Stories of Connection

Voices of Hoʻoulu ʻĀina community members and staff remind us of our pilina – our many ways of connecting.

“Being here, spending time with this canoe – I was reminded that my grandfather was a canoe carver too.”
"Iʻm so grateful for everything we got to do. This doesnʻt end here, now we get to go home and explore and teach our ʻohana. The more I learn about laʻau, the more I can help my family."
Nīnau: "Why are we doing this oli pōhaku?"
Pane: "So the pōhaku can hear us."
“I have so many vegetables and since you have given me a blessing, I want to bless you too. You have all made me so happy!”
“Which scale are you on the Moʻo?”
“The mana of our ʻike kupuna should not be watered down.”
"Woah, I can make wood glass!? I want to sand till 4,000 and I donʻt want to skip any grits!"
“Iʻve never felt so compelled to share a pule before.”
“Youʻre never really lost, you just have to recalibrate.”
“The stories coming out of here used to be negative, Hoʻoulu ʻĀina has changed that narrative and the stories coming out of Kalihi have changed so much.”
“Abundance is really simple. You just keep adding on and adding on.”
Nīnau: "How do we know what we’re looking for?"
Pane: "Weʻre listening for the pōhaku that is calling to us."
“We got lots of moments, like waves in the ocean. We just have to understand when theyʻre coming to the shore.”
“My prescription is mālama ʻāina.”
“There is a magic to saving seeds.”
“My pōhaku is a really old guy. When I found him he was sleeping - for a really long time - and then he just woke up.”
“If we only pay attention to how heavy the bananas are, we have lost our way. Yes, the bananas are important; our people are hungry. But we need the moʻolelo.”
“When you move slower, you can preserve more of the mana in the lāʻau.”
“I mahalo for water, stones, and wood.”
“The seed was planted but you don’t know where it’s going to grow. We don’t know what time or space that seed will unfold in. Plant the seed with love, always plant the seed with love.”
“So grateful for ʻōlena, like an ancestor that has taken care of us all of these years.”
"I asked the lau laukahi for help and it guided me to it."
“Grateful for this place, that we can increase our cultural knowledge for the people that we serve.”
“I love seeing the change that this has pushed us to refocus our energies on. It makes me happy to see our community members and employees pushing to fill their garden beds. Our hobbies have become our necessities.”
“Nana asked for my name so she can keep me in her prayers and she said how God is good because she was praying for this <gifted with an abundance of food>.”
"Ua ʻike au i ka pōhaku ma mua o ke oli noi. Ma hope o ko mākou oli, ua lohe au i ka pōhaku, a laila, kiʻi."
“The speed of akua is faster than the speed of light. Beware of your intentions before your movements.”
“This is where they make the food for the community!”
“I am very cold right now, but I heard KKV was here to see me so I had to come out. I see you have gifts for me and now I am thankful to you and I thank you for blessing our community.”
“The frame of mind is changing. We are no longer ashamed to ask for the help we need. Now itʻs like family coming for a visit.”
"Remember what Aunty Darla said, whacking leads to cracking."
“Several elders have been planting from the produce we have been providing. So we provided more to be planted. Creating space for sovereignty and sustainability.”
Hoʻoulua ʻĀina staff member
“As we deliver, people are happy and now they are trying to give us stuff. One Nana said, ʻOh, take this!ʻ it was bitter melon from her garden, but that is what she had. Another lady gave us jabong and one other said, ʻNo, you have given me something so let me give you something in return.ʻ”
"Iʻm so proud of the trees!"
“Name your koʻi.”
“So grateful to do something that helps make the world a better place.”
“Thank you so much for working so hard to get us the things we need.”
“We delivered to an elderly woman who said that she had been praying for us to come and praying for a blessing. Then she asked for all of our names so she could pray for us too.”
“The community shares that they feel more empowered because they feel like they can share something too. It makes them feel normal during this time.”
“I am thankful for all the aunties that take care of the land.”
“Do not refine mana.”
“So many of our patients share the food and produce we deliver with their neighbors, or they get their neighbors signed up for food deliveries; sometimes they will even help deliver their neighbors food if we cannot get ahold of them. They care for each other. Our community is amazing.”
“That pattern we see in kalo is the pattern that we see in ourselves. That is why the kalo is the kanaka and the kanaka is the kalo.”
“When carving, this block of wood is your notebook.”
“If you look hard enough, you just might find yourself.”
“Making magic medicine with the kids.”
“Just looking around, you can tell the ʻāina is so happy!”
“I know it (ʻōlena) doesnʻt taste good but Iʻm gonna eat it anyway because I know its good for me!”
“Iʻm thankful for everyone here no matter your ethnicity, this place allows us to connect to the land and each other.”
“We all speak the language of food!”
“Artists live on the edge of the world with new ideas.”
“Way finders found a way 3000 years ago…you are the product of that.”
“We have a peʻa in our ʻōpū…itʻs a form of Lono…listen to that message within.”
“I feel healthy.”
“Great environment to learn.”
“Iʻm interested in resistance as in terms of papa healing.”
“Every woman is Haumea.”
“Iʻm so grateful for this place to keep learning new things, I would never otherwise be exposed to.”
“I feel so grateful for each and every one of you, your leadership has been such a blessing for me to follow.”
“Even though Iʻm older, your souls are filled with so much love, Iʻm just so happy to be a part of this ʻohana.”
“Iʻm so grateful that you guys accept me, not as an outsider but as a family member, and to Aunty [another volunteer], thank you for helping me when I was having a hard time with a friend.”
“Iʻve been thinking about all the women in my genealogy that allowed me to be here.”
“I am grateful for the moʻolelo from Clarice Taylorʻs ʻTales of Hawaiʻi because i was able to tell the story of Kāne Kāhekili and the pōhaku that lives in Kalihi Valley dedicated to that akua. The kids enjoyed listening to the story during lunch.”
“While we were making a bed for the ʻōlena and the kids were using brad forks and shovels, one boy named [youth volunteer] said out loud, ʻWow I could just keep doing this!’”
“While we were going up Ola Koa trail the kids were eating the haʻuʻoi flowers calling it ʻthe happiness plantʻ before I even told them about, they remembered it from the last time.”
“I feel like even though Iʻve been here so many times, I always learn something new!”
“We treated tjhe land the way it wanted to be treated.”
“Kumu A., was so mahalo for our staff talking 4 yr old ʻāina language.”
“Mahalo for the kumu…the kumu lāʻau, the kumu who shared their moʻolelo here.”