hoʻoulu - to cause to grow, as seeds planted; to sprout; to increase in size, as fruit

 

The Hoʻoulu ʻĀina Community Project (HACP) was created  to strategically address the needs of the Keaukaha and Panaʻewa farming community.  Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Farmers Association (KPFA) is comprised of Native Hawaiians who hold leases to designated agricultural lands in the Keaukaha and Panaʻewa areas in South Hilo of Hawaiʻi Island.  

​

Justine Kamelamela, project lead with project assistant, Makaʻala Rawlins developed the project plan, recruited partners to engage as workshop and event presenters, and implemented the project for years, 2019 - 2020, and again in 2020 - 2021.

​

                                               A series of outreach, engagements, and workshops produced in its first year that included community

                                               engagements of kūpuna (elders), traditional Hawaiian medicinal plants and uses, and customary farming

                                               practices of Hawaiian ancestral crops.,

​

• Aloha Panaʻewa – A series of community engagements with our kūpuna as they share their stories of life when they first moved to Panaʻewa, the history of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that created these homesteads, and the songs to honor this homestead history.  Documentary videos were created and cataloged to KPFAʻs Library.  [ more ]

​

• Mālama Mahiʻai – A series of instructional demonstration and hands-on workshops - composting, grafting, Hawaiian medicinal plants, Hawaiian lunar calendar, 

The successful implementation of Hoʻoulu ʻĀina Community Project in itsʻ first year earned KPFA, lead by Kamelamela, an invitation to continue the project for a second year.  In this second year, HACP continues to encourage Native Hawaiian homesteaders in Keaukaha and Panaʻewa to actively farm for the cultural, economic, health, and self-sufficiency benefits that farming provides for individuals and families. Additionally, HACP documented oral histories and farming practices of Hawaiian homesteaders.

The Ho’oulu ‘Aina Community Project was sponsored by the Pawanka Fund, an Indigenous Ways of Learning and Knowing Fund.  It is a Indigenous-led grant-making effort supporting indigenous initiatives engaged in promoting and protecting traditional knowledge, well-being, rights and self-determined development.  

 

Kamelamela is KPFAʻs Farners Market Manager and Agriculture Committee Chair.   This project was KPFA supported. 
 

 

Mahalo to our generous Project Sponsor

Pawanka Fund [ learn more ]

​

and our Project Partners

​

Nalu Borges

Kanani Frazier

ko Molokaʻi

Hui Mālama Ola Nā ʻŌiwi

JB Friday

Kiersten Akahoshi

Michael Pierron

 Uncle Pat Kahawaiolaa

Makaʻala Rawlins

Tūtū Ann Nathaniel

​

​