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Kamehameha’s Birthplace and the Many-Layered History of                             Kokoiki, Kohala                                                     Ke Ola Magazine  May/Ju

5/9/2019

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PictureThe "birthstones" of Kamehameha, although only the placenta was birthed here.
  Kamehameha’s birth was a legacy that ultimately unified the islands, but that legacy began many generations before. His birth stones, located in Kokoiki, lay next to Mo`okini Heiau, built in 480 A.D., on the NW tip of the peninsula that comprises North Kohala district.
  If you walk along the coastline there, you will sense mana. Everything is motion and power. The kalāhuipa`a winds sweep down Kohala Mountain to tease the surging sea crashing onto the boulders below. A beckoning Maui sits shrouded on the northern horizon and Mo`okini heiau appears in glimpses, a darkness looming behind the brow of a hill.

PictureThe wild Kohala coastline.
  Heiau were built as a way to connect with greater beings and give tribute to and call upon the gods for assistance. With Hawi to the north and Lapaka`i to the south, Mo`okini, dedicated to the war god Kū, was a center of power where the lives of the people were both protected and sacrificed.
  Mo`okini Heiau was built by Kuamo`o Mo`okini, whose family heiau tell the story of their journey across the Pacific. “We always built on the north end of the island to have a commanding view. This heiau was built in one day and the walls were six feet high. There were 150 people sacrificed at that time,” related Mealani Lum, descendent and current heiau guardian.

PictureMealani Lum, lineal descendant and guardian of Mo'okini.
  Throughout the centuries, Mo`okini descendants have continuously acted as its guardian / priests. Currently, Oliver Lum and his daughter, Mealani are the guardians and before them Oliver’s mother Leimomi Lum, her father Dewey Lum and her uncle Heloke.  
  Just outside the entrance on the right is the foundation of the house of mu. The mu was instructed as to how many human sacrifices were necessary and he would go and collect people. Although the human sacrifices were mostly prisoners of war, the mu had the authority to take anyone necessary to make up the numbers, making the area a dangerous place to be.
  “Because of human sacrifice, nobody lived near the heiau or dared to walk through here. They either were on a canoe or walking up mauka and if you were on a canoe you had to lower your sails when you passed,” explained Mealani.

Turning Point
  Late in the thirteenth century, Pa`āo, a priest from Tahiti arrived. He left and returned with Pili, a chiefly ancestor of Kamehameha, who was to be the new ali`i nui.
Although he constructed three other heiau on the island, Pa`āo centered himself in North Kohala, where he was given permission by the Mo`okini family to extend the heiau from a height of six feet to 30 feet.  
  As many as 18,000 men in a line from Pololū, passed stones to construct the towering walls that would shield the ali`i and their ceremonies from the maka`āinana. A luakini class heiau, Pa`āo rededicated Mo`okini to the war god Kū, instituted a stricter kapu system and increased human sacrifice, the ultimate gift of mana to the gods.
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Entrance to the heiau. The house of the mu was on the right, just out of the frame.
Kamehameha’s Birth
  Fast forward to the mid-18th century. Alapa`inui was high chief of Kohala and Kona and there was war between Hawai`i Island chiefs and between Hawai`i and Maui. When Kekuʻiapoiwa, wife of Keoua became pregnant with Kamehameha, the kahuna, perhaps seeing the need for a unifying force, prophesied that he would be a great unifying king and a killer of chiefs. On hearing the prophesy and fearing for his position, Alapaʽinui, decreed that the infant should be killed at birth.
  There is much mystery surrounding the year of Kamehameha’s birth as well as his paternity. According to S.M. Kamakau, Kamehameha was born in 1736 during Alapa`inui’s reign. However this date has been challenged by the claim that a bright and beautiful star, thought to be Halley’s Comet, appeared the night before Kamehameha’s birth, which would put his birth year at 1758.
  It’s been suggested that the king of Maui at the time, Kahekili was his biological father and indeed, Kamehameha was born on a canoe on its way from Maui, according to Oliver Lum, as related to him by his great Uncle Heloke Lum.    
  With winds howling, waves crashing and pelting rain, one can only imagine the skill of the men who sailed the canoe across the channel that stormy November night. But it was imperative that Kekuʽiapoiwa get to a luakini class heiau in order that her ali`i child could receive his birth rituals. By the time the canoe landed at Kapakai in Kokoiki, Kamehameha was already born and he was taken immediately to the heiau.  
  “You have to have birth rituals because the mana was in the blood and in the piko. You had to have birth rituals and you had to have priests of a high enough order you could trust to put those secrets away, never to be told,” explained Oliver.
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Where the canoe on which Kamehameha was born landed.
  Kekuʽiapoiwa was taken to the birth stones, where she birthed the placenta. “She was having trouble with the afterbirth so they brought her on shore and she used the rocks. She laid down and put her feet up on the flat rock and that worked,” related Mealani.
  The great warrior, Naeʽole was selected by Kekuʽiapoiwa to be kahu for the child and immediately after the rituals were completed, he whisked the infant away with Alapa`inui’s forces following soon after. On their way to Awini, an easily defensible plateau three valleys past Pololū, he enlisted the help of the entire Kohala populace in what Fred Cachola calls the “grand Kohala conspiracy” to protect the infant. (see: “To Celebrate the King: Kamehameha Day and Kamehameha’s Legacy of Aloha” / Ke Ola, May/June 2017).
  Kohala and the Mo`okini heiau comprised a spiritual home for Kamehameha. “Our family was here for Kamehameha’s birth and afterwards when he came of age, he came to worship. That’s what’s been passed down through our generations,” explained Mealani.
  Eventually, Kamehameha built Pu`ukoholā heiau and transferred his war god Kuka`ilimoku there, but Mo`okini Heiau, under the guardianship of the Mo`okini family, continued as a place of worship and a center of mana for the North Kohala district.
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Just inside the entrance, facing the main altar at the far end. The curved area in the foreground was where various priests and participants gathered to wait.
A Place of Historic Preservation and Learning
  The Kokoiki birthstones and Mo`okini heiau remain a constant, a place of mana, protected by generations of the Mo`okini family. The land surrounding the heiau has changed from forest to sugar cane to grassy slope, but the heiau and the birth stones have remained as portals to the past.                                                               
  In 1963, through the efforts of Uncle Heloke, Mo`okini was designated as Hawai`i’s first National Historic Landmark. Uncle Heloke also acted as guardian for the birth stones. For a time during the plantation era, the stones were obscured by tall sugar cane. “There was cane right up to the wall line. Uncle Heloke worked for the plantation and he worked really hard to make sure they didn’t move the rocks,” said Mealani. 
  In 1977 upon the death of her father, Dewey, Leimomi Lum became the next Kahuna nui and in 1978 she lifted the kapu and opened it for educational purposes as a way to share Hawaiian history and culture with the children of the community.
  Both the heiau and the stones are part of the Kohala Historical Sites State Monument, created by the Hawai`i State Legislature in 1992. Through a collaboration between Hawaiian Civic Club, the Royal Order of Kamehameha, DLNR and Kamehameha Schools, the area around the birthstones was cleared of weeds and a protective wall built and in 2005, Kamehameha Schools purchased the land around the heiau and the birth stones in an effort to protect the sites from any possible future development.
  Mo`okini heiau and Kamehameha’s birth stones stand in testament to the enduring Hawaiian culture and the stories of this land.
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The area of the heiau was made an historic site through the efforts of Heloke Lum.
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Art at the Heart of Waimea: The Waimea Arts Council                     Ke Ola Magazine  March / April 2019

3/19/2019

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PictureWAC members Irina Place and Anna Sullivan work with young artists making collage at the 2017 annual Healthy Keiki Fest. Photo courtesy of Julie McCue, WAC
  At the intersection of Mamalahoa Highway and Kawaihae Road is a cluster of small buildings at the heart
of old Waimea and the home of Waimea Arts Council (WAC). With its double doors flung wide open, inviting passersby into a world of beauty and whimsy, the Firehouse Gallery, housed in the old Waimea firehouse, has long been a beacon of the creative spirit of our North Hawai‘i community. The oldest organization of its kind on Hawai‘i Island and second oldest statewide, WAC has endeavored to enrich the lives of North Hawai‘i residents through the arts.

