Summertime at Waipā means lots of keiki exploring, learning and helping all around the ahupua’a. In fact, our program’s name, Ma Uka a i Kai, means from the mountain areas to the ocean. Through various activities, our kumu try to help keiki better understand how all those areas are connected to each other, and to us!

On a beautiful June day, some of the keiki worked with their kumu, Anake Chelsey, to pull out 324 invasive water hyacinths from Waipa’s Halulu Fishpond which they then took to the mala‘ai (garden).

“We learned to malama ‘aina by taking the water hyacinths out of the loko i‘a (fishpond) then using them to help fertilize a garden that provides us with food.”

~Anake Chelsey