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It’s been four years since the start of Honolulu Community College’s Ka Māla o Niuhelewai (the garden of Niuhelewai) and the kalo (taro) is ready for harvest. Every April, the campus celebrates the māla with an annual campus Hoʻolauleʻa. This year’s celebration will take place on Wednesday, April 15, 10:30 a.m.–1 p.m. at Ka Māla o Niuhelewai behind the Children’s Center.

“Ka Māla o Niuhelewai, has been an instrumental hands-on venue for students, faculty, staff and the community in supporting the Hawaiian understanding of sustainable mālama ʻāina application for producing food for Hawaiʻi,” shares Mark Alapaki Luke, Hawaiian studies instructor and chair of Kūlana Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Programs Division.

Event participants will enjoy various food items prepared in the imu, kalo to kuʻiʻai (pound poi), mele (music) and other hands on activities including ʻaha (sennit cordage) making, lei lāʻī (kī or ti leaf) lei making and kōnane game (resembling checkers).

In keeping with the sustainability theme everyone is encouraged to bring their own reusable plate or container, beverage cup or bottle, and utensils for their lunch. Limited paper goods will be available to mālama ʻāina (caring for the land/earth) and alleviate the trash in the landfill.

More about Ka Māla o Niuhelewai

Students pounding kalo

Ka Māla o Niuhelewai has received the Scenic Hawaiʻi Betty Crocker Landscape Award for Xeriscape in 2012, and most recently, the Honolulu CC Sustainability Award at the 2014 Hawaiʻi Sustainability in Higher Education Summit.

In 2011, 20 Hawaiian varieties of kalo were planted. The college received a $25,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to plant Hawaiian varieties of kalo in a dry land māla.

“Students, staff, community groups and K–12 schools, all have benefited from the experiences at the māla in various ways. The venue has helped participants connect with their lessons, be exposed to traditional Hawaiian ʻike (knowledge), be introduced to subsistence farming (in an urban setting), gain an understanding of sustainable stewardship and attain insights for their assignments within diverse course disciplines,” shares Luke.

—By Billie Lueder

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