Volunteer Workday

“I have been told, “Aunty, it’s going to take a long time and $5 million to be able to restore the rest of the wall and pond,” remarks Ali‘i Pauahi President Kehaulani Lum. “And I said, no it won’t, it won’t take that long. And not that much, if everybody comes together, it will cost nothing. And it will be done. This is generational work,” Kehaulani states. “In addition to our ‘ohana, our civic club and dear friends, kōkua has come from the ‘Aiea Community Association, Living Life Source Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, lineal descendants, KUA and our fellow hui members, ‘Aiea High School, Pearlridge Shopping Center, the Honolulu Friends, residents of ‘Aiea and Kalauao, the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Holani Hana, residents of McGrew Point, and many many children and families of `Ewa, we have cleared 50% of the invasive plants, rebuilt half of the original wall, and constructed a new hale for educational and healing purposes. Yet, there is more to do.”

Loko Iʻa Pāʻaiau is a type of Loko Kuapā, which includes an outer stone wall, sluice gates, or mākāhā, and the shore as the inner boundary. The mākāhā and walls are how smaller fish pass into the pond, how bigger fish are trapped, and how the pond is filtered and circulated. After they built the wall, oysters started coming back, and can be found along the bottom of the wall. During Kalanimanu‘ia’s time up into the 1900s, nehu fish were raised in the pond both as baitfish and for eating. With a small canoe full of nehu, one would be able to catch 400 to 500 aku from the deep ocean.