PictureMural by Kathleen Kam and students, 2006. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
Beginnings
As WAC’s mission states, it’s “a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the arts, the encouragement of artists, and providing a forum for art-related community events” that began in 1974 with a group of local residents whose awareness of the importance of art inspired them to create a venue for art and artists and a way to connect people through enrichment offerings.
  For the first few years, WAC sponsored exhibits and sales in Kahilu Hall (also known as Barbara Hall and the main Parker School building), festive affairs where around 35 artists from Hāmakua to Kawaihae shared their talents. Along with visual art, jewelers, and weavers, there was a bonsai workshop demonstration by Yutaka Kimura, hula provided by Kumu Stephanie Lindsey’s halau, and music by guitarist David Gomes. 
  The 1978 art sale saw a visit from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), which purchased the creations of three artists: Pat Hall, Floria Shepard, and Margaret Waldron, for the Hawai‘i State Art Museum.
  Along with the annual artists’ market in 1979, WAC also sponsored a needle arts clinic and a David Gomes concert at Thelma Parker Library. During that year it became the vision of Helen Cassidy (then-president of WAC) and Mariechan Jackson to create a center that would provide lessons, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and activities related to arts and crafts.
  Serendipity came into play when the fate of the original Waimea firehouse and bunkhouse, vacated with the construction of the new Waimea Civic Center at its current location, came into question. Through much discussion and wrangling on the part of WAC members, a county lease was obtained for the Firehouse Gallery and the adjacent bunkhouse, now the WAC office.
  Firehouse Gallery opened in 1980 with a six-week summer session that included artist faculty G.G. Garida, Jean Boone, Helen Cassidy, Margaret Waldron, Amanda Raleigh, and Marcia Ray. Jo Diatalevi taught theater arts and Dolly Loo provided hapa haole (part Hawaiian and Caucasian) hula classes. Winter classes included weaving, visual arts, batik, feather lei, quilting, ‘ukulele, folk and jazz dancing, and stained glass making.  

PictureFirst place 2017 Nā `Ōpio entry, "Colors all Around Me" by Parker School 9th grader Gracelyn Jardine. Photo courtesy of Julie McCue, WAC
  While focused on the arts, WAC has endeavored to reflect and draw from the diverse community it serves. In an effort to “provide something of value for everyone,” in 1980 WAC also sponsored a historic tour by Mollie Sperry and Momi Urbic (Naughton) and a slide lecture on China by Linus Chao. In 1983, along with a lecture and a lei demonstration by Marie McDonald and a slide presentation on Bonsai by Yutaka Kimura, there was a presentation on coins, “From Croesus to Kamuela” by Bernard von NotHaus.
  In 1984 WAC sponsored a Karin Hazelhoff presentation on her studies of the effect of color and light on the human environment, a lecture by Rene Racine, then-director of the Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope, entitled “Explorations of Inter-galactic Phenomena,” and a lecture by local architect Clem Lam. There was also a classical guitar concert by Franz Solmssen, an exhibit of basketry of the Pacific and Turkoman rugs, and a presentation by photographer Warren Noll. That year, May was declared “Art Month” by then-mayor Matayoshi and WAC responded with continuous art displays that included children’s art shows.

PictureKanu students creating the mural that is shown below. Photo courtesy of Scot Plunkett
 Fostering Art and Artists
According to current WAC Board Vice President Amaury Saint-Gilles, “We’re really an incubator for art and artists. We provide a safe place for artists to hang their work and, we hope, a start for a career in art.” To that end, young artists are showcased with the annual WAC Nā ‘Ōpio art show in March, where North Hawai‘i students, grades 6-12, get the opportunity to display their artwork and experience a juried show.
  Long-time WAC member and retired Parker School art teacher Wendi Roehrig has seen many artists launched through the Nā ‘Ōpio show. “It’s a really great place to begin an art career. I have a list of kids that are practicing artists today; they got their start through this. If you want to sell your things at a gallery, you have to show that you’ve shown some place and this is a good start.”
  An all-volunteer organization, the 30-plus membership of dedicated artists create and exhibit their exceptional artwork while also acting as docents for the Firehouse Gallery, and provide other services as needed. Through this exchange, WAC provides a rich life-long learning environment for artists. “I wanted to learn about hanging shows. I didn’t know anything about framing, mats. I wanted to learn what it takes,” shares Jay West, a longtime member and current WAC board president.
  Always looking to grow their membership, the WAC year begins with a show to welcome new artists in January, which includes beginning artists or those who are returning to the arts. Membership costs just $50 annually plus four volunteer docent hours per month, and entitles artists to participate in ongoing Firehouse Gallery art shows and small solo shows in the back gallery.
  The two WAC buildings are adorned with donated murals by long-time member Terry Bensch and WAC-sponsored murals created by students. The latest mural, completed in November 2017 by Scot Plunkett and his Kanu o ka ‘Āina students, is a tribute to the canoe culture of our island community, and also a venue for his students to see the broader world of art as well.
  “When Amaury came to me to ask me about the mural, what was interesting to me as an artist was to have the opportunity to communicate a message of the younger generation connecting with the elders, but I also wanted students to expand their minds and to have an appreciation for the great things out there, so we included the Gauguin women,” explains Scot.

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Completed mural by Kanu o ka `Āina students. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
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Community Connections
Recognizing the integral nature of art, over the years WAC has developed programs that have become annual traditions, and mounted shows that reflect the spirit and endeavors of the island community.
  The WAC calendar provides a dizzying array of constantly rotating shows in both the front main gallery, as well as mini shows in the smaller back gallery. The first weekend in February is always Cherry Blossom Festival time and since its inception in 1994, WAC artists have been providing brochure cover art along with themed art shows in the Firehouse Gallery.
  April shows in the Firehouse Gallery encompass environmental awareness in connection with Earth Day. The 2015 show, “Our ‘Āina,” featured recycled art and Hawaiian landscapes, plants and animals. The 2018 exhibit was focused on an ocean conservation theme.
  Also in April are exhibits focused on Hawaiian culture, highlighting the Merrie Monarch Festival. The April 2016 show entitled “Legends of Madame Pele: Earth, Wind and Fire” was followed in 2017 with art inspired by Hawaiian royalty, hula, and significant island places.
  One day in 2015, then-WAC Board President Amaury met Aunty Betty Webster at the KTA bakery counter and was intrigued by her ever-changing flamboyant sunglasses and her intention to get her 1500-plus collection entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. What followed was a WACsponsored week-long photo shoot where community members were invited to get their photos taken wearing some of Aunty Betty’s sunglasses that led to a Guinness record for Waimea.
  Other shows inspired by the island community have included an exhibit in celebration of tea and coffee, and a 2016 Humane Society fundraiser where the owners of rescued pets were invited to have their pet’s character sketch done by WAC artist Janice Gail. In October, artists have the opportunity to participate in the annual “Helen Cassidy Memorial Show,” now “The Founder’s Show,” which is juried and began in 1985 with the passing of
Helen Cassidy, a driving force of WAC.

PictureWAC Board member and past president, Amaury Saint-Gilles shares some of the current art displays. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
Keeping the Arts Alive
  With the closure of many art galleries, WAC and its Firehouse Gallery provide much-needed opportunities for artists to display and sell their art. The WAC board also seeks to provide avenues of inspiration with conceptually-themed shows such as “Egg” and “Squared Away.”
  Starting in March, as this issue of Ke Ola Magazine is published, will be the annual “Nā ‘Ōpio Art Show” and in April the “All Hawai‘i Art Competition” whose theme will be “Portal,” inviting artists to explore its multiple meanings through art. This is a juried show that will include a visit from representatives from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, who will be previewing the entries with an eye to select art for display in the Hawai‘i Art Museum, as well as other public buildings.
  Although a tough economic climate sometimes places constraints on art purchases, WAC will continue to foster island creativity through their ongoing programs and collaborations with other programs to create a fertile nest for art and artists on Hawai‘i Island.

