Here is a sampling of the positive feedback that poured into our in-boxes after the sold out Bay Concert, a benefit for Kahalu‘u Bay.
I don’t know how many hundreds and hundreds of people were there, but it was such a wonderful feeling to see so many of our friends and colleagues gather together to celebrate what we can do together as a community … for ourselves and for the environment. Cheerful, warm, upbeat, high energy—all good ‘medicine’ in these turbulent and somewhat difficult times. Oh, yes, and the music was spectacular! —Matt Hamabata, Executive Director, TKC
Photo: Sista Robi Kahakalau (center) and her group received a standing ovation after their set at this year’s Bay Concert.
It was quite a wonderful concert and it touched my heart. We were able to bring awareness of our Kahalu‘u Bay Project to so many more people. It shows what community can do for each other and to take care of sacred, life giving places. HAPA, Sista Robi, Frank De Lima were so amazed by the number of people at the concert. Sista Robi said she has not gotten a standing ovation for a long, long time. HAPA said they never saw so many people at their concert in Kona. They just got back from Carnegie Hall. Akemi Iwamoto and her Daifukuji Drummers (intermediate and high school students) were ‘blown away’ because they got a standing ovation too!
Some people said that this was the best concert they have attended and they will never forget this concert as long as they live. It was a magical evening, we were blessed by the kūpuna and Ke Akua [God]. —Cindi Punihaole, Public Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, TKC
Aloha to all of you. I enjoyed myself. What a great crowd. Congratulations on the sell out! —Frank De Lima, Bay Concert emcee and comedian
Photo: Matt Hamabata (left), Frank De Lima (center), and Cindi Punihaole (right) were all smiles during a break in the show.
Cindi, you and The Kohala Center deserve all the kudos. Deb and I are honored to have helped in some small way. Mahalo for your heart and energy. —Gregory Chun, Ph.D., Bay Concert Co-Chair and President, Bishop Holdings Corporation
This was a very SPECIAL evening. The music was tremendous with many standing ovations – and it was not easy for many to stand they were so packed into the center – but it was really the great feeling of togetherness, of being in a special place with special people that made it so very rewarding. Mahalo to you all who made this happen and especially Cindi whom I think brings this special feeling to everything she does.” —Marni Herkes, Kohala Center Board member
Aloha Cindi,
Thank you kindly for introducing Rose [Rosanne Shank, leader of Hawai‘i Girl Scout Troop 425] and me. Your messages last night to us all were heartfelt and touched everyone who attended. You, The Kohala Center folks, and the volunteers have a positive energy that literally helps to float the Bay Project. We are so proud of what you have ALL done to take what we started to a world class ReefTeach Program! —Sara Peck, UH Sea Grant Extension Agent 
Photo: Malia Petersen, Miss Aloha Hula 2002, dances to the music of Hapa.
Many thanks for doing a remarkable job. The Kohala Center staff worked very hard and did an excellent job getting the word out there, it was because of your combined efforts that the concert did so well. I must also add that I was equally impressed with the Big Island people ... even with the bad weather they still came out in droves to attend the concert.
Everyone in Hapa sends their aloha and expressed how much they enjoyed performing at your event and would love to work with you again. Please don't hesitate to call us for any future events you may need entertainment. —Leslie Flanagan, Hapa World Music, LLC
Aloha Aunty Cindy,
Thank you very much! You pulled off such a wonderful evening! I was very impressed with all of your volunteers. No matter whom I approached with a question, they were all gracious, friendly, and helpful! Thank you for allowing us to be a part of us a wonderful cause! —Akemi Iwamoto, Daifukuji Taiko Drum Leader 
Thank you so much for putting together such an incredible concert! —Kathleen Johnson, volunteer ReefTeacher
Photo: The crowd joined hands and sang Hawai‘i Aloha at the close of the concert, “ending our Bay Concert in oneness and harmony. Mahalo Ke Akua (Thank you, Lord)!” says Cindi Punihaole.
Understanding Hawaiian Place and Politics
By Dr. Sydney L. Iaukea
Photo: Sydney L. Iaukea (with lei) celebrates after her Ph.D. dissertation with high school classmates from Kamehameha Noelle Kai (left), Dana Apo (right of Sydney), and Kim Ki‘ili (far right of Sydney).
I attended school at Kahului Elementary on Maui and then Kamehameha Schools on O‘ahu from the seventh grade on. School for me was a way out of the "ghetto" of Harbor Lights, a low-income apartment complex in Kahului, Maui where I grew up. I was happy to escape to O‘ahu in the seventh grade but very homesick for my mother and sister. I think I really started to enjoy school when I went back to Maui after graduation and attended Maui Community College. There I had fantastic teachers, and I was able to choose interesting subjects to study.
At UH Mānoa I loved my first political science course, taught by Peter Miller, Ph.D. Also, Michael Shapiro, Ph.D., was a favorite professor of mine and he ended up being my Ph.D. committee chair years later. Political Science is interesting because we don't only look at structures of government, but also at the power relations behind everything we do on a daily basis. So it covers a lot of ground. After getting my B.A. in political science (graduating with honors), I was so inspired by learning about the state of the world and our role of both supporting and being complicit to the powers that be, that I joined the U.S. Peace Corps.
