Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 3, 1 March 2022 — Hawaiians Open Cafe on Hawaiian Home Lands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians Open Cafe on Hawaiian Home Lands

i KANAKA FORWARD V * ON THE HOMESTEADS '

By Robin Danner The Anahola Cafe opened at the end of October 2021, led by a Native Hawaiian nonprofit and a handful of Anahola residents. As a community-based eeonomie development initiative, the cafe is part of an effort to grow rural economies on Hawaiian Home Lands, similar to tribal lands on the continent. "Our nonprofit has been planning for this cafe for over a year now," said Kara Chow, a deputy director at the nonprofit Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC). "We are approaching the 3-month mark since opening and its been really rewarding to watch a small team of loeal residents operate this little social enterprise in our little rural area on the island of Kaua'i." The core cafe team consists of Wyatt Kamoku, lead chef, and Ikaika Kirifi, Moku Kaneakua

and Melanie Freitas - all ffom Anahola families living on Hawaiian Home Lands. Located at the Anahola Marketplace on Kūhiō Highway, the cafe offers burgers and saimin in a rustic rural setting beneath the pristine Kalalea mountain range. The cafe is open from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven days a week. 100% of the revenue from the Anahola Cafe supports its operation and the nonprofit mission of HCDC in affordable housing and job creation on or near Hawaiian Home Lands. "We invite everyone to eome to the Anahola Cafe! The food is great and our team has a whole lot of aloha," Chow remarked. "We are learning together about the business end of food service through this project, all while having fun and employing our loeal people!" ■ A national policy advocate for native self-governance, Robin Puanani Danner is the elected chair of the Sovereign Council ofHawaiian Homestead Associations, the oldest and largest coalition of native Hawaiians on or waiting for Hawaiian Home Lands. Born on Kaua'i, Robin grew up in Niumalu, and the homelands ofthe Navajo, Hopi and Inuit peoples. She and her husband raised four children on homesteads in Anahola, Kaua'i, where they continue to reside today.

The Anahola Cafe, a community-based eeonomie development initiative on Hawaiian Home Land offers saimin and smiles to its customers seven days a week. - Photos: Courtesy