Several letters of support for the Kawainui-Hāmākua Master Plan DEIS can be read on the Palapala Hōʻike page of this website. Our letter begins as follows:
Aloha Mr. Sato,
The Calling
I feel the mana emerging from the
heiau, the sacred place
I hear the moʻolelo of my ancestors
calling to me like a mother speaking to her child
I smell the light stench of the marsh
I taste the sweetness of the sugar cane
I ate earlier, it was a sweet day in one bite…
I taste the freshness of nature
I feel joy knowing that people are restoring
a part of Hawaiian history
I know now it’s time to begin.
— [name redacted] Kailua Intermediate School, Oct. 1, 2017
The poem above was written by a Kailua Intermediate School 8th grader after a four-hour session of ceremonial eating, loʻi clearing, kalo learning, and moʻolelo sharing on the grounds of Ulupō Heiau under the direction of Hika’alani staff members Kaleo Wong, Maya Saffery, and Ryan Ueunten.
Our poet and his classmates walked to Ulupō and back from their KIS campus (and did not, therefore, contribute to the Kūkanono traffic and parking issues). They are part of an ongoing walk-and-learn relationship that we have “developed” with this school and that is becoming part of its STE(A)M curriculum.
The poem speaks to what we’ve been doing at Kawainui for the last three years and of what we plan to be doing there for years, for generations, to come. As Kaleo is fond of saying, of all that we endeavor at Ulupō, the most important is growing kids to become the aloha ‘āina stewards of this land; kids who come to the personal realization that “now it’s time to begin.”
...
Aloha Mr. Sato,
The Calling
I feel the mana emerging from the
heiau, the sacred place
I hear the moʻolelo of my ancestors
calling to me like a mother speaking to her child
I smell the light stench of the marsh
I taste the sweetness of the sugar cane
I ate earlier, it was a sweet day in one bite…
I taste the freshness of nature
I feel joy knowing that people are restoring
a part of Hawaiian history
I know now it’s time to begin.
— [name redacted] Kailua Intermediate School, Oct. 1, 2017
The poem above was written by a Kailua Intermediate School 8th grader after a four-hour session of ceremonial eating, loʻi clearing, kalo learning, and moʻolelo sharing on the grounds of Ulupō Heiau under the direction of Hika’alani staff members Kaleo Wong, Maya Saffery, and Ryan Ueunten.
Our poet and his classmates walked to Ulupō and back from their KIS campus (and did not, therefore, contribute to the Kūkanono traffic and parking issues). They are part of an ongoing walk-and-learn relationship that we have “developed” with this school and that is becoming part of its STE(A)M curriculum.
The poem speaks to what we’ve been doing at Kawainui for the last three years and of what we plan to be doing there for years, for generations, to come. As Kaleo is fond of saying, of all that we endeavor at Ulupō, the most important is growing kids to become the aloha ‘āina stewards of this land; kids who come to the personal realization that “now it’s time to begin.”
...
Photo: Kaleomanuʻiwa Wong