Photo: Sydney surfing at Mokuleia, O‘ahu.
I served three years as a Community Education Volunteer in rural Costa Rica. I set up two kindergartens, taught teachers for the kindergarteners, fundraised with the parents, and made materials for the kids to use: in other words, I basically began kindergartens from scratch. I also had a surfing youth group, which was mostly made up of boys ages 11—16. I got them sponsorship from Local Motion Hawai‘i, and we traveled around Costa Rica entering surf contests. I had a women's group: we started a sewing co-op, and I led self esteem courses with them, fundraising, etc. I taught sex education to sixth graders, had summer fun classes for the kids, did beach clean-ups, helped with turtle propagation projects, planted trees, and worked in the "old folks" home in town with the elders doing exercise and other projects with them. I also sat in on community meetings and participated in whatever projects folks needed help with. The town I lived in is like my second home today, even though I haven't been back in years.
After the Peace Corps I returned to school at UH Mānoa, where I was one of the first students to begin teaching while working toward my master's degree. The only way to continue teaching at UH was to enroll in the Ph.D. program. I pursued a doctoral degree primarily so that I could continue teaching in the Political Science Department. Later I ran across all the primary documents of my great-great-grandfather, Curtis P. Iaukea, and my Ph.D. began to make more sense. I found his unpublished chapters at the Hawai‘i State Archives, and I am incorporating his first-person accounting of politics with my contemporary analysis into my dissertation and book project.
Photo: Sydney’s great-great-grandfather, Curtis P. Iaukea.
My current research focuses on my great-great-grandfather and his numerous roles in the Hawaiian Kingdom and Territorial Government as a foreign diplomat and national representative. I am looking at some of the landscaping projects that he wrote about which were implemented by the Territorial Government and which produced a U.S. national terrain and citizenry. Some of these projects are: the Crown Lands revenues fought by Queen Lili‘uokalani, the formation of the Queen's Trust (1909), the Insanity Trials by Prince Kuhio against Queen Lili`uokalani (1915), the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (1921), and the Waikiki Reclamation Act (1921). My kupuna wrote about all of these laws, and I reflect on his words as I extend the private property continuum to today.
Our Hawaiian history is written without any critical analysis and not very much insight from the actual participants of politics during the Territorial era. Curtis P. Iaukea's first-person accounting of politics is important so that we, as Hawaiians, can understand who we are today based on who we were then. As Hawaiians we look to the past to guide us in the present. His words show Hawaiian political agency: in other words, Hawaiians of that era knew how to use the courts and they participated in governance, even as the U.S. occupation in Hawai‘i was taking hold in the form of the Territorial Government. The landscape agendas of the Territorial Government transitioned Hawaiian Kingdom nationals into Territorial citizens. My great-great-grandfather’s viewpoint comes from inside these events as they unfolded, so his perspective is very significant.
Photo: Another image of Curtis P. Iaukea.
I am also a surfer and I want to keep our surf and communities protected from the massive growth that envelops most of O‘ahu. The environmental groups I participate in promote slow growth. I'm currently involved with George Downing's Save Our Surf and Mark Cunningham's Keep the Country Country initiatives. We are questioning the proposed addition of seven hotels at Turtle Bay, which could devastate the North Shore from a community standpoint because the infrastructure barely supports the growth happening there now. Save Our Surf has been around for decades and is the first environmental group by surfers to stop massive development that would affect our community and surf access. I help in whatever capacities I am needed.
I have taught twenty-two courses at UH Mānoa in the Political Science Department. I want to continue teaching in the UH system but have been applying elsewhere as well. I am currently applying for assistant professor positions for the 2009–2010 school year.
I will be serving as a doctoral student marshal at my graduation ceremony on December 20. This is significant because there are only two of us chosen from the Ph.D. graduates to lead our class into graduation. This is especially significant for me because I come from a single-parent family that struggled. This honor represents years of hard work and dedication, not only by me, but by my mother and sister.
The best part about finishing my Ph.D. is this postdoctoral fellowship with The Kohala Center. They have been extremely supportive and positive. Mahalo!
The Living World of Mala‘ai Garden
By Linda Copman
Photos by Patti Cook
(Note: The students in these photos are current sixth and seventh grade students at Waimea Middle School.) 
Photo: Carting away compost.
The hands-on learning that takes place in the garden adds meaning to daily life. This kind of learning embodies ‘Ma ka hana ka ‘ike,’ or, ‘By doing, one learns.’ My hope is that exposing students to the living world of the garden will educate their senses, enhancing their whole lives with an ability to recognize what is beautiful and delicious and enticing about the living world, and thus empower them to care for it. —Amanda Rieux, Program Coordinator and Garden Teacher at Mala‘ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School (WMS)
Mala‘ai consists of just over three-quarters of an acre of land, with about half of this area under cultivation. During the first quarter of the 2008—09 school year over fifty WMS classes came to the garden, and 140 individual students participated in these garden classes. All sixth grade classes visit the garden biweekly throughout the school year and an eighth grade elective class visits the garden on a weekly basis. The seventh and eighth grade health classes also visit the garden to learn more about food production, sustainable food choices, and simple healthy meal preparation. Amanda Rieux, the full-time program coordinator for the garden, is assisted by a part-time assistant plus a group of five dedicated community volunteers. Current volunteers include college students, retirees, and school parents.
