awards/

 


This festival is part of International Forgiveness Day, now held in 80 countries; Honolulu's celebration is one of the largest. Opening and closing oli led by Kupuna Kanani Awai, a Hawaiian from Waimea Valley, O'ahu.


The Hawai’i Forgiveness Project is a non-profit, non-religious, multi-cultural group, helping to weave forgiveness into the fabric of life in Hawai’i. Press package at http://www.hawaiiforgivenessproject.org/press/

General information: contact Trish Ellis, 888-222-7205; email: trish@hawaiiforgivenessproject.org

Speaker, interview schedule through Roger Epstein, 521-9222; email repstein@hawaiiforgivenessproject.org

Sponsors, Credits: the people who make Forgiveness Day in Hawai'i possible


Ho'okahi no la'au lapa'au, o ka mihi.
"The first remedy is forgiveness."

-- Kupuna Alapa'i Kahu'ena, La'au Lapa'au



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© copyright 2007, Hawai'i Forgiveness Project
portions copyright by others, attribution provided