Community Workday
On Saturday, April 29th; the E Ala Voyaging Academy held its first community workday in many years.
In collaboration with Mana Mele, Kamaile Academy, and the Waiʻanae community; students, parents, educators, and families collaborated to clean and organize the hālau waʻa. We started with protocol at 8:30 am, then students opened the gates of the hālau. At this moment we felt the aloha E Ala waʻa had to offer for the community and the aloha the community had to offer back to E Ala. Thus, we began with hoʻolauna. Each participant introduced themselves and who they were bringing into this space. After hoʻolauna, Captain Kaina Holomalia gave a tour of E Ala and its many parts. This was an opportunity to provide updates on our progress with restoration and learn the importance of each part. After this, Isaiah Pule gave a plan of action for our workday. Our goal was to organize and clean the hālau for a fresh restart in the restoration of the program and waʻa. Another goal we had was to share aloha with members of the community and provide an opportunity for everyone to take part in this journey. At the end of the event, our hearts and ʻōpū were full. We had the opportunity to share stories of E Ala from past experiences, aloha for the community, and celebrate the amazing work we did. We are ready for the next community workday and continue to host events at the hālau for years to come! Holomua kākou.
Special Mahalo to:
- Mana Mele crew for capturing this day on video and engaging students as equipment operators.
- Waiʻanae community members for sharing your aloha and lima for this workday.
- Kaahaaina Cafe for making our ʻono ʻaina awakea
- Kamaile Academy for providing breakfast items and cleaning tools.
- E Ala Voyaging Academy members for organizing this event.
Student reflections:
S.T.
This past Saturday we went to our community workday. That day our task was to clean and refreshen the hālau, with help from the community. We had to remove old things, sweep and organize. We also talked about E Ala and the different types of materials we use to modify and build E Ala That whole day I felt that we accomplished a lot, the people from the community were there, and everyone was showing aloha. I was there to help rebuild our community, canoe, and building. I felt excited because I got to be a part of the rebuilding of our community.
H.L.
Last Saturday we went to our community workday. On that day we brought people to help us and chatted to respect the place and learn something new from our kumu and cleaning the hālau to rebuild E Ala, and start to rebuild the canoe to bring everybody together to sail the canoe from place to place just like our elders did and show why it's important to rebuild E Ala to bring everyone together again.
J.T.
last week Saturday we went to the community workday and we learned about different parts of the canoe and what they were called this is important because if you were on a canoe and something bad happen you need to know what you're doing in order for you to not get hurt. This event was special for me to be at because it helps our community to build relationships with each other and the ocean.
M.L. The past Saturday our club went to the Community Workday at 8:00am. The first thing was to oli by the hālalu and we started to open the gate of the hālau then we started going. Kumu Kaina was telling us to Introduce ourselves and where we're from and who we like to bring anyone to the Hālau in spirit. Then we started to Clean and Organize the Hālau wa'a. We started eating Lunch and talked story even Make a singing Video with mana mele. We were meeting everybody and gave our aloha to each other.