For more information: waimeaartscouncil.org

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The Waiaka Lindsey House: Time Capsule of Waimea History                 Ke Ola Magazine Jan. / Feb. 2019

1/30/2019

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View of the 1942 addition from Waiaka Street. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
Nestled at the foot of Kohala Mountain, the Lindsey house is the heart of what was once a historic Waiaka homestead and is a tribute to the memories of many who grew up in Waimea. The abundant flowing waters from the Kohakohau and Waiaka Streams fed the lush bounty of the eight-acre estate, creating a Shangri-La.
   Great-grandson of William Miller Seymour Lindsey and Kaluna Henrietta Haʽaloʽu Kainapau, Lester Kimura recalls, “The stream meandered through the whole property. It went across the street that’s there now. In those days the water always ran. It looked like an oasis and everywhere else was dry. I thought it was beautiful.”
   The ‘auwai (stream) that flowed up to the front steps of the original house, turned west towards Kawaihae to feed a loʽi (irrigated terrace) that was lined with bananas, remembers Barbara Robertson, whose family property is in Waiaka.   
Beginnings
  The house is the first dwelling in Waiaka and it is rich with the memories and experiences of the twelve children of William Miller Seymour Lindsey (only child of Thomas Westin Lindsey and Mary Kaala Fay) and Kaluna Henrietta Haʽaloʽu Kainapau.
   William and Kaluna were married by the Reverend Lorenzo Lyons in 1865 and and sometime after that settled into the original two-room cottage on the Waiaka homestead to raise their children. Kaluna was a master quilter and loved flowers and the evidence of this love endures even today in the beautiful gardens that surround the house.  
   Great-granddaughter, Leila Kimura Staniec, remembers the house’s gardens. “We used to go down there once a week. We loved walking through the garden. It was so beautiful. The palm trees and this running brook through the garden. When I think about it I get warm feelings about being there.”
   With trees growing all around the north and east sides, the house was protected from severe winds and rain. The lānai of the original house looks south along the entrance drive, which until the late 1970s when Waiaka began development, was approached from Kawaihae Road along a pathway with ‘auwai on either side, lined with palms, lilies, ferns, purple poka vine, all kinds of tropical flowers, and a pomegranate tree.
   The stone work of the ‘auwai is still there and, sitting on the original front porch, you can imagine the burbling water and bask in the shade of the more than 100-year-old ylang ylang tree—a rare find on the island.
   James Fay Kaaluea Kahalelaumamane, born in 1882, the fifth son and seventh child of William and Kaluna, spoke of the Waiaka home as more than just a house. According to James, it was a gathering place that was central to the Lindsey family and one of the “prettiest spots in Waimea.”
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Leandra walks an old path under the yang-yang tree. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
A Many Storied Place
   ‘Waiaka’ means water that reflects, and the Waiaka Lindsey house seems to be a reflection of the spirits of the past. It is where High Chiefess Wao, who married the migrating Tahitian god Makuakuamana, came to give birth on the slopes of Lanikepu (considered part of Waiaka), while her attendants, transformed into boulders, formed a kapu line below.
    Later Chiefess Hoopiliahue consecrated and dedicated Haleino Heiau for women, and dedicated it to love, purity, healing, and the betterment of others. The remains of the heiau (house of worship) can be found in the Lanikepu hills.
   This bodes well for Leandra Rouse, daughter of current owner Barrie Rose, who has returned home with her husband Patrick Caenepeel to give birth in the house. “I’m excited to give birth here. There have been so many babies born in this house,” says Leandra.
   Leandra and Patrick are also discovering that although every house contains pieces of the lives of the people who have dwelt and visited there, the Lindsey house seems to have more than most. “There are so many stories. Everyone we meet: the laulau guy at the side of the road, the checker at KTA, everybody has a personal experience here,” comments Leandra.
   It’s no surprise that with the many people who have resided in the house over the years, that the presence of spirits are felt. County Counselor Tim Richards’ wife Terry, who lived in the house as a child, remembers doors opening for her as she approached them. “The spirits of the house have always been very loving and benevolent,” says Barrie.
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Guest host, Leandra Rouse showing the period chandelier in the Lindsey Homestead bedroom. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
Despite all the changes over the years, the mana (spirit) of the house remains strong. Barrie recalls her first experiences there in 2005. “At first I couldn’t figure out which door to knock on. It’s got so many. Where’s the front door? I went there five or six times and the same thing happened to me every time. I felt overtaken by some force or energy that just resonated with me and my heart. I’d shake it off and then I would be back there and the same thing would happen. It was like I was walking through a veil, like the ancestors were pulling on me for some reason.”
   The ancestors won. “I finally wrote a letter saying, ‘Thank you so much but it makes no sense for me to buy this house,’ and I walked into the kitchen and handed them [former owners, the Mallchoks] the letter. They were reading it and halfway through I took it out of their hands and said, ‘OK, I’ll buy it,’” recalls Barrie.
   Sensing the nature of the house that was such an important gathering place for the Lindsey family, “I decided to open up that house to the community. There’s never going to be a closed door for anyone. We’re going to have gatherings, music, dinners, education, so we started the events salon. It felt like it satisfied the house. What it really wanted was to be really lived in and shared with everyone. I never felt like the house was mine but that I was a steward of it for a higher purpose,” says Barrie.  
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Approaching the south-facing front porch of the original Lindsey house. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
An Evolving Home
   The original structure has grown over the years. In the early 1900s, James and his brother Edwin built a wing on the house so their mother, who died in 1925, could be more comfortable. Then in 1942, a large west addition was added by bachelor son Edwin Lindsey, who lived in the house until his death in 1952.
   The entrance of the 1942 wing faces west to the current Waiaka Street and below this is the saddle room. “The driveway curved around to the left and you’d ride your horse up and take your saddle off and put it in there. It was all open and that was where all the tack was kept,” explains Leandra.  
   When Edwin passed in 1952, the house was willed to the many Lindsey descendants and was eventually sold. The eight-acre homestead developed into what is now the Waiaka subdivision. In 1984 an east-facing section [MS1] was added on by then-owner, Hawaiʽi Preparatory Academy history teacher, Daniel Mallchok.
   When in 2005 Barrie and her business partner Johanna Tilbury purchased the house, they set to work to restore it to its former elegance, while keeping true to the style of the period. “We stripped the floors back to the original beautiful fir, added moldings that matched the era, and built-in pun'e (day bed) and Murphy beds,” explains Barrie. “There was not a single place in that house that we didn’t touch,” she adds.
   Once again the house is to be opened up and shared. There are now four different living areas with three rental suites that are decorated with period furniture, including a chandelier from the same period as the building of the house, which Leandra and Patrick brought with them from San Francisco.
   The Lindsey Homestead is the two-room original structure that includes a bedroom, sitting room/kitchenette, bathroom, and a front porch complete with rockers where one can sit and let the imagination roam in the past, perhaps when Kaluna was tending her flowers and Lindsey children were playing around the brook.
   Adjacent to the Lindsey Homestead is the ‘Auwai Suite, added in 1984 and includes a large bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen on a sunny enclosed porch. The large bedroom has puneʽe/window seats that look out to the gardens.
   Below the 1942 addition is the old tack room, which had become a storage room full of all kinds of containers and even small bunks that once accommodated Parker Ranch workers. It is now the Saddle Room, a large open space that includes sleeping, sitting, and kitchen areas and a bathroom.
   Although it’s impossible to return any house to its original condition, through the efforts of Barrie and Johanna, and now care-takers Leandra and Patrick, the house has much of its original spirit restored and is reconnected to some of its history. “Our goal is to find out as much as we can about the history and to find interesting ways to share it with the people who stay here,” concludes Leandra.
  Leandra and Patrick plan to open the Lindsey house for a gathering and talk story in early 2019. For more information contact: waimeaguesthouse.com
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The Saddle Room, which used to be the tack room in the lower west-facing section of the Lindsey house. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
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Reforest Hawai'i: Feeding the Forest, Feeding the Soul                     Ke Ola Magazine Nov. / Dec. 2018

11/7/2018

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PictureStanding in the main clearing of Reforest Hawai'i. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​Aloha is at the heart of everything Joe and Kristen Souza do and when the forest spirits called, they answered by creating Reforest Hawaiʽi, whose sole purpose is to rebuild Hawaiʽi’s native forests where “the journey of the ʽukulele starts,” says Joe.
   Joe started playing ʽukulele when he was nine and eventually became intrigued with the fine shadings of sound produced by the instrument, leading him to become a master ʽukulele builder. While working as a fireman, he began to learn the craft from master luthier, “Uncle Pete” Burmudez. Joe swept the floor, watched, and started tinkering on his own.
   Eventually Joe started crafting ʽukulele in a patio workspace in his Heʽeia, Oʽahu home and in 1998, created Kanileʽa ʽUkulele, an internationally-known producer of world-class instruments, producing about 2400 ʽukulele a year. Then realizing that all those beautiful nuanced sounds are vibrations from deep in the soul of the koa (Acacia koa) tree, he went looking for the source.

