Kamokuna

Kamokuna kalo field

Bridge crossing at Laehala

The Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation East Hawai‘i Sites are located in the Honohononui Ahupua‘a in the Hilo District on the island of Hawai‘i on lands belonging to Ke Ali‘i, Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Our projects are concerned with mālama ‘āina and mālama kai. Here at our sites we are demonstrating this process by turning land, which once lay to waste due to years of abuse and neglect and making these lands productive once again. We follow the teachings of our ancestors that every creature has a role in the grand scheme. This we know through the Kumulipo, the ancient creation story. In the Kumulipo, every living thing is tied together, one is no more important than the other is, but all are necessary for each other’s survival and all are related. Here we mālama ‘āina and kai so that we can learn to live in balance with these things and our children and their children will be able to experience this same connection. Our hope is that by working these sites, our community will attain a better understanding of this connection, take this experience and apply it in their life.

Visitations at our sites are a hands on experience in which students will learn different aspects of Hawaiian culture and traditional practices. We use a traditional learning style in which you learn as you do so expect to get dirty, wet and tired. We have several sites, which we use to demonstrate many different traditional practices. We try to limit group size to 30 however special arrangements can be made with advance notice. To request visitation to any one of these sites, please fill out the Site Usage Request Form.

Site Usage Request Form (Acrobat PDF file ~31k)
and fax to (808) 961-4789 Attn: Leina‘ala Thornton.

fill out the application online.