KIPU – ‘Imi Ola Institute of Native Hawaiian History & Culture held a ground-breaking ceremony Friday at the Institute’s project site. Several ‘Imi Ola board members and supporters turned out for the 3 p.m. event, while others were unable to
KIPU – ‘Imi Ola Institute of Native Hawaiian History & Culture held a
ground-breaking ceremony Friday at the Institute’s project site.
Several ‘Imi Ola board members and supporters turned out for the 3 p.m.
event, while others were unable to attend due to prior commitments.
“The ground breaking is preparation for cultivating dreams,” said ‘Imi
Ola President, Duane Albano.
“This project will give Hawaiians as a
people an opportunity for bettering their present and their future. I’m
excited that so many people are jumping on board and beginning to see what
it’s all about,” he said.
Preliminary site work is being undertaken by
contractor Raymond Itamura, who has been hired to construct three to four
acres of taro lo’i for the project.
‘Imi Ola plans to grow taro and
other traditional Native Hawaiian food, fiber, medicinal, and timber crops as
part of its educational goal of showing what life was like on Kauai in the
1830s. The Institute is leasing 40 acres from Grove Farm Co., not far from the
new Humane Society facility. In addition to its educational and cultural
preservation purposes, ‘Imi Ola was formed two years ago to help create jobs
for Native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians.
Itamura – whose mother is
Hawaiian – is being paid with funds provided by the USDA’s Natural Resource
Conservation Service. He is also donating some services because the grant
funds are insufficient to cover the full scope of work. Itamura said he isn’t
doing the job primarily for money, it’s mostly for “aloha.”
‘Imi Ola
is working at becoming self-supporting and plans to employ as many Hawaiians
as future income will allow.
The name, “‘Imi Ola,” was given to the
501(c)(3) non-profit entity by an 88-year-old kupuna, Auntie Sarah Kailikea,
who remembers visiting her grandmother in a grass house in Kipu.
“Because
you are using the growing of taro and other traditional livelihoods of the
past to provide a livelihood for Hawaiians today, ‘Imi Ola is a good name,”
Kailikea said.
Imi Ola means “seeking a livelihood,” she said.
The
Hawaiian name for the Institute’s educational farm project is “Ho’omau I Ka
Ike,” and was provided by Frances Frazier who translates the phrase as:
“perpetuating the knowledge.”
Current ‘Imi Ola board members include
Samson Mahuiki, Sr., (Hawaiian Farmers of Hanalei); Allan A. Smith (Grove Farm
Co.); Kamuela Aea (Native Hawaiian Community Based Learning and Education
Center, KCC); Mamo Cummings (Kauai Chamber of Commerce); Bernie Mahuiki
(Hawaiian Farmers of Hanalei); Obed Kipili’i (Jas. W. Glover, Inc.); and Duane
Albano (Kauai Fire Department).
Kupuna Oversight Council members
include: Mikala Kekahu; Llewella Zablan; and Donna Kirkpatrick. Native
Hawaiians and other community members serve as advisors and consultants.
Evelyn Cook is acting as interim executive director until a Hawaiian can
be named to fill the position. The major qualifications for the executive
director’s job are: a willingness to work long hours for no pay, a thorough
knowledge of guinea grass eradication techniques, and the ability to transform
a poorly funded non-profit into an economic powerhouse that will be able to
provide a large number of well paid jobs for Native Hawaiians. The positions
of executive director, farm supervisor, master canoe builder, and others, are
expected to be funded in the near future, thanks to the efforts of Wilcox
Hospital Foundation President Marion Penhallow who has agreed to assist ‘Imi
Ola with fund-raising tasks, following her retirement from the hospital at the
end of this month.
‘Imi Ola got its start through a one-year $20,000
Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, administered by the County of Kauai Housing Agency.
The project would never have gotten off the ground without the support of
Linda Collins, Calvin Shirai, Ian Emberson, David Walker, Christine
Fayé, and Aletha Kaohi of the West Kauai Business and Professional
Association; the assistance of Jo and Bernie at the County housing office; the
advice of Kauai Museum Director Carol Lovell, Limahuli Gardens’ Chipper and
Hau’oli Wichman, County Lifeguard Supervisor Kaleo Ho’okano, and Koke’e
Natural History Museum Director Marsha Erickson; the encouragement of Mayor
Maryanne Kusaka; the generosity of Grove Farm Company; and the prayers of too
many people to list.
