Invited to the Most Remote Corner of Hawaii (traditional living)

this Separates Me from all the craziness
out there in the world nobody’s
controlling me over food nobody’s
controlling me over water I have the say
over my everyday life and you see the
old abandoned house oh wow you see it
yeah you’re good for years out here I’m
good my whole life and I still get
chicken skin still special place smells
great there we go oh
[Music]
yeah this is my phone for the valley
this is the church that my dad would
come to when he was a young boy today
nobody even knew that this place was
full functioning community at one time
what is real Hawaiian culture and
tradition what makes us Hawaiian feels
like you’re in another place huh another
world
[Music]
this whole entire rainforests that were
driving into my place and grew after
1946 1946 there was a tsunami the
highest point of the water reached 111.6
ft tall in the valley oh wow how long
has your family been out here um for a
very very very long time we’re one we’re
actually known or recorded to be right
now the last original family left in the
valley the name of the valley is Hal
lava yeah ha meaning breath or life lava
which means enough enough for sufficient
so the sufficient bread or the
sufficient life that is what the
Hawaiian people call this place what
we’re driving in right now this is where
all old houses used to be when my dad
grew up when I was a young boy there
used to still be some houses left and
some Elders living in here um below us
to the trees you can see all the old
terracing okay yeah right there through
the trees yeah and the old irrigation
ditch right here on the side of the road
and this what we’re driving in on right
now used to be a foot Trail but now is a
horse and buggy Road it’s a Toyota
Road this is your place this is my place
oh the water falls right behind yeah so
this is our place right here all of
these tarot Terraces that you see right
here are ancient fields that has been in
my family for Generations the irrigation
ditch we just restored everything my
elders brought me in here taught me
everything taught me how to restore all
this stuff came in with my brothers um
put this stuff back together that was
one of my dad’s dreams was to see this
place functioning like it was when he
was a little boy and we got
it a This is Amazing Greg thank you for
letting me come here it’s a true honor
you’re a legend on the island ah maybe
yeah the people I told that I was
visiting you said so oh yeah this this
your little guy here yep that’s pudding
pudding pudding yeah this is my baby say
hi pudding this is my so-called security
around here to help keep the help barket
all the deer that come into my place and
kind of eat my place out what do you got
with the shell here um this is a pool um
in Hawaiian culture this show is called
the poo poo in Hawaii language mean
shell um and basically this is my phone
for the the valley so this is how I talk
to my boys how I communicate back and
forth um how we start protocol your boys
are out in the valley somewhere so right
now my boys are out in the valley um
they’re doing a cultural hike with some
visitors that came here from different
places um some came from England some
from Outer Islands aahu the way we like
to share culture is a lot different than
most people yeah um we like to share
culture from our personal Living Spaces
you know the way I grew up and the way
my cunas or my elders would teach is you
learn culture From the Inside Out okay
not the outside in
yeah and you learn culture from SE touch
hoi
taste when my elders grew up or
especially my dad um he had to learn how
to speak English from the first American
school that was built in this Valley in
1886 wow so until then a lot of the
protocols that we have today was very
different than the protocols that they
practice when they were growing up okay
so what I’ve learned from Michael punas
is you know in ancient times we never
went onto another Island we went never
went into to another Village or
AA um we never went hunting fishing
harvesting or touching any other part of
an island without asking the people from
that area permission first okay you know
did I ask per for permission properly
well you ask permission in the in the
modern way the modern way that most
people do and what we’re going to do
right now is we’re going to do protocol
and we’re going to ask PR in the
traditional way okay we’re going to
announce our arrival so what we’re going
to do is we’re going to Kik kapo we’re
going to blow okay usually my a elder or
someone would be here to blow back to us
who welcome us but since you’re already
here with me and my boys are up on the
hike we still go to traditional so
asking our kupunas or Elders or even
asking the valley permission to enter
[Music]
[Applause]
hee for
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
no welcome to my home beautiful thank
you alaka welcome it’s Aro right here
it’s my road security my
greeters oh this is nice so you’ve
really built this up well I mean this is
just like its own ecosystem its own
world back here well this is basically
the A and basically what I did is I went
back and I tried to put together and
restore a lot of the stuff that hne
people used so you’re totally Off the
Grid totally Off the Grid electricity
water all the way off the G food you’re
getting all your food here well Bare
Necessities come from the supermarket
beans rice milk okay you know Bare
Necessities but my water comes from the
stream I grow a lot of my own food um I
got apple trees orange trees grapefruits
tarot sour saps Jack fruits avocados
banan macadamia nuts summer months are
really good for growing a lot of our
vegetables and lettuce down here because
it’s not so rainy and our rainy season
everything gets over flooded and swamp
so we’re slowly getting out of our rainy
season so as you can see my tarot
patches are a little bit of the banks