In the summer much of the garden is planted in cover crops, such as sun hemp and buckwheat, sunflowers, and mixed flowers. These cover crops retain and enrich the soil over the summer when the garden is not being cultivated. These plants add nutrients back into the soil, their roots open the soil to the air and also hold the soil in place, as well as produce plant material for compost.
Photo: Students sorting sunflowers.
Earlier this fall WMS students harvested popcorn, wheat, and sunflowers which were planted at the end of the spring semester. Sunflowers, wheat, and popcorn were selected for Mala‘ai because they provide beauty, bring birds to the garden, provide food for us (as well as the birds), and generate a great deal of organic matter to compost to enrich the soil. With big companies taking over and patenting the growing of seeds, and with more GMOs (genetically modified organisms), Mala‘ai staff want to pass on to students and the community seeds which are organically grown and free of charge, as available.
Photo: Saving sunflower seeds.
The harvest is either eaten by the students or the seeds are collected and shared. WMS students have shared their free sunflower seeds at the First Saturday Farmer’s Market and at local garden events. The seeds can either be eaten or replanted by folks who want to plant their own gardens. Many students are also taking home seeds to start gardens of their own. The popcorn is enjoyed by the students at the end of garden class, so that students have the pleasure of sampling the fruits of their hard work. Just one-half cup of popcorn seed has produced more than two quarts of corn to pop and as much to replant.
Photo: Saving popcorn seeds.
Just before Thanksgiving WMS students harvested pumpkins, taro, Romanesco broccoli, tea, and culinary herbs. After the harvest students made salads and such in the garden. Foods which require cooking were also prepared by the students, with adult help, in the home economics room at WMS. Mala‘ai staff hope to build their own kitchen in the garden someday. Any extra produce is shared with students to take home and prepare with their families, with the result that the students sometimes introduce new foods into their households.
Photo: Students making pesto from freshly harvested basil.
Recently, piles of dirt that were left over from a construction project on campus have been added to the perimeter of the garden. These mounds help to define the edges of the Mala‘ai site and they are being shaped and planted to create effective windbreaks for the cultivated garden beds.
The Mala‘ai fruit orchard is becoming established, with trees beginning to produce citrus, avocado, loquats, persimmons, apples, mulberries, mountain apples, and guavas. Once these trees bear fruit, students will enjoy the harvest. The orchard is still very young, however, and it will be years before there is a significant harvest. Students did enjoy their first loquats and mulberries this fall.
Mala‘ai is also serving as a springboard for integrating cultural learning and health and wellness into the WMS curriculum. Garden teacher Amanda Rieux recently presented a talk on “Using Culture to Bring Relevance to Learning” at the Slow Food Nation Conference in September 2008. In 2009 Mala‘ai staff hope to collaborate with The Kohala Center and Kaiser Permanente on a study to examine how school gardens can help to address childhood health issues such as obesity and diabetes. Mala‘ai Garden is transforming the lives of our young people by introducing them to the benefits of eating healthy, home-grown foods.
Photo: Students learn to make stone-ground flour.
Mala‘ai Garden is important to WMS students. Here’s why, in their own words:
It is important to me because it teaches me good working together skills. It helps me to do work. It lets me to go outside and observe. —Jerome, 6th grader
I think the garden is fun, it helps us to go outside and keeps us working. It's the one class period that helps us to learn new things. Plus it is a nice quiet place. —Ron, 7th grader
One reason the garden is important to me because the garden grows food and I have to take care and help. Another reason the garden is important is because we can go outside more. —Kaweni, 6th grader
The garden is important to me because it is a calm environment. It is a place I can think about things. It is also fun. I like to work there. —Barney, 7th grader
Support Mala‘ai
By Patti Cook
Photo: Chef Kevin Cabrera and WMS students turn flour into pizza dough. Photo by Patti Cook.
Mala‘ai operates on a modest budget with one part-time and two full-time employees in addition to volunteers who serve more than 200 WMS students as part of their regular school day. Here's how you can keep them going:
Funding comes to Mala‘ai—a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization—through foundation grants as well as individual and corporate donations. Its annual Art and Sol fundraiser has already become an anticipated community event. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
The Mala‘ai wish list includes both services and goods. If you can provide any of the following, please contact them at the address below.
Services: Garden volunteers and mentors, garden interns, housing for interns, earth moving and irrigation expertise, audio-visual production assistance, public awareness coordination and news writing, mapping of the garden, mowing of the garden, and grant writing.
Tools and infrastructure: wheelbarrows, rolls of shade cloth, garden adjustable sprinklers, drinking fountain fittings, kiawe posts, metal fence posts, and hog wire.
For more information, contact Mala‘ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School at P.O. Box 6954, Kamuela, Hawai‘i 96743, or by phone at 808-885-9206.
