Hawaiʻi Rising

Mālama Kaua'i: A Community Plan for Food Access (2023)

A reposted episode from 2023 about food access and resilient futures with Hulali Soza and Megan Fox from Mālama Kauaʻi.

Mālama Kauaʻi has been working to increase food production and access for a resilient Kauaʻi since 2006. They do this through a lens of resilience and sustainability, leveraging workforce and economic development efforts, partnerships, and innovative programs to grow community capacity. Their Kaua‘i Food Access Plan 2030 identifies land access and land-back movements as a key missing piece to the success of Hawaiʻiʻs future food system.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

83. Ahupuaʻa Restoration: Perpetuating ʻĀina Stewardship and ʻIke Kupuna across Hawaiʻi

In our fourth multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working to restore ahupuaʻa systems and perpetuate ʻike kupuna about ʻāina stewardship on three different islands.

First, on Molokai, we hear from Hano and Maile Naehu at Hui o Kuapā about their work to restore loko iʻa and grow a new generation of modern konohiki.

Second, we go to East Maui to hear from Jerome Kekiwi, Jr. from Nā Moku Aupuni o Koʻolau Hui, a group representing kalo farmers that restored taro-feeding streams from commercial diversions and continues to steward their waters.

Finally, we head to Kona, Hawaiʻi, with Loke Aloua at Hui Kaloko-Honokōhau. The kiaʻi loko of the hui dedicate themselves to preserving and advancing the natural and cultural resources of Kaloko Fishpond and protecting the ecosystem that sustains it.

To learn more about these hui, listen to our full episodes with each of them:

1. Hui o Kuapā: Restoring Fish Ponds on Molokai

25. Nā Moku Aupuni o Koʻolau Hui: When the Water Came Back on Maui

30. Hui Kaloko-Honokōhau: Stewards to the Realm of Kanaloa

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Waipahu Safe Haven: Empowering Communities to Be Their Own Advocates (2023)

An interview from 2023 about community empowerment and language access with Eola Lokebol, an advocate and interpreter at Waipahu Safe Haven Immigrant and Migrant Resource Center.

Waipahu Safe Haven provides holistic programs and services with language access to empower and uplift Hawaii’s immigrant and migrant communities, primarily serving our growing Marshallese and Chuukese communities as well as Samoans and Filipinos. The Center convenes Chuukese and Marshallese steering committees to guide programs and build support for their respective communities.

Website: waipahusafehaven.com/

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

HR Presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" - Episode 5: Piko of Peace and Hoʻihoʻi Ea

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode five, Mālama Mākua board members Aunty Lynette Cruz and Uncle Sparky Rodrigues discuss the evolution of Mālama Mākua's mission, and we hear significant recent developments in the movement for the return and restoration of Mākua Valley.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit www.malamamakua.org.

Before Us is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

82. Food Sovereignty through Hawaiian Engineering: A Story of Two Kahaluʻu

In our third multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations working towards the restoration of Hawaiian food systems, in particular through the foundational practice of uhau humu pōhaku (Hawaiian drystack masonry).

First, we hear from Keʻalohi Wang at Hui Hoʻoniho, an organization founded in 1996 to perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of uhau humu pōhaku.

From there, we learn about two ʻāina-based organizations working to restore significant traditional agricultural systems, both with the name Kahaluʻu:

At Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa in Kahaluʻu, Kona, Hawaiʻi, we hear from Jesse and Kim Kahoʻonei about their work restoring a 354-acre parcel of the traditional Kona field system.

From Kaiāulu ʻo Kahaluʻu in Kahaluʻu, Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu, Hiʻiaka Jardine and Philip Kapu share about their efforts to restore the Kahaluʻu Loʻi--the largest intact terraced loʻi system on Oʻahu.

To learn more about these hui, listen to our full episodes with them:

29. Kaiāulu ‘o Kahalu‘u: Hawaiian Engineering and ‘Āina Restoration in Kahalu‘u

33. Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa (Huliauapaʻa): Food Sovereignty and ʻĀina Education in Kona

62. Kahaluʻu Kūāhewa: Reconnecting Kānaka to ʻĀina in Kona

63. Kaiāulu ʻo Kahaluʻu: Restoring the Kahaluʻu Loʻi

73. Hui Hoʻoniho: Building a Foundation through Uhau Humu Pōhaku

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi: Building a Kauhale at Kawainui (2023)

An interview from 2023 about ʻāina restoration and hale construction with Ed Gomes and Kukona Lopes from Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi.

Ke Kahua o Kūaliʻi’s mission is to inspire and support cultural and environmental wellness through land stewardship of Palalupe and Pōhakea at Kawainui fishpond in Kailua, Oʻahu. Their Kūkulu Kauhale Program fosters traditional land management and supports cultural practice by training community members in the cultural arts and lifeways of hale construction, care, and maintenance.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

HR Presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" - Episode 4: The Lease

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode four, scholar and Mālama Mākua board member Kyle Kajihiro shares the story of the Army's 65-year lease in Mākua Valley, which expires in 2029, and of community efforts to protect and reclaim lands taken by the military.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit www.malamamakua.org.

Before Us is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

81. Kīpuka: Regenerating Community Connections to ʻĀina

In our second multi-grantee episode, we hear from three organizations who identify their work with kīpuka: regenerative spaces that help reseed and regrow the areas around them.

First, we hear from Mehana Vaughan and Jennifer Luck from Kīpuka Kuleana (featured in episode 2), which perpetuates kuleana, ahupua’a-based natural resource management and connection to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands on Kaua’i.

Next, we visit Kuhialoko and hear from Iokepa and Kalei Miner (featured in episode 43). Kuhialoko works to restore a sense of community ownership and kuleana to an area riddled by a prolonged history of military occupation and displacement near Puʻuloa.

Finally, Anthony Deluze and Dani Espiritu speak to us at Kaʻōnohi about Hōʻola Hou Iā Kalauao (featured in episode 75), which revives and brings life to Kalauao, an ahupuaʻa in the moku of ʻEwa on the island of Oʻahu.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai’i, Hawaii

HR Presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" - Episode 3: The Ranch and the Railroad

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode three, we hear the last living memory of the pre-WWII Mākua community before the eviction. Born in Mākua in 1925, Ford Ushijima shares stories of his childhood in the Valley, fishing, farming, and learning steel guitar in a multi-ethnic ranching community.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit www.malamamakua.org.

Before Us is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

HR Presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" - Episode 2: Access

Hawaiʻi Rising presents "Mākua: Piko of Peace" from the Before Us podcast, an audio-documentary series produced in collaboration with Mālama Mākua.

In episode two, we enter Mākua Valley with Mālama Mākua and hear the story of how Mālama Mākua fought to protect the valley, reconnected with the ʻāina through cultural access, and brought about an unlikely end to live-fire training.

To learn more about Mālama Mākua, visit www.malamamakua.org.

Before Us is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii