Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 2011 — Hoa ʻĀina o Mākaha educates young, fertile minds [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hoa ʻĀina o Mākaha educates young, fertile minds

By Sarah Paeheeo Under the shadows of the Wai'anae Mountains sits Hoa 'Āina O Mākaha, a modern-day Eden where nā keiki o Hawai'i eome to play, work and learn through programs that stress e mālama pono i ka 'āina, nāna mai ke ola (take care of the land, for it grants you life). "The land is a living entity upon whom we depend completely," says Executive Director Luigi "Gigi" Cocquio, a former Italian priest who helped found Hoa 'Āina O Mākaha in 1979 and continues to oversee its mission of "creating peaceful communities in harmony with nature through the eyes, hands and hearts of the children." "The best lessons and the best activities are the ones we ean share with the children - learning together who we are and how we ean make the world a better plaee through planting, harvesting and eating together, and discovering the secrets of the land," says Cocquio in his warm, friendly voice. "Our spirit, our body is sustained by the land. The closer we are to the land, the more we learn about ourselves, others and the world, and the more we respect who we are and everyone else." Cocquio, who is affectionately called "Gigi" by everyone he meets, has toiled for years in the soil of Hoa 'Āina O Mākaha, whieh sits next to Mākaha Elementary School. The close

proximity has led the school and the Farm, as it is known in the community, to develop a deep working relationship, with teachers using their weekly excursions to the site as an extension of classroom lessons. "It really is a harmonious connection between the two, and the students tend to remember things more when they've had a ehanee to actually touch and manipulate things," says fourth-grade teacher Sheri Chang. "Having a resource like Hoa 'Āina O Mākaha gives students the ehanee to actually apply what they learn in the classroom and textbooks to real life." This learning partnership sprouted in 1987, when then-Principal Hazel Sumile asked Gigi if he'd like to work with all the students of Mākaha. He obliged, and the two entities formed Nā Keiki O Ka 'Āina, a yearlong program that enables eaeh student to plant, grow and tend to their own gardens; care for goats, chickens, ducks, turtles and rabbits; and learn what words like "ahupua'a" and "aquaponics" really mean. "We try to relate the lessons to what the students are familiar with," says Kumu V.L. Nalani Ki'aha, a Nā Keiki instructor. And while keiki have fun sowing seeds in the field or baking a pizza to later sell at a farmers' market, they are using mathematics, science, social studies, English, history, economics and more to complete these everyday tasks. "You see a lot of the kids who have a hard

time grasping certain concepts in the classroom eome here and, since it's hands on, they get it right away, and they're able to retain that information," says Kai Cocquio, son of Gigi and his wife, farm administrative assistant Judy Seladis-Cocquio. Though he was born and raised on the Farm and went through its programs while a student at Mākaha Elementary, Kai only recently returned to his roots after working at an architectural firm for seven years. Upon his return, the younger Cocquio took on the task of heading the E Mau Ana Ka Pilina Pono Container Garden Program, an initiative developed within the Farm's Mālama Mākaha Credit Work Program, that enables families to establish, maintain and sustain portable gardens that enhanee their access to healthy foods. "Because a lot of our kids relocate a lot, many of them don't have the opportunity to have their own garden even though they want to. So we showed them that anything ean be a container garden, and you ean grow anything in them," explains Kai. At the end of last school year, students decided they wanted to share this project with others in the community, and so they collected their own containers and filled them with soil, seeds and hand-made brochures to be donated to residents at Mā'ili Land transitional housing. "We got (the kids) at the beginning of the year very fresh, and their idea of community SEE HOA 'ĀINA ON PAGE 13

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Mākaha Elementary fourth graders Karlee Dungca, Dafney Hattori-Nashiro, Alofanei Bird and Azrya Carter planting in their garden. - Courtesy photos by Kai Cocquio

From left, Karlee Dungca, Dafney Hattori-Nashiro, Liliana Ehel, Ginger Sceppe, Alofanei Bird, Azrya Carter, Mosiah Sauilemau and Makua Pilila'au having fun in the garden. Says Pilila'au, "I love to go to the Farm to work because I have a farm at home and I love to work."

HOA 'ĀINA

Continued from page 8 was very small. But at the end of the year, they realized how big the community is, how we're all connected and what their role in the greater community is," he says. Thanks to recent funds from OHA and the City and County of Honolulu's Community Benefits program, the Container Garden Project will be able to meet its goal of ho'iho'i, or "giving back" to those less fortunate and serving 100 Mākaha families by 2012. "OHA has been a tremendous help," notes Gigi Cocquio. "Through their support for five years, we have been able to work

with a lot of parents and to provide healthy snacks and food to all the children every time they eome to the Farm." As a nonprofit, Hoa 'Āina O Mākaha relies on the assistance of organizations such as OHA to eonhnue its efforts of growing Hawai'i's future generations. "At this age, (keiki) have a closer eonneehon to the land," adds Kai. "As they grow older, even though they might not remember all the lessons (we've taught), they remember the values of why it's important to take care of the land and eaeh other. "When we start now, we ean mold them or we ean share experiences that will mold the way they think about their environment in the future." ■

OHA helps to support the Farm's Container Garden Project, whieh aims to serve 1 00 Mākaha families by 201 2. - Courtesy photos by Kai Cocquio