Submitted by Alyssa Stagnitti on the 2022 winter session program in Hawaii sponsored by the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration…
After meeting with a man named Paulo Feleafine during our first week of classes, he offered to meet us at his local church in Lahaina, where he gave us a brief lesson on Hawaiian history. Paulo is a native Hawaiian, and he explained to us the struggles that he and many other natives face about feeling disconnected from their culture. We have learned about how many natives cannot afford to live on Maui with a teacher’s salary, so many school teachers are white people from the Mainland. The combination of this, with inaccurate history textbooks that were written by people who are not native has caused many natives to not be fully aware of, or feel fully connected to their culture. He explained that with the percentage of Hawaiian speakers declining, and the influx of tourism to Maui, it feels as though the culture is disappearing. He explained that this is why educating people on Hawaiian history and culture is one of his passions. He also reminded us that if the culture is not kept alive, Hawaii will lose its magic, becoming just another tourist destination. I found our time with Paulo to be extremely eye opening as he was so knowledgeable about his culture and history. If I were to put myself in his shoes, I believe I would feel a sense of resentment towards tourists, as tourism has been known to cause so many issues to the Hawaiian way of life. For this reason, I was especially thankful that Paulo took the time to meet with our group not just once, but twice, to teach us all that he did.
Another highlight of our first week was having the opportunity to take a tour of the Hua Momona Farm, and speak with John Taube, who is the head chef at a restaurant called Waicoco, here in Maui. Hua Momona Farms specializes in growing micro sprouts that are sold to many local restaurants. John Taube shared with us his belief of the importance of farm-to-table dining, and expressed his gratitude to the farm for providing their produce to Waicoco. During the farm tour, we were able to go inside one of the greenhouses where the micro sprouts were being grown, as well as walk around the property outside. Some of the produce that was currently being harvested included carrots, kale, tomatoes, and bananas. There are just five people who run and manage all of the farming that takes place on roughly six acres of land, as well as manage all of their sales to the thirty five restaurants they work with.
One of the biggest challenges facing Maui that I have noticed after spending nearly a week here, is how hard the effects of the pandemic have hit. Unemployment and homelessness were unfortunately common all over the world due to COVID, but here in Maui where the cost of living is already extremely high, the effects were felt that much harder. Zach Laidlaw is a local chef on Maui, who also runs the Hua Momona Farm, explained to us that during the pandemic they had a surplus of produce because there were no longer any tourists coming to the island to eat at restaurants. Rather than throw all of this produce away, he explained that they would host food drives, and create boxes of food to drop off to people in need during the pandemic. Not only was the farm tour beautiful, it was also nice to see that they are giving back to community members in need.