PictureThe main clearing of Reforest Hawai'i. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
The Forest Calls
   In 1998 when Joe won an interisland trip in a falsetto-singing contest, he and Kristen decided to go to Kauaʽi to look for a place to plant a forest. “We drove around with our oldest son Kaimana and found these beautiful properties up in the mountains and just imagined planting trees, but nothing really stood out,” says Kristen. 
   Several years later, “I was sitting on the couch one day and something told me to look up property on Hawaiʽi Island,” recalls Kristen. The first property that popped up online was a 96-acre parcel within Hōkūkano Ranch, the combined properties of Greenwell Estate and Kealakekua Ranches, purchased by the Pace family in 1986 and 2004, respectively.
   Kristen called their real estate agent and the next day they were on an airplane to Hawaiʽi Island from Oʽahu. “We’re going up through Hōkūkano Ranch. It was beautiful. There’s horses, sheep, llamas, buffalos, turkeys. And then we drove up into the forest with all these native trees. It was amazing.” Within two days of that first phone call in 2014, Joe and Kristen Souza purchased the property, began their journey into the forest, and haven’t looked back. 

PictureYoung koa planted by Pōmaikaʽi Lyman for her grandmother Auntie Genoa Keawe at the entrance to Reforest Hawai'i. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​The Journey into the Forest
   Kristen, who literally hums with energy, meets me at the Hōkūkano Ranch gate and we travel upland to the forest. As we enter Reforest Hawaiʽi, we are greeted by young koa trees. “Pōmaikaʽi Lyman planted this one for her grandmother, who is Auntie Genoa Keawe. We wanted her right at the entrance to guide us in,” explains Kristen.
   Passing through towering ʽōhiʽa (Metrosideros polymorpha), koa, and a forest floor choked with native understory plants, the road up to the 4000-foot parcel, an ancient mauka-makai (mountain to sea) trail, opens up into a clearing bursting with life, a small compound of cabins, and a greenhouse. We are surrounded by lush trees over 20 feet tall that simply radiate life and the sense that they are standing watch.
   “Those were all planted in 2016. The first day we walked here as the new stewards, we had no idea, other than this is what we had to do. But now that we are here we can appreciate this deeper forest and have a better understanding of our kūpuna (elders) and who we are as a people. Not only did the journey of the ʽukulele start here, but also the journey of who we are as Hawaiians started here,” says Joe.
   To work towards creating a bio-diverse forest, the Souzas have gleaned knowledge from cultural practitioners, and reforestation experts. “We’re learning how to create a successful bio-diverse forest. The first out-planting, I'd say we were in preschool. But even just knowing what we did, out of the 5000 keiki (seedlings) we planted we only lost five,” says Joe.

PictureA miniature ili'ahi forest in the Reforest Hawai'i greenhouse. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
One of the first things Joe and Kristen did was to work together with their three sons, Kaimana, Iokepa, and Kahiau to pull out invasive plants such as fire weed and German ivy and that is when the magic began. “We pulled out lots of invasives and then when we came back, there were all of these keiki koa volunteers. They were just waiting for the right moment,” says middle son, Iokepa.
   One might think that because Joe builds ʽukulele that this reforestation effort will provide wood for future instruments, but Joe and Kristen buy their koa from sustainably-farmed sources and there is absolutely no plan to harvest any of the native trees.
   “There’s a beautiful old koa tree that lived its life. There are a few keiki volunteers and we got lots of seeds from it, but we didn’t take any of the wood. We just appreciate the beautiful life this kupuna has led, a sentinel in the forest that has seen hundreds if not thousands of people going up and down [the mauka-makai trail the Souzas named Ala Ponoʽī],” explains Joe. 

PictureKristin checks on young koa trees. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
The Souzas organize a major out-planting once a year, usually in September, and the plan is to plant 8800 trees this year. The greenhouse is bursting with seedlings. ʽIliahi (sandalwood, Santalum paniculatum) pop up in trays like a miniature forest. “There are hundreds of seeds in there and then as they come up we transfer them to pots,” explains Kristen.
   There is tray after tray of koa, māmane (Sophora chrysophylla), māmaki (Pipturus spp.), ʽiliahi, naio (Myoporum sandwicense), and native ferns all waiting to find their place in the forest. The trays fill from the bottom to irrigate the plants daily and the water drains down into buckets and is reused. The Souzas have established a nonprofit, Saving Hawaiʽi’s Forests, and will be seeking funding to improve their irrigation system and expand the capacity of the greenhouse.  

The Songs of the Forest
   To own a Kanileʽa ʽukulele is to become a member of the forest ʽohana, which means planting trees. Today, cultural practitioner and musician Cody Pueo Pata and his partner Keoni Kuoha are on hand to talk story. Pueo and Keoni are both part of Papahana Kualoa, a place-based education program on Heʻeia Stream just minutes from the Souzas’ factory in Kāneʽohe.
   “I get to the factory and as an ʻukulele player, the reverberation, the tone, everything about it, I’m instantly in love. I saw their banner: ʽOla Ka ʽĀina, Ola Ke Kanaka’ (When the land lives, the people live) and then their work ethic and their manaʽo about what they’re actually trying to do and I went home and I was so inspired I wrote a song,” recalls Pueo.
   Since that time, Pueo has become a historical and cultural advisor for the Souzas, pointing out that the 96-acre parcel, named Nani ʽEkolu, straddles the boundary between North and South Kona and so is a water source for both districts.  
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Pueo planting a koa. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​   For many of the Kanileʽa artists the forest is a source of inspiration, which has led to the creation of Ola Ka ʽĀina, a CD that was released at a fund-raising concert at the Hawaiʽi Theater on September 9th. “All these artists have written songs about reforestation, sustainability, and their experiences planting trees, and that’s what our CD is all about,” says Kristen. “It was a carbon-neutral event. We calculated how many trees we’d have to plant to offset the carbon footprint of travel and the concert itself,” she adds.
   Kristen’s passionate aloha is all-encompassing and, “when Kahanuola Solatorio of the group Keauhou wrote “I Pu‘u Lehua,” about the journey entering the forest, the scent of the maile [Alyxia olivaeformis], the birds chirping, the beautiful sunrise, planting your koa tree that is steadfast in the ground, I wanted to dance it at our concert. I needed a kumu (teacher) to teach me and Pueo choreographed the whole dance,” shares Kristen.
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Photo courtesy of Kanile'a 'Ukulele
   We talk story around the lunch table as the afternoon mists float around us, and Pueo shares some of his manaʽo (thoughts) about the forest. “Koa is a foundational species of the forest and it represents the water cycle. The trunk is Kū [traditional Hawaiian entity of masculinity] but the leaves are definitely Kāne [entity connected with water]. The spiral-shaped leaves themselves collect water. You might see a tree but I see surfaces where the mist can condense and become a water source, the lau kē wai, the leaves that drip water.”
​
   Pueo also shares how scientific knowledge of the forest is recorded in stories. “We treat moʻolelo as data bases. A lot of stories are how their kinolau [body forms] interacted in the forest. So when we have these mele or these stories that tell us these things, we know exactly what to expect and what a healthy system is supposed to look like,” explains Pueo.
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Joe, Kristen, Keoni and Pueo talk story around the lunch table. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​Where the Past Meets the Future
   Kanileʻa, which means “joyful sound,” is derived from a legacy that goes back many generations. “The full name is Kanileʽaokawaonaheleopāʽīʽī and it translates as: to seek a joyful sound and knowledge in the forest,” explains Kristen.
   In October 2017, Joe and Kristen added a piece to the picture when they purchased another 162 acres of Hōkūkano Ranch land at the 5000-foot elevation that contains more than 100 seeding ʽiliahi trees. They also plan to construct a nēnē (Hawaiian goose, Nesochen sandvicensis) pond. “We are hoping that if we build the pond, they will fly in,” said Kristen.
   Reforest Hawaiʻi stands tall for generational continuity that honors the ancestors and with the help of the Kanileʽa ʽohana and many volunteers, the kūpuna forest will build on into the future. “We want our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and onwards to have the opportunity to walk in the forest,” concludes Joe.
 
