In October of 2022, nine parents (makua) and seven children (keiki) from four Hawaiian islands participated in the first Mahi’ai Camp on Moloka’i. Participants learned about traditional food sustainability practices, including planting kalo (taro) and working to restore a traditional Hawaiian fish pond (loko i’a).
Over a period of five days, individuals became like family (‘ohana), working together, creating art together, and living together, learning from the stories of the past to prepare for the future.
Hanohano Na’ehu provides us with a summary of the purpose of the camp, “We’ve got to be the best guides for the next generations and this camp was such an awesome opportunity for us to share with these keiki and these makua. . . what we do as a lifestyle. How we live. Just like this kalo, we hope that what we planted, with a little bit of care, will turn out to be productive, fruitful examples of what happen when ‘aina and keiki get put together.”
The full story of this gathering is shared in this video created by videographer Kahale Na’ehu-Ramos. We invite you to learn more by watching and listening.
Mahalo.
