Nānā I Ke Kumu-Papa ʻElimaʻs Huakaʻi to Hilo Hanakahi

Papa ʻElima went on a huakaʻi to Hilo Hanakahi on Friday!  In our quest to learn more about the Wahi Pana of Hilo, we enlisted the kōkua of Poʻo Kumu Lehua Veincent. Kumu Lehua graciously agree to share his manaʻo of Keaukaha with the haumāna, which is located in Hilo Hanakahi.

We learned that it was named after Chief Hanakahi who was caring and generous to his people. His generosity was well documented and remnants of this we can still see are the numerous fishponds that he made to sustain his people, even in times of famine. In a contrasting way, this reminds me of the picture book “One Grain of Rice” by Demi…except the Raja was totally opposite of Chief Hanakahi. The Raja was greedy and made his people suffer during time of famine, until he saw the err of his ways. I know that Kumu Lehua comes to mind too. He too, like Hanakahi is generous and caring for his people (high schoolers) and to the whole community (all the students of KSH). He took time out of his uber busy schedule to help US “feed” our minds!
Did you know that “puhi” means to blow and Puhi Bay was the site of a natural blow hole, but it was unfortunately covered over by a building decades ago. We also learned about legends of the area…”Ka Wahine Heʻe o Puhi” in particular, about a lonely heʻe woman who snatched a little boy to be her companion in the sea. We learned that the community of Keaukaha banded together to rescue the boy. A trait of the people of Keaukaha till today…unity. We learned an ʻoli composed by Kumu about the wahi pana, all about Pali Kai (the break wall) being built on Blondeʻs reef, about Kamehameha II & Kamamalu,   and much, much more! We even learned about the hukilau and not to set your nets where the hīhīmanu (stingrays) play, that a honu demigod protects the area of Keonekahakaha.  All of this in just 3 hours.  Mahalo Kumu Lehua for making our huakaʻi a great learning experience AND one for the memory books!
Haumāna: This is your opportunity to “Make your Ohanaʻs Day” by sharing all the learning! Remember the blog post “Fine, Boring, IDK?”  Go on…share!  As you watch the video of our huakaʻi…please take out a piece of paper and answer the questions along the way. This could help as an outline of what to share with your ohana…AND turn it in to me on Tues., Mar. 5 as a graded assignment 🙂  Have fun sharing with your ohana! 🙂