huiMAU’s Mālama ʻĀina Camp is a 4-day immersive overnight program, which seeks to mentor Hawaiʻi ʻōpio in Hawaiian culture-based values and practices of ʻohana, kuleana, and aloha ʻāina. This camp will deepen their understandings of mālama ʻāina through hands-on experiences in ahupuaʻa-based stewardship of ʻāina (land), wai (water), and kai (sea), and expose them to different career pathways in mālama ʻāina within our community. Participants will journey together into the Wao Kanaka (lowland forest), Kula (cultivated plains), and Kahakai (coastline) regions within the ahupuaʻa of Koholālele and Paʻauilo in Hāmākua Hikina. They will engage in a variety of activities on ʻāina including: moʻolelo (story telling), hana noʻeau (art), huakaʻi hele (walking hikes), mālama ʻāina (land restoration work), mahi ʻai (food cultivation), and imu (food preparation).

 

Our goal for our Mālama ʻĀina Camp is to help ʻōpio deepen their connections with ʻāina, recognize their unique gifts, and understand how their gifts can contribute to restoring abundance to our ʻāina and health to our communities, now and in the future.

 

Learning Outcomes:

• ʻŌpio will learn basic skills in Hawaiian agroforestry, including place-specific planting methods that utilize native plant materials as “green manure” for growing kalo, ʻulu, and maiʻa.

• ʻŌpio will learn to harvest and prepare various food crops and proteins that are raised in garden spaces at KaHua HoAMa and live along the shoreline at Koholālele to create a meal and healthy snacks for themselves and to share with their ʻohana.

• ʻŌpio will learn the traditional Hawaiian methods of food preperation: imu (underground oven), to prepare and provide food for their ʻohana and our Community Kitchen Food Distribution program, which services kūpuna and ʻohana in our Paʻauilo community each month.

Registration

All applications will be reviewed first by huiMAU staff. Selected applicants will then be interviewed by huiMAU staff prior to acceptance into Mālama ʻĀina Camp. Program will be capped at 13 ʻōpio participants.