The Kohala Center - Leaflet - Visit to Waipi'o

: March 2004

Visit to Waipi'o: Building a Foundation in the Mud
By Linda Copman

Click here to view all photos of the Cornell students' Waipi'o visit.

When you see Waipi'o for the first time, or even if you have seen the Valley a thousand times, it never fails to take your breath away. This is the "Valley of the Kings," the place where the Kingdom and a large population of Native Hawaiians resided prior to Western contact. The Valley is once again filled with water, as some of the flows that had been diverted to irrigate sugar cane plantations to the south have gradually been restored to nourish the valley floor. Some of the water is still diverted to Hamakua agribusinesses, but there is noticeably more water here now than there has been in the recent past.

I am here with The Kohala Center and a group of eight undergraduate students from Cornell University and their professor, Dr. Alexandra (Alex) Moore. The Cornell students are spending a semester in Hawai'i, where they can see, touch, smell, feel, and experience the dramatic landscape of the Island and the incredible earth forces which interact here on a daily basis. The Kohala Center (TKC) is the host academic institution. TKC recognizes Hawai'i Island as a living classroom for scholars and students from around the world. The Center welcomes and assists research and teaching programs that embrace Hawai'i's living communities and cultures in their pursuit of academic excellence. TKC hosts programs in the fields of environmental studies, ocean sciences, alternative energy, and global medicine.

The Cornell program is TKC's first venture into semester-long learning experiences, where traditional science instruction is being combined with an introduction to the spiritual and cultural landscape of Hawai'i in the format of a unique new class: "Contested Terrain." This class is co-taught by TKC Executive Director, Dr. Matthews Hamabata (himself a Cornell alumnus) and by Hawaiian cultural scholar, Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, of the University of Hawai'i. The students are being introduced to local history, local culture, local places, and Hawaiian spiritual beliefs. Aunty Noe Noe, as the students now respectfully address their new teacher, has led the students on a series of field expeditions, which incorporate service with learning. The students have visited the Makali'i sailing canoe, the historic Kohala district, and now Waipi'o Valley, where they have been invited to work in a taro lo'i at the back of the Valley.

We start the day with a chant led by Aunty Noe Noe, and a brief introduction to the history of Waipi'o by our host, Kai'ena Bishaw. Kai'ena is a young man who is working on his Hawaiian Life Styles Associate of Applied Science degree in Mahi'ai (taro farming). Kai'ena reminds us that "everything is living, everything is spiritual." Even the alien species which now inhabit the Valley floor are part of the wealth of this place. The Hawaiian word for wealth, "waiwai," comes from "wai," or water. Water is the source of life, and water nourishes the taro which grows in the Valley. Taro, according to Hawaiian mythology, is the "older brother," and the Hawaiian people are the descendents of the taro. Kai'ena pauses, looks around at the group, and says, "This is kind of deep. It took me a while to understand it…"

We are then told to leave all the "bad stuff," i.e. the worries about work and the town thoughts, behind. We walk down, down, down the winding road that leads to the Valley floor, and we cannot help but become light and carefree. Who can think about anything else when confronted with such astounding scenery? Dr. Betsy Cole, Deputy Director of The Kohala Center, tells me of how she landed here 25 years ago, and ended up opening a gas station in Ka'u. She describes how beautiful her home in Wai'ohinu was: "that land was one of the few things in my life I have ever been truly passionate about." And that is how this Island affects us: it is a life-changing experience, and one which lingers in the mind for decades. As Mark Twain wrote: "No alien land in all the world has any deep strong charm for me but that one, no other land could so longingly and so beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and walking, through half a lifetime, as that one has done. Other things leave me, but it abides; other things change, but it remains the same. For me its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surfbeat is in my ear, I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore, its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud wrack; I can feel the spirit of its woodland solitudes, I can hear the splash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago."

We have now descended into one of the loveliest spots on earth: Waipi'o Valley. We board the back of the truck, and a few adventurous students ride on the roof of our 4WD, surfer-like. We pass wild ponies ambling among ramshackle shacks, we ford streams, we smell the rotten sweetness of jungle overtaking abandoned cars and other vestiges of the modern world. Back, back, back we go, followed all the time by some unknown poi dog, who faithfully tags us till he cannot go on. And still we drive. And then, at last, we have arrived. Before us is a collection of half indoor/half outdoor farm dwellings. The kitchen is outside, and pots are hanging from the roof of the lanai. The picnic table is laden with ripe fruits of every variety: papayas, mountain apples, bananas, lychees. The refrigerator is a cooler restocked with ice by visitors and friends. We are greeted by the farmers who live here; apparently the same family has worked this land for generations. The place has that uniquely Hawaiian feel: the paths between the loi are well worn, and everything which can be recycled has been. Everything which cannot be recycled is strewn around the outskirts of the encampment in odd clumps: drums of used motor oil, piles of treadless tires, plastic forks.

We are invited on a short tour. The buildings are surrounded by lo'i. The lo'i are tended by different farmers, who act as custodians of their patches, and are responsible for sustaining the health of that particular patch during their tenure. Kai'ena plans to study Tropical Agriculture at the University of Hawai'i, and he is experimenting with different techniques for growing taro. Instead of the traditional rice-paddy style lo'i, he will construct "pu'e pu'e" or small mounds in his patch. His theory is that nutrients from the fertilizers he applies to the pu'e will not leach away as badly as they do in the flat paddy-style lo'i. He will apply modern scientific methodology to study the differences in yields, pound for pound, between his patch and the neighboring flat patch. This is a long-term project, and Kai'ena will devote the next several years of his life to testing the results of his theories. He tells the group, "It may not look like much now, but give me a few months."