For more information:
reforesthawaii.org
kanileaukulele.com
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Middle son Iokepa points out a grove of trees planted earlier. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
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Beauty All Around: Young Kohala Artist Elijah Rabang                    Ke Ola Magazine Sept. / Oct. 2018

9/19/2018

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PictureElijah displaying one of his watercolor masterpieces for sale at Paradise Postal. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
   Entering Hāwī, on the North Kohala coast, just past Kohala Coffee Mill, you are stopped in your tracks by a wall mural with a stunning scene of frolicking humpback whales. You’ve just stepped into the realm of young artist Elijah Rabang, who beholds the natural world and cherishes it with his art.
   For the past few years, along with greeting cards and pet portraits, Elijah has shared his visions of nature in community murals located at the Kamehameha Park pool, Figʻs restaurant (now closed), the Hāwī Post Office and most recently the wall across the street from the Kohala Trade Center in Hāwī, commissioned by Richard Elliott, owner of Paradise Postal in collaboration with Kar Tow.
   About six years ago Elijah approached Richard. “He came into the store to see if I wanted to sell his cards; he had heard I was only having local artists in my store. I loved his work immediately and it was a ‘no brainier’,” said Richard.

Picture Elijah painting the train on the Hawi Post Office mural. Photo courtesy of Serena Seidel
Nourishing Roots and Mentors
   When Elijah was diagnosed with autism at the age of six, art became a way for him to understand his world through a meticulous focus on the details of the environment around him.  Elijah grew up nested in a loving family and a supportive community, where his early artistic talent was noticed, supported and appreciated. “He was so young [when he started]. In elementary school he used to draw animals and what really caught my eye was the details. He would draw these pirate ships and he wouldn’t lift the pencil off the paper. It was like one continuous line and he had so much detail with the shape of the cannons and everything on the ship,” said Elijahʻs mother, Robby Victorino. 
   Elijah’s artistic ability continued to grow and in middle school his art teacher, Trish Ryan, recognized his abilities. She asked him to create a design for the May Day program and by the time he reached high school he was well on his way with an art career.
   At Kohala High School, Elijah was a student of art teacher Margaret Hoy for four years. “He took Painting 1 and 2 and Ceramics. He was already really talented. You could name any kind of animal and heʻd say, ‘Okay, I can do that,’ and heʻd go to work. He has a great memory for details.”
   While Elijah’s first favored media was colored pencils, his time at Kohala High School gave him the freedom to explore and broaden his art. Margaret remembers, “He was always willing to try something new or work independently. We never reached the boundary of what he was able to do in my class. Iʻd say, ‘Here, letʻs try this out,ʻ and he was always open to it. We try to make sure school is positive and reinforcing and something that they want to do.”

   Mural artist Patrick Ching worked with Elijah in middle school on the Art Miles Murals project. “I first got involved with him because of a mural peace project. He painted some murals to contribute to that project that traveled all over the world and was showcased in Egypt,” shared Patrick.
   A few years later Patrick worked with Elijah as part of the Hāwī Post Office mural and saw his developing sense of design and how he had matured as an artist. “He came to contribute to the mural on the Hāwī Post Office wall,” said Patrick. “Elijah painted the train. He was really focused and I just let him go and he got it done. He really knows what he’s doing with his art and his style.” 
​Natural Connections
   For the past seven years, Elijah has participated in ʽĪlio Lapaʽau, the therapeutic horsemanship program directed by Fern White. There, Elijah has experienced the natural world in a very tangible sense that has fed his artwork.
   “He was one of my first official ʽĪlio Lapa‘au participants. It’s helped him find his way, find his confidence, find who he is. He started by learning how to just be around horses, massage them and whatever else he could do for the horse, and then he started noticing details. His first horse was Cool Ed, a beautiful palomino and he actually made some drawings of Cool Ed,” said Fern.
   Reflecting the aloha Elijah has received from the community, he thrives on caring for others. The horse program has provided him with an opportunity to expand his caring nature. Along with connecting to younger participants and caring for the horses, he looks after the goats and two rescued Kona Nightingales, Cutie and Patootie. “They kind of rescue each other,” said Fern.
   One of Elijah’s favorite subjects is the white Siberian tiger, Namaste, whom he visited many times at the Pana‘ewa Zoo in Hilo. Namaste, who passed away in 2014, is featured in one of Elijah’s first murals located at Kamehameha Park Pool. Although Namaste lived in captivity, Elijahʻs mural depicts him free in his natural environment. “He was always coming in and talking to me about the zoo. We spent a good part of a semester just doing homage to the white tiger, Namaste. That was something that really made an impression on him,” said Kohala High School art teacher, Margaret.
   Periodically Elijah and his assistant Serena Seidel visit the zoo. They were on hand in March, 2016 when two new tiger cubs arrived, which inspired Elijah to make the cubs the subject of one of his water color designs for greeting cards.
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Elijah with Patootie and mentor Fern White at Lio Lapa'au. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
PictureElijah's mural at Fig's restaurant. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​Artistic Process
   After Elijah graduated in 2009, his artwork became part of the Kohala community scenery. The large canvas of mural walls gave him a chance to explore a larger creative vision.
   One of his first murals was at the Kamehameha Park swimming pool, a project organized by community artist, Cathy Morgan. The entire project resulted in one small mural featuring Namaste and a larger one that includes some of Elijahʻs favorite sea animals (dolphins, tiger shark, sea lion, sperm whale, and monk seal) along with a depiction of the first Polynesians arriving on the island. The canoe is laden with plants and animals and is placed in such a way as the viewer feels they are watching a historic event from their own canoe.
   In 2011 Tracy and Fred Figueroa (owners of Figʻs Restaurant) asked Elijah to create a mural on the walls fronting their building. The result is a Kohala pastoral scene with “Mr. Fred on the horse over there,” pointed out Elijah. And even though the restaurant is now closed, Elijahʻs mural can still be enjoyed by all who pass by.  

His latest effort, which is not yet complete, came about through the desire to beautify main street Hāwī. "Kar Tow put up a new fence. I had the idea, in talking with Elijah, about doing murals on the fence, as it was looking very industrial here in town,” said owner Richard. 
   The subject of the mural was inspired by a whale watch that Elijah and Sarina took in winter 2018. The mural depicts humpback whales swimming and breaching. You can imagine seeing the whales from the perspective of being onboard a boat and approaching a pod of whales. “That whale painting—that’s a really deliberate graphic sense Elijah has. Design is one of his geniuses,” said Patrick.
   Elijah has created a number of watercolor paintings that are reproduced as cards, which are sold at the Saturday farmers’ market in Hāwī and at Paradise Postal. Elijahʻs use of color in his paintings is vibrant and invites you in, making the subjects seem three dimensional; this is an innate talent that emerged from his experience with artist mentor, Angel Teodora, whom he worked with doing watercolor painting for five months. 
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Elijah with his latest mural in Hawi. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
Grown with Aloha
   Rather than presenting a difficulty, Elijah’s autism enables him to see and recreate the world around him in his own unique way. He lives in the moment with a keen sense of all beings around him. Elijah’s story could have been very different; however, his natural talent has been nurtured by the aloha of the Kohala community and the enveloping natural environment that has allowed him the opportunity to evolve as an artist. His latest Hāwī mural will be finished soon and he hopes to continue doing more mural art.                                       
                                                
For more information: sirellazar@yahoo.com
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An outside-the-box approach to learning: Fern White creates a dynamic, multi-faceted classroom experience                                 West Hawaii Today September 2018

9/3/2018

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NORTH KOHALA – School is back in session and at Kohala High School Fern White’s STEM English class is gearing up for another year of exploration, investigation, experimentation and presentation. Along with foundational literature and writing skills, individual students will be carrying out their own projects. These can range anywhere from science experimentation to the creation of video documentaries.  
  