are a little bit high with water right
now so if the grid did go down the Rose
Road did close down you you’re good for
years out here I’m good I mean no milk
but but you’re fine you can survive I’m
totally fine um that’s awesome I’ve got
Pig Dar and goat here in the valley that
I can get meat from I’ve got oopu which
is our native Hawaiian so we nickname
them native Hawaiian cat fish a lot of
people get touchy because they’re
actually a GOI shrimp pwns crabs in
our ocean lobsters fish fresh water
there’s you name it yeah so this is what
halava valley used to look like when my
elders grew up oh wow you know this is
the road that you drove in on out after
the 1946 tsunami all of these buildings
and homes all got wiped out so how many
people lived back here in the day when
my dad says um when he were growing up
here in the valley you know less than
100 Families how many now um Shez
there’s maybe 8 to 12 people that live
in the valley at all times and how many
at your place um at my place it’s myself
and my two boys right now um my dad just
passed away about 9 months ago okay
sorry let’s go take a walk up to the
back go check out the Iration so we have
the shoes on which means we’re up for
something here these are what we call
tabbies tabbies are introduced to the
Hawaiian Islands um it’s more like a
Japanese shoes Hawaiian never had you
know tabbies or water shoes um we like
to use these with the felt bottoms to go
walking around the rivers and the
streams um and we use them to go out
into the ocean when we go picking limp
heads off the rocks or what we call OPI
they’re really good and prevents us from
slipping on the Rocks as you can see we
have a few clogs in the irrigation ditch
right now as you can see all the leaves
are piled up here so basically what
we’re going to do is I’m going to start
from on the top and we’re going to
slowly work our way down okay in this
ancient irrigation ditch and this one of
the normal things that we do every day
water is one of the most important
things as we’re walking through these
are old house sides so as we walk
through you’re going to see old rock
walls and Foundations okay and if you
look through the trees here you know you
can still see the terracing oh yeah
going on so these are all Old Fields so
the trees right now this was no trees at
one time these were all farming Fields
so Mother Nature has slowly grew over
everything and this rainforest is The
Leftovers of farmers who came back and
reestablished their Farms after the 1946
tsunami you can throw a seed pretty much
any place in this place and it grows and
so land is very interesting in Hawaii I
haven’t connected all the dots but I’ve
heard things like someone can own some
land but in the middle of that land
there’s a ter tarot patch that belongs
to somebody else that belongs to someone
else and that’s like the lands within
the land but they can access it through
the other person’s land and then there’s
beef with that potentially and then and
it’s just basically access to land like
every every place else kulana land
rights yeah that’s what it is so if you
have land within someone else’s land you
can always access it back in the old
days if you a land owner or if you’re a
kolana land owner is because not
everybody lived to where their fields
was some people live down here and their
field was up there okay yeah and since
the way our place was it was a big
family place yeah so we had Pathways
here in the valley that was like
easements where people could walk on to
to pass through people’s places to get
to where they got to go in the valley
and a lot of people look that as hiking
trails today but these hiking trails
were never hiking trails at one times
these were easements or the pathways
where that everybody could come up and
you see the old abandoned house oh wow
see it yeah that’s my uncle Lonnie’s
Place yeah Uncle lon’s place is still
livable though yeah um kind of if you
fix it up a little bit Yeah so as you
can see these are all the houses and
this is the stone but now here the
easement that we can walk on so we don’t
bother everybody and the irrigation
ditch that we it goes right along the
irrigation ditch because everybody’s
responsible for the
water if you all check the people in
here they always related at one time or
another so when my dad would show me all
the old family pictures all says who was
who who dated who he says no we’re all
no dating no B’s married to nobody we’re
all first and second cousins so this
place was one big family you know my dad
says why you think so I married a girl
from the states he said say I lived in a
place with only family yeah so when my
dad went to marry my mom in the states I
asked my Dad did Grandma him have a
problem with you marrying someone from
the states and he says all grandma asked
me is if she can cook and I told Grandma
I don’t know and my dad said and all
grandma said was good
luck so you know number one is cooking
skills so that’s all grandma asked my
dad is can she cook and you know what
what we found out is my mom was the most
amazing cook where was your mom from my
mom was Indianapolis Indiana Oh okay so
this is an original irrigation ditch
from the first people that came in what
we did is we restored it they say the
oldest fire pit that has been carbon
dated in this Valley dates back to 650
ad so that’s what they say that is what
has been do documented by Dr Patrick kch
yeah today we’re going through and we’re
recarbon dating and we’re redoing stuff
to double check everything today because
the machines and the things we have to
do the work is a lot better yeah so
someplace older could have been found
yesterday a month ago I live in the
middle of this Valley I rarely ever
leave who really knows how often do you
live when I got to go see my
wife she she’s not here no she lives on
aahu she’s our Channel 2 news anchor
okay for the 10:00 news so long long
