The guiding ʻōlelo noʻeau (Hawaiian proverb) for this project is Mōhala i ka wai ka maka o ka pua. Unfolded by the water are the faces of the flowers. Flowers thrive where there is water, as thriving people are found where the conditions are good.

Nurture Cultivate Inc (NCI) has developed three distinct programs to fulfill its vision of empowering, inspiring, and educating people:

• Kahuāola – nurture and cultivate the land and sea, the natural resources that provide for our community; we become the kahu of our ʻāina and kai spaces and kokua in the ecological balance.

• Ehuola – nurture and cultivate our health and promote longevity

• Waiola – nurture and cultivate our wealth to pave the path for future generations

Mōhala i Ka Wai falls under NCI’s Kahuaola program and addresses the overall health and well-being of a given ahupuaʻa. This specific project focuses on Ahupuaʻa ʻo Hauʻula and Ahupuaʻa ʻo Kahana, Moku ʻo Koʻolauloa, Mokupuni ʻo Oʻahu.

NCI’s mission is to build and develop strong youth, leaders and communities by forging new paths and growing healthy, sound and intellectual people especially in underserved and poverty-stricken communities using traditional Hawaiian cultural values. 

The target audience for Mōhala i Ka Wai are youth in the Koʻolauloa area (Kualoa to Pūpūkea), ages 12 through 14 with preference given to Native Hawaiian youth. The program will be implemented with the assistance of Ke Kula Kaiapuni Hawaiʻi ʻo Kahuku Academy and Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Hauʻula. Thus, we expect that this will serve Native Hawaiian youth. We are also in partnership with Hawaiʻi Land Trust, who are the kiaʻi and stewards of the Maunawila Heiau Complex in the ahupuaʻa o Hauʻula.. Also on board with this program is Hōʻala ʻĀina Kūpono. They are the kiaʻi and stewards of a large loʻi and the Huilua loko iʻa in Kahana valley.

Mōhala i Ka Wai is a two-week program offered three times throughout the six-week DOE summer break. Each two-week program has the capacity to serve 20 students. It is a framework that can be used across all of Hawaiʻi to guide youth in proper management of the freshwater sources, the land and its sacred sites, and the ocean in their ahupuaʻa.

Reinvigorating the Koʻolauloa community, specifically the next generation, with love for the cultural, spiritual, and environmental elements of their ahupuaʻa is the long term community goal. The expected result is that the community will have a better sense of stewardship and it will positively impact the health of the ahupuaʻa, with a focus on the wai. This program fulfills NCIʻs mission of developing and building youth leaders. We expect the ʻōpio to come away with deeper connections to the natural spaces and places in Ahupuaʻa ʻo Hauʻula and Ahupuaʻa ʻo Kahana.