KaHua HoAMa at Waipunalau, Paʻauilo, Hāmākua

ka hua: nvi. Fruit, tuber, egg, produce, yield, ovum, seed, grain, offspring. hōʻama: to begin to ripen. Fig., adolescents beginning to mature.
kahua: Foundation, base, site, location, ground, background, platform, as of a house; hoʻo.kahua To lay a foundation, establish.

KaHua HoAMa is a 5 acre ʻāina restoration and farm site located in the ʻili ʻāina of Waipunalau, in the ahupuaʻa of Paʻauilo, Hāmākua. The primary purpose of huiMAU's work at KaHua HoAMa is to create a safe community space for our youth and ʻohana to gather and learn together by cultivating healthy, organic, local food through mālama ʻāina (sustainable Hawaiian land stewardship practices), so as to rebuild strong community relationships across multiple generations,  and reestablish food sovereignty in the ahupuaʻa of Paʻauilo and moku of Hāmākua. KaHua HoAMa serves as both a kahua (central foundation) for our HoAMa programs, and a space for the youth of our HoAMa programs and throughout our community to grow in, as “hua hōʻama” (ripening fruit), maturing with mentorship and hands-on experience of mālama ʻāina.

Hoʻoulu ʻAi - Video by Anianikū Chong. Narrated by Kodie Solis-Kalani and Uakoko Chong

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HoAMa Youth Mentorship Programs @ KaHua

Since 2017, huiMAU has led the way in Hāmākua Hikina by successfully restoring five acres of former eucalyptus forestry land in Paʻauilo to food-bearing ʻāina again—planting ʻulu, kukui, kalo, ʻuala, ipu, kō, and maiʻa. This ʻāina restoration in Paʻauilo was driven by our HoAMa After School Mentorship Program and our HoAMa Youth Summer Program. As a kahua (foundation) of our HoAMa programs, KaHua serves as a space for our keiki to develop healthy, reciprocal pilina (relationships) with our ʻāina. "He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kānaka" (The ʻāina is chief. People are her stewards). "Mālama this ʻāina, and this ʻāina will mālama you." These are ancestral teachings that are becoming increasingly important for our keiki to learn and embody in our community today and in the future. Ola ka ʻāina. Ola ke kanaka.

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ʻĀina Education @ KaHua
for community members and schools

At KaHua HoAMa, huiMAU strives to create and hold an intergenerational community space for the cultivation ‘ai pono (healthy, organic, local food) and mālama ‘āina (sustainable land stewardship practices), so as to build strong community relationships, increase community resilience, and reestablish food sovereignty in the ahupua‘a of Pa‘auilo and moku of Hāmākua. Since 2017, we have hosted over 1000 community members at KaHua from schools and organizations around Hawaiʻi Island and across the Pae ʻĀina. 

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Mahiʻai @ KaHua
soil, food, and nation cultivation

Mahiʻai as a practice, was an everyday part of life for our kūpuna in Hāmākua. Mahiʻai, as individuals, were valued as cultivators of abundance in our ʻohana and communities. We see mahiʻai--local, regenerative agriculture and community-based stewardship of ʻāina--as the foundation of our future communities and economies in Hāmākua and Hawaiʻi. As global climate change signals the eminent and necessary end of the fossil fuel age, we understand the importance of taking bold measures to rebirth our local economies of sustenance, rooted in the values and practices of aloha ʻāina. Accordingly, we see KaHua HoAMa as a site for the regeneration of these mahiʻai practices and local economies in Paʻauilo.

Our primary goal here is to grow aloha ʻāina. Part of that process is growing ʻai (food) that feeds our bodies, minds, and naʻau. Accordingly, at KaHua we grow many of our ancestral crops including ʻulu, kalo, ʻuala, maiʻa, and ipu in a regenerative system that incorporates other indigenous and endemic plant species to improve the overall health of the ʻāina and our community.

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KaHua HoAMa's caretakers: Kodie Solis-Kalani (center), Lucon Route (right), and Tim Garren (left). Photo by Anianikū Chong, 2022.