distance relationship requ I live onai
my wife lives on a w oh it’s only a 30
minute it sounds much further than it
is so it looks like we’re not that bad
today with the dam and the cloggy we’re
going to come back down and do a little
work on this but I’ll go take you up to
go look at some of the historical sites
oh
yeah so Greg this clothing you’re
wearing traditional Hawaiian yes this is
what I was raised with Kika and Malu I
asked my dad why do you always wear the
color red my dad would says well we come
from the home of MOA and I asked my dad
what is MOA and MOA is the name of of
the waterfall the home of the red lizard
or the red dragon in Hawaiian culture we
have what I like to
say Titans just like in other cultures
mythical creatures or the Hawaiian
version of Godzilla
okay do you have like a Sasquatch
equivalent um I don’t know if monster
guy I don’t know if we have a Sasquatch
equ equivalent we have a equivalent to
um leprechauns or minuni kind of like
cave dwellers and leeons oh yeah you
know and these rocks up in these
hillsides they are the rock stackers and
The Rock Builders yeah so as you can see
all old ancient H sites we’re going to
take a walk up here in a little bit I’m
going to show you a place
yeah there is definitely a very rich
intense feeling back here I’d say oh
it’s a very spiritual feeling back here
yeah you know whenever in very beautiful
nature it commands respect it makes you
feel small
yeah
Goosebumps still special place your
whole life and your still and I still
get chicken skin and goosebumps when I
walk through places like this yeah cuz
it’s not just walking through places
like this it’s about
feeling places like this I just got them
yeah that is how we know our
ancestors you know my dad is with me
today he’s
watching this is where they used to live
this was a house site now this whole
valley is littered like this so imagine
now stacking your stacking Stones like
this how many people or how long did it
take and look at the size of these
stones that these guys moved the way the
valley was broken up is this was a aapa
system and in the aapa you had different
elies and elies were like different
districts within that place each
district was ran by a family and there
was one person in charge in each of
these districts would they trade amongst
one another or oh no me no no ey my dad
says when we grow up there’s no such
thing as me my eyes it’s only us ours
and we how do you survive as a tribe or
even a
village if you’re
practicing me my ey so wasn’t was
trading and a lot of giving and sharing
yeah my dad always taught me that my
food was never my food my food was
everyone’s
food how do you carry that these days
well I mean you’re bringing me in here
which is what a lot of people don’t know
is I’m a trade Farm I get people who
come from different Islands different
places they want venison they want
tarell they want hand pounded P they
want hoil ferns from me they want
bananas from me they want papayas from
me we trade you come from the town bring
me something that I cannot get down here
we trade who says money now the reason
why I like to practice that tradition of
trading now when there’s money put into
the picture you have Rich medium and
poor take money out of of the
picture now you go to
trading what would you trade a funny
joke I’ll give you
food help me at my house I’ll give you
food who says it has to be money
everybody’s got a talent everybody’s got
a skill everybody’s got something to
trade but not everybody has money when
you take money out of the picture
there’s no Rich medium or poor everyone
is the
same have you lived off the Island yes I
have I’ve lived in La I lived in the
states I’ve traveled yeah I lived in
aahu I lived in Maui for a while I was
always told you need to go out and see
the world okay and if I never go out to
see the world you’re never going to ever
appreciate what you have or what you’ve
been taught what did LA teach
you about the hustle and bustle about me
my ey
about if you don’t got this if you don’t
got that if you don’t got something
stuff you’re basically nothing when I
was living in La it was about the nice
car everybody was there to acting or to
become a movie star or to become a
rapper to become a model I was up there
because my wife was my girlfriend at my
time and she was up there chasing the
acting dream because she was acting in
movies and modeling and taking acting
classes in the states how I met my wife
is she was the leading actress for
independent film I was the cultural
advisor
that is how I met my wife oh that’s cool
and that is how I ended up in La yes a
woman took me away from my
home so only girl to ever get me to
leave this place and I’m still with her
today but it was a good experience right
because you never know something until
you leave it for a while correct you
never know until we leave it for a while
right so right now we’re coming up to a
very unique and special place this is
the p h and when we say h Temple worship
site this platform you see in front of
us being built this big rock wall
platform oh yeah that is the worship
site that is where people would come and
pray so
Christianity is very strong on This
Island right I met a lot of Mormons
actually 7eventh day Adventists we’re
very religious people yeah so we take to
praying we take to this we took to this
stuff very easily yeah in Hawaiian
culture um what my dad says is we saw
similarities in their belief within our
belief this Valley was a huge
agricultural Valley and a lot of the
worship sites were to pray to our
farming deities so there wasn’t one God
gods for everything well it’s hard to
say all depends on how you look at it
some people say there’s many gods some
people says there’s one guy with many
names but if you look at religion that
keeps you in the safe zone right oh
yeah I mean most of it’s pretty much the
same thing and that pretty much gets me
