Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 6, 1 June 2016 — Hāna paves a new road to health [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hāna paves a new road to health

rrom growing food to building houses, young Hawaiians in Hāna are finding ways to help their community live healthier and happier. On any given day, you might find volunteers down in the dirt at Mahele Farm, a community 'āina that provides fresh produce for more than half the town. Follow the sound of hammers and power tools and chances are you'll find high school students building state-of-the-art classroom buildings or making sure kūpuna have safe, accessible and comfortable homes. Many programs, such as Kumu Kaui Kanaka'ole's hula hālau or the school's ku'i club, are strengthening cultural ties while encouraging physical activity and good nutrition. Others, such as after school games for younger keiki, just keep kids moving through plain, old fun. All in all, Hāna provides a brilliant example of mauli ola in I action, demonstrating how addressing the social determinants of heahh ean uplift a community. Physical wellbeing is more than just diet and exercise, after all, and factors like stress, | discrimination, education, connection to culture, housing and employment ean all have a direct impact on an individual's heahh. With that in mind, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has invested nearly $ 1 million in the remote East Maui community since 2013, awarding grants to the Queen's Medical Center's Hāna Ola Project and the nonprofit Ma Ka Hana Ka 'Ike to develop community-based, culturally-relevant programs. "When you empower an entire community to take care of eaeh other, the results ean be tremendous," says OHA Ka Pouhana and CEO Kamana'opono Crabbe. "In Hāna, people are eating better and moving more as they strengthen their cultural identities because that's more meaningful to them than counti ing calories. Even more inspirational are these young people I who are turning to 'ike kūpuna to make life better for everyone from school-age keiki to the kūpuna. It's not just heahh that's improving in Hāna, it's the whole quality of life."

ITTTTTTim TTT1 IT?rrm RickRutiz, executive directorofMa Ka Hana Ka 'Ike (In Working, One Learns), has been a driving force behind mueh of the positive 0 change. A contractor turned teacher, Rutiz started the high school building program to offer students struggling in traditional classrooms a different path to success. As a result of his efforts, young people are proving grades and test scores aren't the only measure of worth as they put roofs over people's heads and food on their tables. "I'm all for A kids. But I'm more worried about D and F kids because there's a whole bunch of them and if we send them out like we've been sending them out, we're in trouble," says Rutiz. The building program teaches students that they ean understand math and science after all - the integrity of their structures would be compromised otherwise, not to mention imprecise measurements don't stand up to Rutiz's high standards. "We teach them how to work," Rutiz adds. "That's a big deal. Whether or not the students choose to go into construction, they graduate with a work ethic that will help them in any profession." The students have built 15 school buildings - their current project is a state-of-the-art classroom that uses sustainable building techniques

to keep it eool without air-conditioning. It will be the first Department of Education building to be completely off the grid, and on top of that it's beautiful, with polished wood trim, a sunset-tinted ceiling and skylights to let light in and heat out. Perhaps more impressive, however, is the impact these students are

having on their community. After spending a whirlwind weekend building a new home for a Hāna family who'd become homeless in a house fire, students startedlooking for other ways to meet the needs of their community. They 've built 35 kūpuna cottages so far and regularly help other residents with repairs and accessibility improvements. "The kids, they're building for their aunty, their unele. They walk into Hasegawa's and instead of being in trouble, in the principal's office, they get three uncles that mahalo themfor taking care of aunty," Rutiz describes. "It's those moments that shape the kids and get them hooked on kōkua." Queen's Hāna Ola Project's overarching goal is obesity reduction and prevention among Native Hawaiians. According to the 2010 census, more than half of Hāna's residents are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander and nearly 10 percent live below the poverty level. The remote East Maui town has no fast food drive-thrus but it also has no big supermarkets or warehouse stores. Those all require four hours of driving, round-trip, making fresh food hard to eome by. Six years ago, Mahele Farm was created to address that particular need. Backyard gardens are eommon in Hāna, enabling residents to supplement their diets with kalo, sweet potato, banana, beans, lettuce and

cabbage. Mahele Farm grows those, too, but its niehe is food that's harder to grow at home: long eggplant, wing bean, long Filipino beans, pipinola and all kinds of squash. At the same time, Mahele is cultivating 'ike kūpuna, collecting knowledge about traditional Hawaiian farming practices and increasing the abundance of native foods. "What we really want to do was create a culture of teaching the kids of Hāna to be proud of eating food close to the source and not growing up like my generation, whieh is still young, but just thinking canned food is the norm," says 31-year-old Mikala Minn, Mahele Farm's volunteer coordinator and school-community liaison. Today, the farmproduces about 6,000 pounds of food every quarter, exceeding its initial goals. None of the food is sold and none goes to waste. Community workdays allow volunteers to work for food- after at least two hours of labor, they're weleome to take what they ean eat, but not so mueh that it rots in the fridge. Food is regularly delivered to Hāna's two senior centers and a sober living center, while a food bank distributes about 100 pounds of food a month to people in need. "Not everyone ean volunteer. Not everyone wants to. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't get the benefit of a community farm," says Minn. "They should still be able to get access to the food - for free, I should mention. We don't sell anything." A significant portion of the food goes to Hāna High

