Taking this opportunity to go to Kona with this class was one of the best decisions I have made at my time here at Kamehameha. It was a perfect closing to my time here. I gained so much from this trip, it helped me grow and realize what it truly means to be a Hawaiian. I have really only been to Hawai’I island to visit family or for vacation, I never really got to connect with the ʻāina around me. The first place we went was Hualalai, driving up mauka its self was amazing. I noticed that we hadnt passed a single car on the road, it was a sence of peace and mālie. When we reached the top, at the cabin you looked down and saw only clouds. I forgot about eveything else and was able to connect and take in everything around. I learned about all the native plants up there such as the Pukiawe, ʻaʻaliʻi, and the Ohelo berried. We got to plant our own Maile, I hope to come back one day to see how they are growing. I named my Maile, Pualehua neʻe neʻe, which means the moring mist of the lehua specifically on Hawaiʻi Island. That night when we returned to Kaʻūpūlehu the sky was clear, we visited the star cumpas. Blake taught us about the visibale constilations such as “Iwikuamoʻo” and “Manaiakalani.”
The next day we visited Kuahewa in Keauhou, this is the mala that King Kamehameha cared for after conqureing the islands. I earned so much more respect for our kupuna, they were truly the most geneous and sustainable people on earth. What fasinated me the most was the makalua. In Kuahewa they did not have much flowing water and streams, but our kupuna found that the pahoehoe rocks under the ground would collect ans hold water, so they built these makalua. They were small circles of rocks, looking similar to a fire pit where they would put things such as dirt and compost in the middle and plant the kalo there. This way the water that catched in the pahoehoe would water the kalo. This is something I have never seen becuase I am used to the abundance of rain and fresh water streams we have on the East side of Oʻahu. We helped to clear our vines and roots and we planted Mamaki, Awikiwiki, and Lalu. Next we visted Aunty Pua at Mauna Kea. She taugh us the importance of the mauna not only to the Hawaiian people but all of the pacific islands. She taugh us the importance of what it means to stand for what you belive in as Hawaiians, and standing together. She really touched my heart with her message, she remined me that everything you do, remeber who you come from and never fotget what you are fighting for. Our last and final day we spent at Kaʻūpūlehu, more spacifically Kalaimanō the shore line. We met three girls, all seniors like us. They are apart of Nā Kilo ʻĀina, which is a program in which they learn to observe the world around them, the ʻāina, the lani, and the kai. They taugh us about the “no pick zone” project that they are doing, where they measure the amouts of opihi in that zone and the opihi outside of that zone. They also study the sea life, limu, water temp, and
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