LAHAINA – March is Women’s History Month, and a local nonprofit – the Worldwide Indigenous Science Network (WISN) – will host a celebratory free conference here in Lahaina.

The conference will run Wednesday through Friday, March 25-27, in the Waiola Church hall, followed by a fundraiser on March 28.

The event will focus on two concerns of WISN: restoring awareness and appreciation of women who have kept Hawaiian culture alive; and the ancient sacred sites of the West Side they cared for. Today, most of the sites, like the contributions of these remarkable women, have been forgotten and, in some cases, trashed.

Activities will include presentations by kupuna and international scholars, video overviews of West Maui pre-contact sacred sites, displays of the six women honored by the celebration for preserving Hawaiian culture (Queen Lili’uokalani, Alice Kaehukai Shaw Ka’ae, Martha Beckwith, Inez Ashdown, Elizabeth Paleka and Lydia Ruyle), music and food sold by Waiola Church.

WISN invites families and kupuna to come forward to share their stories of these ancient sites as well as recollections about women who preserved Hawaiian culture.

Call Sammy at (314) 808-5923 to participate.

On Saturday, March 28, an evening fundraiser will be held at The Loft at 736 Front St., for which people will pay admission (a donation) to the WISN Hawaiian Fund.

Guests are requested to wear colors of moonlight, such as lavender, white and light blue. The fundraiser will include live music by a Hawaiian cultural practitioner and pupus.

All proceeds from the fundraiser will go to WISN’s Hawaiian Fund to support improvement and restoration of the ancient (pre-contact) sacred sites in West Maui.

Apela Colorado, Ph.D., founded WISN in Lahaina in 1989 as a vehicle to support her efforts assisting the indigenous native peoples of the world.