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50-plus members of the Windward YMCA met yesterday for an all-morning Ulupō clean-up that concluded with a group photo, story-telling (Makalei, Hauwahine, lepo ʻai ʻia), and lunch. Y coordinator David Lau noted that workday turnout had doubled since the last "togetherhood" and that this bodes well for an ongoing Y commitment to living culture in its own back yard. – KdS  Photo: KdS Was a pleasure to work with the Kupu kokua camp down at Ulupo last week. Growing our keiki with the land leads us on a path to the restoration of pono. – Kaleo Wong  Photo: Kaleo Wong Inspired by places and people that welcomed and shared their ʻike and aloha with us on Oʻahualua this week, a brief reflection on our visit to Ulupo, Kukanono, Kailua with Kaleomanuiwa Wong of Hikaʻalani and our time spent with other poʻe aloha ʻĀina at the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference: Here we wield the power of Snares made of cordage and stones Sourced from each corner of this ʻāina Carefully set in darkness Collective strength growing With each huli planted Mana embodied in places That remind us Dirt is not dirty Wealth looks like Buckets filled with kalo Water flowing endless And the continuous exchange Of breath and stories. – Noʻeau Peralto of Hui Mālama I ke Ala ʻŪlili (huiMAU)  Photo: Kaleo Wong "When you arrive here, arrive with love." There's visiting Ulupō with upturned, what-can-you-give-me hands and then there is visiting Ulupō with hands-down aloha ʻāina. Kaleo Wong welcomed KUPU and huiMAU to Ulupō this week. While the usual malihini gawked, took selfies, or listened to canned tour-guide explanations of "what the ancient Hawaiians did," these Hawaiians (and their hoa) actually did what we did and still do. (Voice: Kaʻupena Wong. Photos: Kaleo Wong. Blogger; KdS.)  Photo: Noʻeau Peralto of huiMau Kaleoʻs ballpark visitor count for the first two months of the summer (June and July) is approaching 800 – that's the number of service learners he has hosted, instructed, and worked with, including those pictured here from KUPU and huiMau. The KUPU team is Kailua-based and in the last week of its summer internship. The hoa huiMAU are from our kīpuka-to-kīpuka partners at Hāmākua, Moku o Keawe. – KdS
The Leidholm brothers, Christian and Matthew, shared this video with us yesterday; it is the second in what we hope will be a series of fly-over videos documenting the work of the Windward YMCA kids (led by David Lau) in partnership with Kaleo Wong and Hika'alani. As I was telling mom Christie Leidholm, weʻd considered hiring a professional to do something like this, but I donʻt think that anyone could capture the "guts" of it better than her two boys who have had first-hand, month-after-month experience in the living presence of our ʻāina. -- Kīhei de Silva |