out of Many religious
debates I’m going to use it thanks Craig
no but that is but look most of the most
of the major religions there’s so much
Common Ground you know and this is what
my elders taught me so this is the
temple or the worship site that we’re on
right now as you can see it’s slowly
been breaking apart this is one of the
worship sites that we documented so you
only know about this because of your
father yeah right that’s the only way
these stories are carried down he’s
walked me back and forth around this
whole valley I would sit and listen and
listen to stories and when I was a young
kid I didn’t quite understand what my
dad was doing with me yeah I used to
think I was being tortured I would have
to sit in room with elders and he says
this is your Auntie we’re going to go to
this house today uncle’s got some
paperwork for me that I need for the
family work and he’ll take me to all
these places and I could never
understand why he was taking me to these
places but today when I sit and people
ask me stories about things or if I ever
heard this person told a story I turned
around you know before my dad passed
away I turned around and my dad looked
at me he says son you were there you
heard them tell the story now you get to
share the story of our elders if we
never hear it from them and we only
learn it from the book now is that our
Elder story or is that somebody else’s
story he’s one of the most documented
people in mokai but he’s very particular
about who filmed him he says it’s very
important for the people that are
filming you and doing this stuff to keep
your story remember there’s always
editors there’s always people who
rewrite people who say my readers and my
Watchers won’t watch this so I have to
do it in this way right the star has to
be told in the way that the person the
editor has so much power more power than
most people understand yes I could even
make this through an edit even make it
look bad exactly I could do some
voiceover some dark music you could make
this turn horrible this could be the
worst thing I’m having faith in you
because I’ve seen you work and I believe
in what you do thank you the beauty of
the world we’re in now is actually a lot
of people like long form they don’t want
a hyperedited video all chopped up with
music and Flash and dopamine hits so so
that’s why we take a little straw I show
you you know and if you wondering what I
this is what I really do people don’t
really know what I do this is the first
time somebody’s really following me
around and everybody see the small
little edited ver versions of the people
who come here they did the hunt with me
did the fish did the dup got edited and
that is all they saw now you’re walking
around with this is what I do on my time
so how often are you back here I’m walk
this Valley every
day so you get up in the morning you
come out someplace every day my routine
is tight in with nature okay so if it’s
raining you’re not coming back it’s a
beautiful day at the ocean that is where
I go and it all depends on what type of
food I need to eat every day is some
type of gathering what are you eating
today well I’ve got you in today so my
people who just left they bought me some
steak so I got a trade they took out the
venoc they brought me steak something
that I do not have in this Valley so
that’s nice so now going to take that
steak and now I’m going to go into the
yard go pick some ferns go pick a little
bit this chop it up put it inside a pan
make a little something and we got
something to
eat what does it mean to be Hawaiian is
that a loaded question Hawaiian culture
is made up of many different cultures
yeah if you think about it Hawaii was a
volcano that popped out of the middle of
the ocean scientifically right yeah
there are some ancient legends that Maui
ped Hawaii out of the ocean but today we
all know that islands are made from
volcanoes how did people get here boats
obviously boats now when people got here
did they leave their names their beliefs
their food their Traditions their
everything behind and start Hawaiian
culture or did they bring all of their
stuff with them now if everybody brought
themselves with them that’s mean we had
many different names of people
here now if you came from Tahiti to here
you didn’t change your name to Hawaiian
once you reach Hawaii we got the name
Hawaii from King
Kamehameha who came from the island
called Hawaii he conquered the rest of
the islands and since he practiced
British tradition Kingdom cuz king and
queen is not Hawaiian tradition king and
queen is European tradition King Kam had
helped from British
officers you know King Kam’s armies was
given cannons and guns and we even have
ancient legends and stories of Chiefs
sending people out to different places
to learn techniques and to bring all
those techniques back so what is real
Hawaiian culture and
tradition what makes us Hawaiian why are
we called Hawaiian my elders would ask
me that question
boy what makes us
Hawaiian I says because of all the
things we do they says no it’s a name my
elders would always tell me if it was
the chief from mokai who conquered
Hawaii today we would be the kingdom of
mokai and we would be molokans not
Hawaiians that is just what my konas
would tell me some people get upset with
that me saying that but I’m just saying
what they taught me so when a lot of
people says oh you’re wrong you’re this
you’re that that’s not right I says you
go tell my elders
that because they’re the one who taught
me and if my elders were born in the
30s graduated school in 1954 Hawaii did
become a state to 1959 my elders first
language is Hawaiian not English English
he had to learn English from the first
American school that was built in halava
Valley he graduated from that school in
1954 he says the islands that the kids
call Turtle Island in the water today is
called mun Niki and