Longtime Kohala High School teacher Fern White grew up on Ulupalakua Ranch on Maui, and likes to say that everything she needed to know she learned from horses. On horseback from a young age, White started teaching riding at 16. Training and riding horses has given her foundational insights into learning processes that she has taken into the classroom. 
   When she graduated from high school, even though she was considered to be on a college track, White was unable to afford school. Undaunted, she decided to look for scholarship money and entered a beauty contest for Miss Maui in 1968, winning $500.
   White decided to use the money to enroll in business school on Oahu, while working as a nanny for four children and a stable hand in order to board her horse. Business school was not for her though, and she continued riding and working in the schools para professionally, taking any job on offer.
​   “I worked as a substitute teacher from 1974 for all grades, as a part-time teacher, cafeteria worker, secretary, a reading and ESL tutor, and for Castle Medical doing drug education and working with at risk students in an alternative education program,” White said.


PicturePhoto courtesy of Lytha White
   And all this time, she continued to teach horseback riding and compete in rodeo events both in Hawaii and on the mainland.  A marriage and two children later, White finally enrolled at UH-Hilo in 1989 at the age of 39 as a non-traditional student. In fact you might say that nothing about White is traditional.
   After earning a BA in English with an interdisciplinary science certificate in 1994, she obtained her secondary teaching certificate and began work at Kohala High School where she has woven her varied skills and experiences into a dynamic holistic approach to learning.
   White’s work with horses, people on horses and an outside-the-box approach to learning have combined to create a dynamic, multi-faceted classroom experience. “Activity before concept and concept before vocabulary” is one of White’s guiding principles. 
   To enter White’s STEM English classroom is to find a world of possibility and resources. She has coached students in everything from speech and debate to award-winning electric vehicle and robotics programs, all the while enriching their lives with literature and writing. 
​   White teaches from the heart, and is able to tap into her own learning experiences as she acts as a guide for students.  “To unpack things, to teach it, challenges you to really know what you're doing by feel. That all fits into how and why I teach. Let me help you go on and find your own way. I'll facilitate your discovery. There it is. Now remember that feeling,” White explained.  
​  
In 2000, horsemanship inspired her on to strive for professional career excellence. “I went to Oklahoma and competed in the world championship in open division barrel racing and won top 10 in the world. Being world-class was the pinnacle. On the plane returning home, I decided I would go for National Board certification,” White recalled. 
   She rode to that world championship on Royal Merrymaid, a soul mate whose stubborn individuality suited her. “She had chips in her knees and they all said she wasn't going to last. But she had guts. She could run a hole in the wind,” White remembered. 
   She has also extended her love of learning and horsemanship beyond the classroom, sharing her belief in the healing properties of horses and riding through Lio Lapaau, a special horse therapy program. 
“The concept is that horses provide healing and health for humans. They are the most noble creatures on earth," White said.

PicturePhoto courtesy of Fern White
   After becoming board certified in 2003, she went on to earn a master’s of art in teaching from the National University in 2006, and is now in a teacher leadership role, working to “shift instruction to utilize student interests and engage them in the decision-making. As educators we have to constantly think about what the students need. That's a moving target. Foundations are important and that's not a moving target. Here's the foundation, what can we latch on to that?” White explained. 
   Students walk through her door and start a journey of self-discovery that is supported on foundational reading and writing experiences. White makes her students earn their freedom to explore by meeting tough standards. 
   “The first quarter is heavy writing and medium heavy reading, non-fiction texts because that’s their science, technology and engineering piece and they have to do a research paper in the second quarter,” explained White. At the same time, students are delving into short fiction and other literature, which is all woven together to create a rich learning experience.
    “The reason I'm here is that I hold to the faith that at the core of every human being there is goodness. Let's find a way to find that goodness. I try to be transparent in my passion so they know that they have somebody in front of them that wants it for them,” White said. "My metaphor for teaching is that I am the river for my students to get on their boat and ride down. Sometimes the river is going to be rough and they fall in the water, and sometimes we have to paddle hard, but Iʻm here to facilitate,” she concluded.

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Photo courtesy of Fern White
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WMS seventh graders learn to take care of the land                      West Hawai'i Today August 27, 2018

8/28/2018

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PictureWMS students explore Keanuiomano Stream during an outplanting of native dryland forest species. (COURTESY PHOTO/MAHINA PATTERSON)
“Malama Ahupuaa,” the title of the latest Waimea Middle School oral history book, funded by Ike Hawaii and Hawaii Community Foundation, recently became available on Amazon. The book is the result of an oral history project conducted by Leesa Robertsonʻs Waimea Middle School seventh graders during the 2017 / 2018 school year.
The oral history project was a component of an integrated curriculum approach to learning created by the seventh grade team for the 2017-18 school year, where all content areas were engaged in and intersected around the theme of “Malama Ahupuaa”.
   “We took the three sections of our Lalamilo ahupuaa, or land divisions – makai (coastal), kula (mid-section) and mauka (mountain) – and focused our lessons and activities around life in those areas,” explained seventh grade science teacher Jade Bowman.
   Students explored the different areas of the ahupuaa, collected data which was integrated into the math curriculum, studied the flora and fauna, and did service projects.
   “We started with makai and learned about Kawaihae and Pelekane Bay. Students learned the history and the moolelo of the area and the connection between voyaging and the ahupuaa, and how what we do on land ultimately affects the ocean,” said Bowman.
   There is much knowledge and wisdom in stories and, “Students learned the stories of the sections of the ahupuaa and wrote their own renditions of the myths. They learned the cultural significance of the plants and animals,” she added. 

PictureInterviewee Pua Case shares some life stories with Shane Beeder and Ariana Shimioka
   In Robertson’s class, a year-long oral history project explored malama ahupuaa through the eyes and voices of 11 community members. Working in teams, the students spent the first half of the year gaining the skills they would need by interviewing a peer and then a family member. Students collected biographical data, researched and created a timeline and a question outline, and practiced interview protocol.  
   The interviewees ranged in age from 29 to 86 and came from a variety of backgrounds and experiences that gave students a glimpse into individual perspectives of how they malama – or cared for – the ahupuaa and how they connected to the land and to each other.  
   A sentiment expressed in some way by all of the interviewees was that to malama something, you need to really know it, observe it and experience it. Manny Veincent and Mahina Patterson, the oldest and youngest interviewees, respectively, shared that sentiment.
   While working for Hawaii Fish and Game in the Pohakuloa area of Mauna Kea, Veincent spent time camping in the wilderness to monitor and capture geese for breeding.
   “That areas between the Mauna Loa and Hualalai mountains was where those geese were. In the dark you could hear them crying. After a while, your senses become like an animal. You knew where the birds were,” he said.
Before becoming an environmental education specialist for The Kohala Center, Patterson did conservation work in the same area. Growing up exploring the land around her neighborhood, her early experiences set her on a path to malama ahupuaa.
   “My fondest memories are going into the pasture that borders the wet side neighborhoods. So every chance that I got I would go and explore in the pastures and the streams back there,” “But I looked it up as I got older and found out that the name of that stream is Lalakea and that it's one of the streams that feeds Hiilawe (a many storied waterfall in Waipio),” she said.

PictureINterviewee Ma'ulili Dickson shares some canoe stories with Rovi Afaga and Lindsay Tagudan.
   Malama ahupuaa also means to take care of the culture, the people and perpetuate practices and protocols that will travel into the future as wisdom to guide those that come after.
  