We are invited to harvest some taro from a neighboring patch, that we can cook and sample later in the day. Taro does not come from a seed; instead, new plants come from "huli" or cuttings from existing plants. We are told to treat the plants as if they are people, because, to the Hawaiians, they are people: even more than people - family. "Don't squeeze their necks," we are reminded. Most of the group descends gingerly into the mud. They step firmly all around the roots of the plant they wish to pluck, in order to separate the roots from the ground. Women with their monthly period are asked to not enter the lo'i, in respect for a long-standing Hawaiian kapu. These women can be useful in other ways, to clean the roots of the plants, to separate the leaves (lu'au) from the stalks (haha), and to separate the keiki (oha) from the mother plants. Nothing is wasted. All cuttings will be replanted in another patch elsewhere on the property. After we have gathered enough taro for our midday meal, about one bucketful, we move to an uncultivated patch, where we will help to prepare the mud for planting. Standing together in a long row, elbows linked, we move first to the left and then back to the right, chanting and squelching in the mud.

Aunty Noe Noe joins me on the bank. We talk about how this program is a new way of teaching science. She says that the students are experiencing things that will "awaken their own ancestral knowledge." By becoming involved in an environment that is foreign to them, by smelling it, feeling it, and touching it - they are using all their senses to experience Hawaii. They are gaining an appreciation for how difficult it was for Hawaiians to live in this environment, and for how successful they were at sustaining a large population here. It is hard work preparing the mud for planting taro, and the students are definitely learning what a labor-intensive process taro production is. Aunty Noe Noe says, "they are getting a foundation in the mud that they will remember their whole lives."

Melissa Duhaime, a Cornell senior majoring in Microbiology, chimes in, "On Kauai, we were invited to chew on the dirt, to really feel it. After 21 years of living in New York, Hawai'i has been a big reality shift. It took me five weeks to adjust. At first I felt out of control. I was used to reading textbooks for 4-5 hours a day, and it felt like here I wasn't learning. Now I realize that I am taking in things every second. I am learning when I'm talking, walking, and sitting, not just when I'm studying. I know I have already learned more here than at home. When my aunt visited last week, I took her on a tour of the island. As I told her all about the different volcanoes, I was really impressed just to listen to myself talk." When I asked Melissa what her favorite thing about the program is, she replied, "all the time outside, no walls, and not having to wear shoes." When she hears Melissa's answer, Melissa's professor reminds her how all that time outside had really bothered her at first.

Professor Alex Moore says that the first thing she tells the Cornell students who are interested in studying in Hawai'i is a statement she heard from a ranger at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. The ranger said, "In ancient Hawai'i the misuse of natural resources was an offense which was punished by death." According to Alex, this statement is shocking enough to refocus the students' attention from the little things that often occupy all our attention to the bigger things that she really wants them to understand. "Ancient island dwellers knew that you either lived sustainably or you didn't live. To really understand something, you need to construct the foundation for learning yourself. This is totally unlike sitting in a lecture listening so that you can pass the test." The Cornell program marries field-based experiential learning with Hawaiian cultural practices and understanding. No longer is science something that is disembodied from reality. In this program there is a balance between culture and science, and it is this balance that makes the knowledge "stick" for the students.

Alex describes the Cornell program as follows, "Hawai'i is the best place in the world to examine interactions among the various parts of the Earth system - ocean, atmosphere, biosphere and solid earth - and to consider the relationships between human communities and these systems. Our students have spent much of their first month in the Islands learning about native Hawaiian ecosystems, and how special and fragile they are. On a visit to Kaua'i we worked with the Koke'e Resource Conservation Program removing invasive weeds from the forest in Koke'e State Park. On Maui we experienced the unique high-altitude plant communities found in Haleakala National Park. Here on the Big Island we have documented the colonization of new lava flows by pioneer plant species, and on a visit to the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden we learned about the traditional uses of native Hawaiian plants, as well as the current conservation efforts directed toward saving some of Hawai'i's most endangered species. Where else can one view plants such as Ma'o hau hele, a native hibiscus, whose wild population has been reduced to just two individual plants? Throughout these experiences we have been walking along the line between despair and empowerment. So much has already been
lost, and so many organisms are now on the brink of extinction. Yet we have met so many people devoted to saving what remains. Working alongside these people - seeing how individuals can and do have a positive impact on the world around them - are lessons in empowerment that will stay with us long after we have left the Islands."

The kind of intense experiences that the Cornell students have in Hawai'i is what The Kohala Center is all about. According to Matt Hamabata, TKC Executive Director, "science and culture can be integrated through educational programs such as the Cornell program, and young scientists can come to appreciate the importance of culture and community in their work. This strategy could shape the future of how science is conducted."

Just by coming here, the Cornell students have added new dimensions to their learning. As they spend time here, they develop an appreciation for the environment and for the culture of Hawai'i. For Hawaiians the spiritual world is not separate from the physical world. Hawaiians are deeply connected to the "'aina," the land which bore them, and they have a responsibility to this land. "We're not just going to blow away, says Aunty Noe Noe. "We are a distinct people with our own culture and history." Aunty Noe Noe was one of the founding members of The Kohala Center. As she gets up to go eat lunch, she reminds us, "This is the whole purpose of The Kohala Center, to help students understand their responsibility to the environment and to culture, so that we can replenish this Island resource."

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The Kohala Center
P.O. Box 437462
Kamuela, Hawaii USA 96743
Phone: 808 887-6411, Fax: 808 885-6707
Email: info@kohalacenter.org