kaha he says we used to go Paro to those
islands for sacred sea cave burials he
says you kids would know nothing about
those sea cave burials because when I
was a young boy the military would use
that Island for target
practice so since the island got bombed
the sea caves collapse and today nobody
knows about the ancient sea caves that
they used to do sea cave barrial with at
the island he says and these are stuff
that are being lost because they’re not
being practiced anymore and now if the
old- don’t share these stories or tell
the stories or if we don’t ask the
old-timers about these
things what is the real
story even though the overthrow of
Hawaii was bad and the banding America
taking over Hawaii and overthrowing
Hawaii they don’t agree with any of that
mhm but my elders always told me now
if America didn’t do that to us who
would have because in the world today in
military and in power people who want to
control Hawaii was too important of a
pawn piece yeah that anybody would let
go what a lot of people don’t know and
what I’ve heard you know from other
teachers in schools and universities
that if America didn’t take us over
Japan Korea I believe China and Russia
was all looking to take Hawaii yeah
America I believe if the if I’m telling
the story correct which I’m not exactly
sure I just believe that America moved
first yeah so the way my dad said it is
I don’t agree with what’s happening but
it could be a lot
worse he says today you kids have your
freedom to practice culture anywh which
way you want when I grew up I could not
practice culture any which way we
wanted I grew up in the time of banding
of cultures and traditions he says we
went to American school they taught us
how to speak English yeah we got in
trouble if we wear traditional
dress yeah he says our tar Fields got
changed to rice
fields so he says it was us who grew up
in the time he says today not is no
longer banned yeah so he said anybody
should be upset it should be us because
it was taken from
us today you kids have everything right
in front your face it’s up to you to
share if you don’t
share it’s you who prevents your culture
from growing yeah but isn’t it fair to
say
that that way of sharing right now like
this is Coveted land people want this
real estate right like it’s it’s so
beautiful the climate’s amazing it’s
Hawaii right so do you worry about I
mean it’s already happened in many plac
it’s not on Malachai it feels like but
on the other islands like big money
Interest come in Big Money always comes
in no matter what the unique thing about
this island is we have a community that
will fight for what they want what I’ve
learned from my cunas is you’re never
ever going to stop development but if
you work together as a people you can
control everything in Moder ation the
visitor comes to our Islands not really
know what’s going on they only see
what’s in media social and all this
stuff so if we don’t take the time to
educate these visitors that come then
it’s us who prevents all of this stuff
from being done in the right way
technology can be used to save our
culture or destroy our culture yeah
right so when I work with a lot of kids
I tell them you can be an influencer by
influencing this
way or you can be an influencer
influencing that way right which way do
you want to influence what type of that
way has an expiration
day my pipe is to the Stream So this
pipe right here is River water that is
what feeds my home no filters no filters
so if the water is brown in the river
the water comes out brown in my water
pipe still yet to today and a lot of
people look at me goes oh my God it’s
gross you drink that water you know what
I work with school in
universities and with these schools in
universities I get educated just like I
educate them so they do soil samples
water samples for me and what a lot of
people don’t know is my stream is
perfectly clean my water has perfect pH
and that is why my farming is
awesome all my native Life In My Stream
is still alive I got no jaria no lepto
when they tested the
water I drink river water but you look
so unhealthy Greg I know for 48 years
old I
know river water man if you think about
it where does all our vitamins and
nutrients come from the earth Gatorade
no that’s right what kids would say
today power raid you know Monster Energy
but now if the water has calcium iron
and all of this stuff inside now
basically I’m just drinking real mineral
water
oh that’s a cool shot look at that wow
this place is great for the
camera this Separates Me from all the
craziness out there in the world
nobody’s controlling me over food
nobody’s controlling me over water I
have the say over my everyday life I
have the say over my
food I have the say over what I practice
and what I do there’s nobody down here
Kiki except for this guy sh
hey yeah I have nobody down here really
telling me what to
do I’ll go pick some ferns real quick
why all the no trespassing signs are you
worried about people coming up here um
because this we used to leave the place
open to the public at one time and then
people started walking in here and
falling down on top of our properties
and started suing all the property
owners oh my god really so that is why
now everything in here is private
property and that we Clos everything all
the land owners got together and shut
everything down is because
people are getting sued for falling down
on our trails and they’re saying oh you
don’t got a sign that says no
trespassing you didn’t have a private
property sign you didn’t have a danger
sign he didn’t have a beware of dog sign
so that’s all means this is America what
do people do blame somebody else rookie
question what’s the brown in here what
is that on top uh this is what we grow
it’s kind of like
a water grass yeah almost like a
miniature like lily pads you see it okay
and what this does is it grows on top of
the water I can’t remember the name for
