|
Seven Hawaiian Studies students visited Kaho'olawe on November 18-21, to clear a campsite for the annual Makahiki ceremony and planting season. Seniors Sheena Keauli'i, Andrew Ulu and Malia Vierra-Kealoha, and Juniors Sam Kapoi, Chad Brown, Desmond Toyama, and Maui Kenessey participated.The group, along with advisers Erich Smith and Daniel Forman, traveled from Maui to Kaho'olawe on a Navy helicopter. The students were stationed at a Navy base camp, in the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) hut. Here, they met other people from Maui and Moloka'i, who would also be working on the project.
The students went to Hakioawa Beach, where they cleared the campsite and assigned grids. They also installed a rain ko'a, which is a shrine in which people can ask the Hawaiian god Kane for rain, since Kaho'olawe is incapable of retaining its own water supply. When the students weren't busy with these tasks, they spent their time swimming, lifting weights, writing journals, and "talking story with the outer island people," Kenessey said. As the group was working, one student had his brush between life and death. "I'm thankful for being alive," said Kapoi, "because while we were weed-whacking, I was hitting a bomb."
Go to the Hawaiian Studies web site SY 2002-2003 Newspaper Portfolio |
