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hookuaaina

@hookuaaina

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We are a community organization using lo‘i kalo to cultivate a culture of individual well-being & community waiwai through aloha ‘āina.

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📣 CALLING ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN O'AHU & BIG ISLAND! 📣

Apply for one of Project Hōkūlani's STEM internships happening next Spring/Summer 2027 & Earn $500!
➡️ go.hawaii.edu/q7R

We have over 15+ internships for students to choose from:
@universityofhawaii Computer Lab
@noaa
@hawaiikeikimuseum
@camp_palehua
@stargazersofhawaii
@susiesduck
@kaizen_fitness_hawaii
@livablehawaiikaihui
@geminitelescope
@kauluakalana
@girlscoutshi
@pacflt_sub_museum
@olelocommunity
@hookuaaina

APPLY BY DECEMBER 1 ➡️ go.hawaii.edu/q7R

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Thank you so much to Hoʻokuaʻāina, and Hawaii Technology Development Corporation’s Ocean Innovation Hui for presenting to the ORMP working group! Comprehensive planning was a central theme throughout both discussions, spanning from non-profit restoration work to the advancement of Hawaii's Ocean technology sector. The working group is excited to see both projects develop!

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Connections to food are our foundations of health and wellbeing. Join us for a sensory experience where Hawaiʻi chefs share simple ways to create healthy and culturally crafted dishes!

Registration closes today, for more information see the link in bio!

#aiaola2026

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acting my age (28)

acting my age (3)

acting my age (16)
(thank you ki’i for the car)

acting my age (14)

acting my age (17)

acting my age (dead)

acting my age (closer to 31 than 21)

acting my age (15)

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acting my age (8)

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✨🌱 YIREH COMMUNITY DAY 🌱✨

I love Yireh and loved that they put together these amazing events! It was such a fun and wholesome morning that my friends and I really enjoyed! 🫶✨

Back in March, my friends and I joined @yireh_ Community Day! Each ticket came with their cute tote filled with so many amazing local goodies and morning refreshments, plus all the ticket sales were donated to the @hookuaaina non-profit organization!

Yireh just announced their next Community Day at @kakoooiwiorg on October 10! Tickets are now on sale through their website!

Follow @eatsbyren for more 💗

#hawaii #communityday #yireh #loi #eatsbyren

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Our Hensel Phelps ʻohana (family) recently spent the morning with @hookuaaina in Maunawili, helping care for a traditional loʻi kalo (taro patch) while learning more about the connection between land, culture and community.

From clearing weeds to preparing the mud for planting kalo, volunteers had the opportunity to experience caring for the land while learning about Hawaiian culture.
Mahalo to Hoʻokuaʻāina for welcoming us and sharing your knowledge—and to everyone who came out to get a little muddy and give back to the land.

#HenselPhelps #Sustainability #Community

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Hoʻokuaʻāina means “backbone of the land” — a name given to this Maunawili loʻi by Kumu Earl Kawaʻa, for the people who keep a place alive by actively living its culture. A single loʻi can hold generations of the same taro line, replanted from its own huli season after season, never needing new seed stock. At Hoʻokuaʻāina in Kailua, that patient, unbroken cycle continues. Community workdays bring volunteers of all ages into the mud alongside the kalo — traditional cultivation isn’t taught here so much as lived, one planting at a time. ʻImi Ola — to seek life, to pursue vitality. Here, it looks like a pond full of people, young and old, moving through the same water the kalo grows in.

#theomaomao #hookuaaina #loi #kalo #imiola alohaaina kailua oahu

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There is so much about being in the loʻi that feels like grief. 🌱

🤎 The mud is messy. The weeds can feel endless. Sometimes you don’t know where to begin. The more you pull, the more you realize there is still more beneath the surface.

And yet… you keep going.

You get your hands dirty. You lean in. You learn to tell the weeds from what needs tending. You realize you can’t always do it alone—and that being surrounded by people who understand makes the hard work feel a little lighter.

Someone shared, “The kalo wouldn’t be seen” without clearing away what had grown around it. Another reminded us that grief is about growing alongside different “keiki”—different parts of ourselves, our families, and our grief that all need tending in their own way.

The loʻi reminded us that grief work can be messy, tangled, deep-rooted, and sometimes overwhelming. But there can also be growth in the tending.

We are nature. And like the ʻāina, we need care, attention, patience, and community. 🌱🤎

So grateful for the lessons the loʻi continues to teach our Let Grace In ʻohana.
#letgracein #griefsupporthawaii #griefsupportforfamilies #kumuloi #loilessons

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A look back at the 2026 Kalo & ʻAwa Festival at Waimea Valley.

Rooted in ʻāina (land), ʻike (knowledge), and tradition, the festival honored the cultural significance of kalo and ʻawa while celebrating the enduring relationship between people and place. As stewards of Waimea Valley, we hold a kuleana—to honor its mana, share ʻike, and mālama the practices that shape this living legacy. Mahalo to the kūpuna, cultural practitioners, and community members who joined us in perpetuating these traditions.

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Today was a special day filled with so much aloha for a very special lady, Lea Hong 💗

Lea has been a part of Trust For Public Land Hawaiʻi for 20 years. Building a legacy of the love and care for 'āina. Of course along with her hui, they were able to protect 'āina that connects Native Hawaiians and others to the Hawaiian culture and history. They strive to connect people to ʻāina and support their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Rather then big corporation building, why not save that slice of heaven! Aloha ʻāina.

This hits home for us 🙏🏾♥️

After Ed Olson passed away, things shifted for the farm and now it is in truly Hawaiian hands. We recently were able to secure with the kokua from @trustforpubliclandhawaii @hilandtrust and funders, 74 acres on the farm as a conservation easement. For perpetuity. Say that out loud again - FOR PERPETUITY ♾️. So many hearts and hands to thank.

Lea, we mahalo you always! For protecting as much 'āina as you have done for 2 decades across our pae 'āina. For your friendship. Being an inspiration to so many! And the great leadership you portrayed that got things done. We love and appreciate you, all our hearts! Ho'omaikaʻi on your retirement! Enjoy your next adventure. Wihayeo!

Last slide, 74 acres CE ♥️

#okfarms #keepingupwithokfarms #alohaaina #trustforpubliclandhawaii #mahalo

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spatial design at its best ⚡️🪐

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The wisest people I know are the ones who intimately know grief. Those who were given no choice but to carry the devastation of unimaginable loss, and somehow they walk through the world with integrity and love.

Last weekend, we brought our grief into the loi. The exact loi that spoke to me almost three years ago, and showed me that the life cycle of the kalo (taro) plant mirrors so much of what I believe it means to ‘grieve with compassion.’ I knew in my gut there would be a day I supported those grieving, right here.

I do not know what it is like to lose a child. I wish I said this out loud to the group. But I see my work of being a grief coach as a humbling opportunity to learn how to be a better witness, and a gentler presence to one of the worst losses in existence. It is not my place to be an expert of grief, it is my job to encourage mourning, and honor each person for the suffering they turned into grace.

For three hours, we pulled weeds and I listened to laughter and stories from these parents. Stories about their children, many just about life. Some tears, some big sighs of relief for simply being in the aina. We finished the day eating musubis and sharing: what it felt like to pay attention to their grief while weeding, what the loi mirrored about their grief journey, and what thoughts and memories arose about their children. Again, I was simply humbled, in awe and gratitude.

@letgracein thank you for trusting me with your hearts and generously letting me co-support.

@hookuaaina thank you for providing a slice of heaven, where we do the meaningful work of living with more pono and aloha. 🌈

Photos by @karnakurata

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