this I’m having a brain fart right now
um but what we use this for is we grow
over to help the weeds from preventing
um when we Harvest our tarot patches and
we drain the water this will sit and dry
up and I can roll it and it’s good for
fertilizer it’s high in nitrogen are you
fully natural here no chemicals no
chemicals no fertilizers no fertilizers
wow all of this is only my whole place
is only fed by river water so this land
has never been tainted in that way no
fer natur as it get I don’t use no
fertilizers or nothing that’s or that
stuff inside of here and then this is a
fern that we
eat which I like to cook
yeah we call hoo or some people call
them oo some people call them po these
make a good salad or I like to chop them
up and use them in my stir fries or when
I
steam how our family has kept the
culture for so long is we’ll pick a
child at the age of 5 years old and
we’ll train them my dad says since the
military was always here and they’re
always watching about cultures and
traditions we’d pick one child that
child do everything with the elders and
learn and they let all the other kids
that wasn’t interested in the cultures
and traditions do the American thing so
when they came down here to check on the
people they saw the kids speaking the
English learning the things but not
knowing behind closed doors there’s a
child that is learning language learning
history learning tradition my dad was
that child that was taken at 5 years old
and just like my dad
he started teaching me at the age of 5
years old and he would share that story
with me son why I started you at 5 years
old yeah but since today culture and
traditions are not banned I started all
my three sons at 5 years old so all my
sons can do exactly what I do till today
everything I’m showing you and walking
around my boys
know seconding all this church built
here on the island of mokai 1852 United
Church of Christ so built in the
1800s um a lot of people think that this
church got destroyed from the
1946 tsunami but this building survived
the 1946 tsunami um what happened to
this church is it actually caught on
fire okay yeah so if you actually look
at the
wood it’s charred okay yeah can I go in
yeah yeah you’re at me you can go in oh
this is great yep and this is the church
that my dad would come to when he was a
young boy and if you look right through
the old broken Church wall the graveyard
so I actually have my grandma buried
here my dad’s mom Helen kava is actually
buried here in the back in the old
Cemetery WB OA oppa OPP oppa that’s the
family
name so these are all graves right
here you can see little squares one
square with a rock there’s another
Square so grave grave grave grave grave
grave grave Graves all Graves some had
headstones some didn’t have headstones
some of the headstones were actually
removed and destroyed back in the day
all the way up to this whole place is
all grave sites which a lot of people
don’t
know my grandma’s was right here this is
where my dad’s mom is buried this is
where he would bring me he’d walk me all
behind be before all of these trees were
never growing true so hopefully I can
get the permission from the people that
has this place the church cuz they still
own this place and I can maybe come and
restore the old Cemetery site part of
the old stories and the old history of
the
valley and you can hear the ocean just
roaring over the ocean is right here
it’s hard to imagine church services
back here oh yeah there used to be a
tower that they would ring the church
bell in and this is where the women came
to warn the people in the 1946 tsunami
my dad says when he was a young boy you
know they’re all walking out to the
beach and the women noticed the water
receding they ran into this church and
started ringing the church bell and at
the top of their lungs started screaming
K yeah which is warning the people of
the tsunami in the valley and then how
long did it come afterwards well they
had enough time to get everybody out of
the valley in safety my dad says not one
person died that day the women took the
children up behind the church to where
my marker 27 is he says men in the
fields came up to the homes and grabbed
elders teenagers release animals and let
animals go everybody met where my marker
27 is today and they lost everything
pretty much watch everything in this
whole all those homes schools all the
car bridges swinging Bridges I showed
you in all of those old pictures all got
destroyed from the 1946 tsunami and
today nobody even knew that this place
was developed or was a full functioning
community at one
time yeah Swinging Bridge post office
General Store Harbor po Factory All In
This Place fish pond all no longer
exists today so only a few people came
back and today we’re the only original
family left that never left the place
still here
today I should say came back to the
place how do that make you feel cuz my
dad did go into the military and he came
back but our elders were still here when
my dad came back too how does that make
you feel being the only original family
um kind of good and kind of sad you know
I’m glad that there’s original people
left but I wish there was more of the
original people around yeah the stories
and the the histories that we could
learn about this place that was never
you know handed down look at that this
is where the bell tower used to sit
right here the bell tower will go
straight up and this is where they would
ring the church bell every day right in
here D they ring the church
bell this park used to be my dad’s
schoolyard at one time growing up so
this is where the first American school
was built he my dad would stand here and
says son this is where the flag pole
used to be this is where I learned how
to set a pledge of allegiance
standing right here every morning yeah
he says this was the water
fountain where they wash their hands and
they taught the kids hygiene scrub your
Narrows clean up before going into the
classroom
yeah this right here was the pway see
you can see the walkway would come to
the Fountain and the flag pole and it
says this
pway right
here and this little cement Square
was the steps to go into his classroom
his classroom faced this way this is
where his school building sat right here
one building kindergarten to the 8th
grade that’s what we do we educate
people yeah if you come here to buy land
that’s not what we looking for we only
have so much space we live on an island
now if we get everybody come over to
this island what do the local people
have for themselves it’s kind of like
any state or any town a lot of states
and towns are getting overpopulated from
people just coming in and buying real
estate and doing everything
now the states lot more land for
everybody here as Hawaiian people we
only get limited resources yeah and I’m
not going to turn the camera cuz awesome
friends you have they just don’t want to
be on camera um but but what he was
saying was deer Outfitters to do hunting
here right there’s you a lot of mland
people coming in big Outfitters so
they’ll come in and they’ll buy up all
the land and then places where us used
to go hunt take people or what we used
to use now we cannot go anymore because
they fence off the whole thing and they
don’t okay you know they don’t see it
like how how people see it remember I
told you the concept of sharing right so
there’s tension in that right now it’s
not it’s not mine it’s not his it’s not
that person it’s for everybody okay so
your friend over here is a local that’s
going to set up an operation oh he’s
already doing it that’s why I said thank
you that came for telling
wor I just believe in what he doing
trav’s link is down below so if someone
goes on boy how’s the waves good action
what you just did there forehead to
forehead that’s what we call the honey
Hawaiian handshake we call that the
exchange of ha okay yeah in Hawaiian
culture we go forward to forward no to
knows we believe we exchange the Breath
of Life with each other okay
yeah so your place is just basically
right behind this 2 miles y so up in the
valley yep and where we’re at right now
is this is my dad this is where we did
the ceremony for my dad so this is a and
this is where we did the ceremony for
the bringing home of the elders so we
created a place where now people can
come and and practice chant practice
their cultural um
Traditions out here you know anybody who
wants to come now and practice and share
or feel like they want to get connected
this is a place where they can
come a this is great what a place what a
place to grow up oh can’t complain the
children and the kids and the families
get to enjoy it feels so detached from
the mainland out here feels like you’re
in another place huh another world like
you’re in your own world on an island
with 7 ,000 people which is its own
world on a chain of islands which is its
own
world removed from the world that’s wild
oh yeah I mean the fact that it takes me
more time to get here from my home then
for me to get to Europe or the Middle
East is pretty mind-boggling when you
think about it you know technically
we’re in the same country right and it’s
I could get to Cairo Egypt
quicker that’s pretty amazing you
know this is kind of my uh Hideout spot
my man cave the man cave yeah this where
I do all my work with my rifles for my
hunting and my guides I got my velvet
collection which are all these velvets
is this where you sleep this is for my
wife my wife says if I’m going to come
visit you I better have a bed I’ve been
sleeping in in a tent for 10 years so I
built this so my wife can be comfortable
no way yeah you sleep in a tent I slept
in a tent for 10 years this is the first
building I’ve had besides a tent but now
you sleep here yeah so I used to sleep
right here see that platform right there
yeah right on that platform I tent set
there so you guys are out here fulltime
part time full time they’re full time
with me okay so how is it being out here
we grew up on a w hoop so it’s very
different City Life we’re used to the
city life this is us like taking a break
for okay is it hard hard adjustment or
we also grew up down here so this is
like a home way from home I guess do you
do you miss aahu at all yeah sometimes
people but at the same time like living
out here in peace and quiet is very nice
too I really enjoy living here
especially with what I do being that I
work with people every day I don’t like
it helps with like the social Factor
because I’m a very social person but at
points I do miss home just because that
is where Mom that is where little
brother is okay so I miss it for more of
the family reasons I don’t miss the
craziness of the Rat
Race okay you don’t feel the rat race at
all out here obviously yeah don’t feel
it at all which is quite
nice Greg what are you cooking up here
just a fast quick meal I’m going to make
a little stir fry um with some hoil
Ferns and some steak and some onions you
know a a quick cook um D could you hand
me onions please onion from the seter or
is there still
onions yeah okay there we go quick I
like you have Scopes and guns everywhere
oh yes that’s a 223 with my night vision
scope and so you’re mainly shooting deer
right yes the deer coming to my farm at
night and eats all my plants so I just
don’t shoot them I give away a lot of
the meat and I a lot of my meat gets
shipped to people on outer
islands does it say never trust a skinny
cook Greg oh yes but you don’t have much
fat on you well that was my mom okay
this is my mom’s kitchen and now that
they have pass I’m still taking care of
the place and I try to keep Mom’s
Kitchen still looking like Mom’s Kitchen
and you know my ELD my mom passed away a
couple years ago my dad just passed away
N9 months ago and to me they’re still
here I can’t even tell you what ferns
tastes like well they’re good we’re
going to find out
today and basically we just blanch them
in hot water to s them a little
bit and then I will throw it into the
stir fry with the everything else that’s
cooking come on man make you something
to
eat I got a onion hoto salad oh that’s
great stir fry ni stir fry yeah got some
rice over here sorry I don’t got any
terot right now I didn’t go put terot
but I got that’s fine yeah so help
yourself you guys are eating right yep
they are trust me I’ll let them go first
no guess always go first okay here we go
yeah so awesome yeah some stir fry right
there smells great there we
go oh yeah so even though you live in a
super remote place Greg you love the
social time the interaction oh yeah I
might live away from everybody but um I
really like talking to people and I
really like being around people and what
I do it brings people into my home every
single day where I get to talk story and
even though I live on one of the most
remote places um on the island
I people tell me don’t you get lonely
living in the middle of nowhere I says
no I don’t get lonely because what you
don’t know is people actually come and
visit me every day so I get company all
the
time so that’s a friend that we’ pick
from the forest um that’s a native M
that we would eat yeah took the food
that we traded out chopped it up and
made us a
meal great now when visitors come to
Hawaii um one of the questions my dad
would always ask is how many times have
you ever been to Hawaii or is this your
first time now the next question my dad
would ask them or is how many you have
ever really seen Hawaii most people only
see what is on the beach what is on the
sunset M Thai canite what is in the
great Hawaiian luau what culture are you
seeing are you seeing the culture that
they had planned and scripted for you
before you came in or are you seeing the
culture that just happens every day
today with me you walking around with me
yeah this is not the hotel or the beach
no we saw the beach but to be to be fair
most tourists aren’t going to be able to
access it you know what I mean you know
it would be hard I had a contact of a
contact hook us up you know what I mean
but it’d be hard just for someone to
come here and all of a sudden they have
that access it would be hard to someone
to for for her to come here and ask but
there are people who are still willing
to share if you know where to look
you found me through a contact but what
a lot of people don’t know is there’s
many different ways and I’m not just the
only one who does this now as me as a
Hawaiian if I know that a lot of the
culture is not done in the correct way
when doing the shows or all of these
things for the visitors in the hotel
industry what is my job as a
Hawaiian do I get mad at the visitor
because they don’t know
or now do I have to step up to the plate
and I’ll step out of my safety zone and
says this is what we really
do so I think there are two types of
travel though one is the Tourist they
get a limited amount of time they have a
chaotic Crazy Life they’re here for
weather and a beach right y true and
then the other type of tourist it like
what I’m doing it does really matter on
what type what you really com into the
island they’re two types right mhm and I
don’t blame like I’m not saying one’s
better than the other or anything I’m
coming cuz I want to
learn you know what I mean and I can I
can take these lessons that I’ve learned
through you and show many people that is
true you know it all depends on what the
person comes for yeah some people don’t
care about the culture and I have
experienced that before you know they’re
just they get like their life is hectic
they have no time where the pressure is
off and for and for 5 days pressure off
beach in a my
I can understand that point but you
don’t but you don’t learn about Hawaii
at all obviously that way you know and
for us as local people we want the
visitors really who wants to learn
that’s what so the tourists need to know
that like the locals really want a lot
of visitors go how do I get to have that
experience well you got to be willing to
open up and when you come here what type
of Aloha do you come with yeah and I was
told that molai was very closed off as
far as like the hospitality of the
people totally wrong everyone’s been
super cool like Beyond friendly this is
the type of place you talk to someone at
the supermarket for 30 minutes and then
you go to the store and talk for another
30 that’s how you learn out about a
place you know yeah everybody meets
everybody hugs yep you know yeah Auntie
everybody’s Auntie everybody’s Uncle
that’s pretty cool to see
no you got something special I was
always told by my cunas yeah cult
Hawaiian culture is sacred not secret
what happens when things when it becomes
secret things die when they become
secret exactly son when it’s sacred we
want everybody to learn about it we want
everybody to love it just like we
do yeah sacred not secret and my kulana
or my responsibility that was left to me
by my dad is now my responsibility is to
educate and to share about this place so
you feel that responsibility from your
father and I take that very
seriously thanks
crack appreciate it I want to send the
right people your way if someone wants
to learn about the culture the lifestyle
how do they find you well you can look
us up at halava Valley m.com I’ll put
that link Down Below in the description
anything else you want to say and don’t
forget to check out my good buddy and
friend yeah Travis the guy we met down
at the water yeah grea outfitters.com
okay so if Hunters want to come and get
a unique experience come and check my
buddy out meet with Travis they can come
and check me out any which one of us
guys we’ll take care of them awesome
thanks so much for that one and thanks
guys for coming along until the next one
right on
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