Hawaiʻi Rising

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Grantee Episode! A conversation with Leila Kealoha from Pōhaku Pelemaka and ʻĀinaaloha Ioane from the Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation. Leila and ʻĀina share about their work on the Puna coast and in Keaukaha respectively, reclaiming and stewarding spaces in their own communities for their communities, as well as collaboration between their organizations. Check out our previous episodes with these hui: episode 55 with Pōhaku Pelemaka and episode 5 and episode 45 with the Keliʻi William Ioane Legacy Foundation.

Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

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

In episode one, Mālama Mākua board members Uncle Sparky Rodrigues and Uncle Vince Dodge share the backstory of how Mālama Mākua formed out of the convergence of two streams of activism: the anti-eviction struggle at Mākua Beach and the peace activists organizing against the environmental impacts of military activity in 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