Micah Komohoalii – kumu hula, cultural practitioner, another of the interviewees – shares his deep knowledge of the Waimea district through chants and hula in his halau and through community classes.
   “
My halau specializes in dances of our own backyard, of our ahupuaa. The only thing we learn in the halau are the chants of Waimea, chants of Waimea's rain, its fog, its winds, its place here and the heiau, the alii that were here,” he explained.
  
The re-emergence of the canoe culture has been a guiding light for malama ahupuaa. Two of the interviewees, Maulili Dickson and Chadd Paishon, are mainstays of Hawaii Island’s canoe program whose guiding motto, coined by canoe pioneer Clay Bertelmann, raises awareness of the connection between the health of the canoe and the health of the island: He waa he moku, he moku he waa, meaning the canoe is the island, the island is the canoe.
  
As the canoe’s quartermaster, Dickson grew up in the ocean and providing food for his family, which eventually grew to include the ohana waa (canoe family). He is currently is working with the Haunana Ola program, whose goal is to provision Hawaii Island’s voyaging canoe, Makalii, with food grown on the island for a 30-day journey to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
  
Paishon, who is a captain and Pwo navigator with Ohana Waa Makalii, is also working with the land crew of Haunana Ola and works to bring canoe culture into classrooms.
  
“For us, sustaining ourselves on the canoe, it really comes down to everyone that's on the deck of the canoe understanding what they need to do and taking care of each other. If we can do those things on the deck of the canoe, then we should be able to do those same things when we're home here,” he said.
  
Like the canoe, the island has finite resources and so many of the interviewees expressed malama ahupuaa in terms of only taking what you need and sharing the abundance. Born and raised in Waimea, Lloyd Case grew up with that awareness.
  
“Donʻt take more than you need. Leave something for others. We only take what we need from the ocean and the mountain because we practice the Hawaiian style,” he said.
​  
Mahalo to Hawaii Community Foundation who funded costs to transcribe the interviews and to Ike Hawaii for providing publishing costs. To read more stories of malama ahupuaa, the book will be available at Thelma Parker Library and is currently available on amazon.com.

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Womenʻs Work: Talented Artists Displayed in North Kohala              Special to West Hawaii Today  May 2018

8/14/2018

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    An art exhibit called “Women’s Work” will be on display through Labor Day at the Sweet Potato Café in Hawi and includes collage, acrylics, water colors and ceramics.
    “I was looking for artists that haven't had a lot of exposure up in this area. Also quite a few women had come to me and said that they would like to put their art up. I wanted a theme and decided to make women artists be the theme rather than the art,” said café owner Susan Alexy. 
    The deep hued orange walls of the newly renovated café space provide the perfect backdrop for the vibrant art displayed there.
    Collage artist Catherine Morgan’s work captures Kohala country life in a childlike whimsical style that invites you to come play and explore. A resident of Hawi for 25 years, she works with children from one and a half to five years old at the Kohala Village HUB, working with printmaking, clay, painting, puppet and storytelling.
    “My collages attempt to capture the ever-changing light in Hawaii’s landscapes and the sweet lifestyle,” said Morgan. 
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    The expressionistic plein air artist, Mary Sky Schoolcraft invites the viewer into the simple vibrant country life of Kohala and clearly shows her love for this place. A clothesline strung between coconut palms and a road that meanders into the back country are her invitations to explore.
    One wall is adorned with the ceramic art of Ginny Bivaletz, who created womanly shaped wall vases. “My love of pottery began with creating many goddess figures of all types and now, after many years of focusing on functional art for the home, I find myself being drawn back to where I began, calling in the feminine,” she explained.
    “Ginny specifically did these women's figures for the women's show. It's been really well received.  We sold out of most of her stuff within the first couple of weeks,” commented Alexy
    Catalina Cain created necklaces that are a mix of polymer clay beads, miniature mixed metal sculpture and semi-precious gems, each one very unique. “The shapes and designs of my art are co-creations manifesting from my dreams and the visions within and around me,” she said.
    “Catalina also does matching earrings and bracelets and she also does tarot readings. She’s quite good at it,” said Alexy.
    If you’re looking for a charming bit of Hawaii to take with you then you can browse through Virginia Fortner’s inventory of original watercolor greeting cards and postcards. Each one in unique and captures the beauty and sweetness of Kohala country life.
The art for Women’s Work art show will change as the summer progresses, giving other artists a change to display their art, “They just want to have their art appreciated,” concluded Alexy.
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Ahupuaʻa: Living Aloha                                                                       Ke Ola Magazine  July /  August 2018

7/7/2018

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There was once a once thriving fishing village at Kaloko. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
   Beyond canoe plants and animals, the first voyagers to these shores brought the spirit of ahupuaʽa, a sense that they were of the land. On the most basic physical level, the ahupuaʽa is a dedicated land division that insured a sustainable livelihood for the inhabitants, but it is also an enduring testament to the canoe culture that propelled the first Polynesians to these shores. Successful voyagers had a keen understanding and a spiritual connection to the natural forces that ruled their world, honed through generations of careful observation and a community of people bound together in a single purpose.  
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The ahupuaʻa stretched from the mountain to the sea. Photo by Jan Wizinowich
​Navigating the Land
  To be of the land, you must know that land and upon their arrival, the voyagers began observing and noting all the natural phenomena surrounding them. This became their new culture. “The natural cycles within the ahupuaʽa were also the foundation of the Hawaiian family, social, political and religious structure, and it can be said that the Hawaiian culture itself is rooted in the land.” (Maly, p. 7)
  On the water they navigated the celestial realm; on land they noted moon phases, tides and currents in relationship to planting and fishing cycles. Just as on the ocean where the behaviors of birds and ocean creatures were observed, on land by reading their world, lessons of the inhabitants whose island they shared were absorbed. On the ocean, there was an awareness of wind, clouds, rain cycles and wave patterns reflected off unseen shores, on land these signs continued to be navigational guides for a canoe at anchor.
  The Polynesians started along the shoreline of this verdant island, eventually moving inland up streams to discover and develop mauka resources. Some plants they recognized, others were new, but soon ways were found to make use of them. Canoes for return voyages were constructed from koa logs harvested from upcountry groves, hollowed out using adze from mountain top quarries and lashed together using olonā, a fiber only found on Hawaiʽi Island.
  As the population grew, cultivated land extended mauka, creating long sections of land, later termed ahupuaʽa.  “The ahupuaʽa within which the native Hawaiians lived, represented land divisions that were complete ecological and economic production systems. The boundaries of the ahupuaʽa were generally defined by cycles and patterns of natural resources that extended from the mountainous zone, or peaks, to the ocean fisheries.” (Maly, p. 7)
  Water, a primary resource and considered sacred, was found in abundance in streams and springs. The early settlers discovered ways to channel and share this resource within the ahupuaʽa by creating ʽauwai or irrigation ditches and aqueducts that made irrigation possible for numerous loʽi. “Water, then, like sunlight, as a source of life to land and man, was the possession of no man, even the aliʽi nui or moʽi. The right to use it depended entirely upon the use of it.” (Handy, p.63) 
  Keen observation led to connections between phenomena happening in different regions of the ahupuaʽa. “When they saw something happen in the mountains in their own ahupua'a then they related it to what was happening in the ocean. That's how we have these great sayings like ‘When the wiliwili blooms the shark bites’ or ‘When the sugar cane tassles, the time is right to gather the octopus’. The ahupua'a really made the foundation for culture and traditions,” explained Waimea cultural practitioner, Micah Kamohoaliʽi.
Picture
Anchialine ponds such as this one at Kohanaiki supplied much food.
​The ʽOhana Community
  The ahupuaʽa within the districts of Kona, Kohala, Hamakua, Hilo, Puna and Kaʽu, were generally but not always, sections of land that ran from mountain to sea, divided into kai, kula and uka sections, each contributing to sustain the residents within. While technically considered a tax district, in origin and spirit it was a connected community of people, a weave of ʽohana groupings, who cultivated the resources of their particular ʽili.
  Handy describes the relationships within the ahupuaʽa as “neighborly interdependence”, where goods and services were shared. “Between households within the ʽohana there was constant sharing and exchange of foods and of utilitarian articles and also of services, not in barter but as voluntary (though decidedly obligatory) giving.” (Pukui p.5-6) 
  Within this system, ʽohana living inland who could supply taro, bananas, wauke (bark for tapa), olonā for fibre and lashing, gifted supplies to the coastal area ʽohana and in return received fish, gourds, coconuts and other resources.
  “My dad's family is from Kona and they all lived in the ahupuaʽa system. My dad's grandma was born in 1908 and she would tell us that the families that lived up in the mountains would bring all their birds, berries and all the things they gathered in the mountains, down to the middle of the ahupua'a and the ones on the bottom brought their fish and they traded things over and over. So she said that the families on the mountain always had fish for dinner,” said Micah.   
  Just as with a successful canoe voyage, the success of the ahupuaʽa depended on each person fulfilling their kuleana or responsibility.  The system of “…sharing between chief and tenant was comprehensive and reciprocal in benefits. It also assured subsistence shares in food, fish, firewood, house timbers, thatch, and the like, to the lesser landholder----the planter.” (Handy, p. 48)
  In later settlement years, this also meant producing enough food and other supplies to fulfill the tax levied by the aliʽi ai ahupuaʽa (chief who eats the ahupuaʽa). This was determined by the konohiki, who was a kind of an overseer appointed by the aliʽi and usually an extended family member.
  The success of the early settlement system and the later designated ahupuaʽa was based on faith. Faith that everyone would take care of their kuleana, faith that the aliʽi would be fair and provide for the well-being of the ʽohana and most importantly, faith in the unseen forces that could determine feast or famine.
Picture
The building of ahu (altars) such as this one in Kaloko was an important part of spiritual practice.
​Spirit and the Land
  The Polynesians brought a spiritual practice firmly planted in the land and connected to the natural world. They maintained that connection through chant and practices that honored the gods and aumakua that represented various aspects of the natural world.     “Indeed, the spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, and cultural landscape of the Hawaiian people, were intricately bound to the natural landscape of the islands.” (Maly, p. 5)
The Hawaiians saw that, “The ocean, the underworld of volcanism, the terrain and the heavens all harboured and brought forth elemental Persons embodying natural forces or phenomena and generic forms of life.” (Pukui, p. 27)
  Early spiritual practices were based, “…upon simpler local clan and tribal subsistence economics having their roots in planting rituals and worship carried on by individuals and families of Kane and Lono as progenitors and waterers, respectively, of taro and sweet potato.” (Handy p. 351)
  Later the aliʽi were the recipient of hoʽokupu (gifts), which literally means to cause to grow, in the belief “…that the high chief was the scion and living embodiment of the akua upon whom fertility depended, this contribution or levy actually was a ceremonial gift (mohai) of the fruits of land and labor to the deities who were believed to be the source of nature’s productivity.” (Handy, p.351)
  The boundary markings of the ahupuaʽa (ahu =altar; puaʽa=pig), where offerings were made during the Makahiki season, were a tribute to Lono, whose main form was closely connected to agriculture, often in the form of dark thunderous clouds that bring the necessary winter rains.
  The major gods of Hawaiʽi Island were Kane, Ku, Kanaloa, Lono and Pele, but the primary god of worship depended on family lineage. Ahu and heiau can be found in any region of the ahupuaʽa to honor an event that happened there, a special feature or a unique resource.
  “There was one ahupuaʽa in Kona that had a spring and all the other ahupua'a around it were dry so they built an ahu there to honor the god Kane because it was Kane who came and plunged his o'o in and started this spring,” said Micah.
  Harvest was an especially important time for tribute. It was a time “…to put an offering on the ahu to thank their ancestors, ancestral guardians, their gods and aumakua for providing their life and providing the miraculous things that were happening in their ahupua'a,” said Micah.
  There was a constant awareness of the need to acknowledge the gifts of the greater powers that made their lives possible. “They were in tune with everything around them and with everything they did, they honored their ancestors and their aumakua.  If they had a big harvest, it was because the aumakua took care of them,” said Micah.
Picture
River valleys, such as Waipiʻo pictured here, were an important source of food.
​Contact writer: janwiz@gmail.com
Sources cited:
Native Planter in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment. Handy, E.S. Craighill and Elizabeth Green.
Mauna Kea – Kuahiwi Ku Haʽo I Ka Mālie. Maly, Kepā.
The Polynesian Family System in Kaʽu, Hawaiʽi. Pukui, Mary Kawena.
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Kohala Hospitalʻs New Emergency Room: A Haven of Peace and Bliss       West Hawaii Today  May 28, 2018

6/10/2018

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   Thanks to recently completed murals by Artist Patrick Ching, Kohala Hospital’s new emergency waiting room is an oasis of beauty and calm. “I'm really into the psychology of what the people are going through when they are here. I use colors that are calming, soothing and horizontal lines,” said Ching.

    The project is a collaboration anchored by the Kohala Hospital Charitable Foundation (KHCF) and includes funding and support from Kohala Hospital and a Century 21 grant through Kohala High School. “Another aspect of our collaboration was to fund a portion that would support our students' afterschool internship with a high quality mentor such as Patrick Ching. The students spent time with Patrick shadowing / painting some of the images as directed and learning about the real life aspect of what it takes to do what he does as an artist,” said Kohala High School STEM and AP English Teacher, Fern White.
     To begin preparing for the project, Ching shared ideas with KHCF board members. “I talked with board members to see what's important to them and what kind of ideas they had and then what kind of ideas I came up with,” explained Ching.
     Ching spent many hours visiting places he intended to include. “I went around taking photographs and then I looked at them and to conjure up images with the space. Then I came up with small watercolor sketches to scale,” he said, which he shared with board members as the project unfolded. “The areas in the paintings are kind of in the directions that you see them,” he added pointing to the painting of Pololu on the North wall. 
    The paintings seem to emerge from the walls as if being soaked up from the beauty that is Kohala “Rather than a rectangle, I try to bring the colors of the room into the painting. I leave a little of my first layers of color showing along the edges and notice that they are different than the color the mural ends up being. It makes people's eyes dance and it joins all the different picture together.  I also used the wall colors like this purplish blue in the mural so that all ties it together,” said Ching.
    And keeping with a forest theme, the murals also engulf prosaic reminders of modern life. “You do your sketches but when you come to the actual wall there might be things that you don't count on. I tried to  to make that corner disappear (pointing to the Pololu painting) and I noticed this big red exit sign I didn't plan for so I added these two red birds at the end.  When you're walking out of the emergency room you get to enjoy the dance of red and greens,” said Ching.
    The whole effect is one of peace and healing. “In the three weeks since Patrick's been painting it's already made a huge difference. Our mission was to create a healing environment,” said Kohala Hospital Administrator Gino Amar.
Ching got to experience that first hand. “If I did get in their way, I'd give them a paint brush,” joked Ching. “I did get to see it have the desired effects on the people coming in. They were all under stress for different reasons. And even the guy with the high blood pressure said, 'Oh that's just what I needed',” he added.
    The emergency waiting room is the icing on the cake of a long concerted effort on the part of the KHCF, who raised funds for the addition of the new waiting room and the creation of a state of the art emergency room, that looks like it could be the sick bay for the USS Enterprise.  
    The new emergency room came to fruition through the efforts of many. For almost six years the Kohala Hospital Charitable Foundation has collaborated with Kohala Hospital and conducted many fund raisers.   
    “The really big fundraising started in 2012, when we knew this (new emergency room) was actually going to happen. We really went into gear. We did golf tournaments that were extremely successful and we had big community events at Kahua Ranch with 400 people,” said board member Betty Meinardus.
    With inimitable Kohala style, support for the project also came from grass roots sources. “You know we had people that would give $10 but now they feel that they are part of the hospital. People gave a lot of money. It was really amazing, all the people in the community were so generous. This is our community hospital and community supported emergency department,” said Meinardus with pride.  ​

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