Aloha hou,
Here is a couple from today. Most of the [Castle HS] boys didnt want to go in lo‘i, they would rather dig with picks and shovels to plant uala puʻepuʻe style (what they are doing in the second ki‘i). The two boys in the lo‘i said they wanted to go in there after everyone else said they didnt want to. This was huge. It would have been much easier to just follow the other boys and not want to go in lo‘i. [One boy], like the rest of them, has a rough past and present. He has been in and out of jail since he was 12, even shipped to a juvenile home in America. This was his first time participating in class, not just with me, ever. He loved it. While we were in the loʻi I told them about ‘anakē ‘Ala (whom they have never heard of) and how the kalo was for her ho‘olewa. At the end of the day, after all the huli was cut and the kalo cleaned, I told them to take kalo, they said "nah uncle, thats for aunty ‘Ala". Small gains. Slow and steady. Still got hope for their future yet. Nānā ‘oe i ka ‘āina, nānā ka ‘āina iā ‘oe.
Ke aloha,
Kaleo Wong
Here is a couple from today. Most of the [Castle HS] boys didnt want to go in lo‘i, they would rather dig with picks and shovels to plant uala puʻepuʻe style (what they are doing in the second ki‘i). The two boys in the lo‘i said they wanted to go in there after everyone else said they didnt want to. This was huge. It would have been much easier to just follow the other boys and not want to go in lo‘i. [One boy], like the rest of them, has a rough past and present. He has been in and out of jail since he was 12, even shipped to a juvenile home in America. This was his first time participating in class, not just with me, ever. He loved it. While we were in the loʻi I told them about ‘anakē ‘Ala (whom they have never heard of) and how the kalo was for her ho‘olewa. At the end of the day, after all the huli was cut and the kalo cleaned, I told them to take kalo, they said "nah uncle, thats for aunty ‘Ala". Small gains. Slow and steady. Still got hope for their future yet. Nānā ‘oe i ka ‘āina, nānā ka ‘āina iā ‘oe.
Ke aloha,
Kaleo Wong