& Elementary School, where Minn frequently visits classrooms with healthy snacks and short food-based lesson plans. Recently Minn brought his Champion juicer to the school, along with frozen fruits: overripe Hawaiian cooking bananas, papaya, aeai berries and macadamia nuts. The result was mai'a softserve, dished out along with some education about how and where bananas grow, and why they should be grown in bounty. "We take bananas and we try to mimie things that kids are used to and hopefully they ean get 'ono to that," Minn explains. Three days a week, Minn is at the school when the last bell rings to give some middle school kids a quick nutrition boost before they move on to afterschool tutoring. "We know that kids were falling behind and

required to do tutoring but they haven't eaten since 11:30 and that school meal wasn't very nutritious, so by time 2:30 comes around, they're starving," Minn describes. "How are they expected to do 45 minutes worth of tutoring if they can't think?" Green smoothies made with banana, papaya, soursop and perennial greens allow the students to power through the afternoon, even when tutoring is followed by sports practice. Now that they're developing a taste for fresh, nutritious food, students are encouraged to make their own meals. As long as they bring in some green vegetables, they're allowed to eook meals on the school's yakiniku grill. The school has also created a Ku'i Club where 35 to 40 students pound their own fresh pa'i 'ai together on Thursdays, most of them bringing home two or three pounds a week. "I think the main thing we do is allow space for these students to really explore one aspect of their identity as a Hawaiian," said Viliami Tukuafu, the program's director. "I think the thing that's changed the most is that we're working toward restoring a weekly practice of ku'i so they get into the habit of making their food at home. By doing that we are awakening appetites. People

are starting to realize that processed foods and packaged food and calrose rice are not necessarily designed for our bodies." mmmimm As 22-year-old Miracle Helekahi has learned, keeping kids active ean be easy, as long as it's something they want to do. Taking a quick break from her family's food booth at the East Maui Taro Festival, Helekahi talked about her role in Hāna's improving health - leading afterschool activities every day to get kids into shape. The former Hāna High volleyball star doesn't have the keiki run laps or follow a strict exercise regimen. "You cannot be really serious with these Hāna kids because they get attitude, so you gotta be fun," she says with affection. "They're into soccer and dodgeball and stuff. Even if they don't run laps, they're still moving and active." The Hāna Ola Project also provides funding for Kumu Kaui Kanaka'ole's hula hālau, where improved physical fitness is a happy byproduct of connecting with culture. The dancers are the ones who are running laps, getting into shape for performances from the kalo I fest to Merrie Monarch. "You can't do this if you're not fit," says Rutiz, whose wife Kirsten was a member of the hālau. "And if you're not eating right, you better learn how."

One of Rutiz's great strengths is his ability to eonnect people with the resources they need to do the most good. While farming isn't his area of . expertise, Ma Ka Hana Ka 'Ike partnered with Hāna School's agriculture pro-

gram and Kahanu Garden to create Mahele Farm. Beyond that he gives the credit to Minn and his team. Rutiz's building students are active by default, but to further promote an active lifestyle he reached out to Miracle Helekahi and Kaui Kanaka 'ole, recognizing they know how to get people moving. His students helped make the papa ku'i 'ai, boards to pound taro on at school. He and others at the school got lifeguard certification so they could start a kai program for students who want to mālama Hāna Bay. He even found a loeal nurse to help with Queen's heahh screenings, giving residents someone to relate to as they work on lowering their blood pressure and body mass. "I don't care if we create farmers or carpenters or whatever. I want to create people and let them walk out of here knowing they are special and they've got talent," Rutiz says. At 63, Rutiz has already given some thought to passing the torch, possibly to his "No. 1 Guy" James Freudenberg-Pu, who at 27 has already built new homes for both sets of his grandparents, mostly on his own. With Rutiz's building program as an anchor, Freudenberg-Pu was able to graduate with a 3.6 grade point average. He's stayed on since as 8EE HANA HEALĪH ON PAGE 24

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Mahele Farm teaches keiki aboutfresh and tasty alternatives to canned food.

HĀNA HEALĪH Continued from page 15

Rutiz's right-hand-man, not just an accomplished builder, but one who shares the same vision. He's teaching kids to build, but meanwhile he's also imparting other important lessons about heahh and nutrition. He's gotten kids stoked about eanoe racing and interested in cooking, since Mahele Farm's vegetables taste amazing hot off the yakiniku griddle. He's also impressing on them that they're well-respected, eontributing members of their community, evidenced by all the hugs and thanks they get when they run into aunties and uncles around town. It's easier to make good decisions when that's what everyone expects. "I enjoy what I do. It's a great career, helping

kids and the community," Freudenberg-Pu says. "I think it's important to keep this program going because the kids know we're here for them and they eome to us to learn. The kūpuna in the community wouldn't have free access ramps and free cottages and it would just make things for difficult for the elder community." "We definitely make a big difference," Freudenberg-Pu says. The results speak for themselves. ■ The Offi.ce of Hawai.ian Affairs Programatic Community Grants Program supports nonprofit organizations whose projects and programs serve the Native Hawaiian eommunity and ali.gn with OHA's strategic prioriti.es. For more i.nformati.on, visit www.oha. org/grants.