Category Archives: Community

Community

Seeing the Play Kamau

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Remember the play we told you about the other day, in which Richard’s grandson Kapono (a.k.a. Christian Pa) played the lead?

The play is called Kamau, written by Alani Apio, and was performed up at Jason Scott Lee’s Ulua Theatre up in Volcano. Richard and June went to Opening Night, and I saw it on Friday night with a friend.

I don’t know if I can describe it adequately, except to say: Wow. What a powerful story and performance.

Kamau is the story of three male cousins who live in their family’s long-time home at the beach, where two of them fish for their living and the younger one, Alika (played by Kapono), is just out of high school and working as a tour guide. It tells the story of what happens when the land is sold to a developer who plans to build a hotel. Alika’s boss at the development company gets them more time to move, and finagles them some money to relocate. He convinces the company to offer the one cousin, Jason Scott Lee’s character Michael (a fisherman who cares for the family’s traditional fishing shrine) a job showing tourists how to fish.

Mostly it tells the story of two cultures colliding. And what I liked about it (and also found frustrating – but how true to life it is) was that it didn’t provide any pat, tidy answers. Life doesn’t always offer those up, does it?

Nobody was wholly a good guy or a bad guy. Everything didn’t magically work out at the end. But somehow, they found a way to carry on anyway. The play name, “Kamau” means “to carry on.”

It is really a powerful play. Thought-provoking, emotional and wrenching. Afterward, when we saw Jason Scott Lee standing outside, I told him how powerful I found it, and he laughed when I said I felt “wrung out.” I really did.

The acting was really very good. We were so impressed. Kapono starts at the University of Hawai‘i in the fall and is majoring in Performing Arts. I can imagine him doing very well.

We wrote here once about how Richard’s wife June, always wanted perform and “go on the road.” When she, Richard and Kapono were in New York City they saw lots of Broadway plays.

Maybe one day it will be Kapono up on that stage.

Community

P.S.

As a result of yesterday’s blog post here about the play Kamau (and, oh, you know, perhaps also the newspaper article), ticket sales soared yesterday and today — to the point where some dates sold out and three additional performances have been added.

Here are the new dates:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17TH – 2:00 PM MATINEE

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20TH – 7:30 PM

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24TH – 2:00 PM MATINEE

Get your tickets here. It should be good!

Community, Family News

Kamau

Today we’re talking about Richard’s grandson Kapono, 18, who just graduated from Kamehameha Schools and plans to attend the University of Hilo at Hilo in the fall, where he’ll major in performing arts.

And he’s not just sitting around in the meantime. Next week he stars in the play Kamau, up at Jason Scott Lee’s Ulua Theatre in Volcano. (Though we call Richard’s grandson “Kapono” around here, on the program his name reads Christian Pa).

The play tells a story about a Hawaiian family torn between preserving their traditions and surviving in the modern world, and it revolves around three cousins.

Kapono plays the main lead character. Ron Serrao, who has done numerous local Hawai‘i plays and appeared on TV, plays the second cousin.

Well-known actor and Volcano resident Jason Scott Lee plays the third cousin. “He’s really good to work with,” says Kapono, “because of what he can do. He really gets into his character. He can change his emotions on the flip of a dime.”

“He’s actually kind of challenging to work with just because he’s so good at what he does.”

The play, by Hawaiian playwright Alani Apio, tackles some complicated subjects related to Hawaiian sovereignty and family.

“It’s about a Hawaiian family who’s living in a shack on the beach,” explains Kapono, “and one day they receive this bad news that they’re going to be kicked off their land. It bounces back and forth between the current time and the past. It’s kind of about standing up for what you believe in. It communicates what being Hawaiian is, and how we as Hawaiians today have to adapt to the modern world and western influences.”

The play’s title, “Kamau,” means to “carry on,” and Kapono says the play has a really strong, good message. “It gives a multi-point of view of what it is to be Hawaiian,” he says. “What we as Hawaiians should be doing. We’re not going to forget about our culture and what not. We have to keep moving forward, stick together, and work together. If we going to separate, then things are just going to fall apart.”

Tickets to the intimate theatre venue are available online and selling fast. Opening night is already sold out. Buy tickets here if you’re interested. Advance tickets are also available at Basically Books, Kea‘au Natural Foods and Volcano Store.

Kapono says the play is indescribable. “You have to see it. It’s very emotional and spiritual, and for people who are Hawaiian—even if they’re not Hawaiian—people are really moved by this story.”

“It’s a really incredible play.”

The details: August 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 7:30 p.m. at Ulua Theatre. 19-4325 Haunani Road in Volcano Village.

Advance tickets $12 general, $10 students & seniors. At the door, $15 and $10.

Community, Education, Mauna Kea

Reaching For The Stars

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Richard Ha writes:

I’ve written here before about the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), a “new generation” telescope that may be sited here on Mauna Kea.

And I’ve written about how this project, unlike previous telescopes, is being discussed. I’m on the board of the Hawai‘i Island Economic Development Board, and we’ve made it clear that this can only happen if, unlike with previous telescopes, our people clearly benefit from it.

What I haven’t mentioned yet are the types of extensive benefits we are discussing:

• What if the TMT coming here meant disadvantaged Hawaiian (and other race) students can attend Hawai‘i Community College and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo for free?

• What if we develop a pathway for local people to fill jobs during the extensive construction and operating of the telescope?

• What if we collect all the funds attributable to astronomy and have that money administered by a group of wise people who are chosen specifically to allocate it to the education of this island’s keiki?

• And what if these credible people fund education programs about the Hawaiian culture and Hawaiian language, and about traditional ways of sustainability, the sciences, job skills and other subjects that prepare our children for a new world where we, living on the island of Hawai‘i, might have to survive on what exists here on our island?

• And what if this organization exists far into the future and benefits many generations to come?

What if, not at the summit though on Mauna Kea, the world’s finest and most powerful telescope looks back in time to the beginning, seeking the answer to the question, “Are we alone?”…

…while on the ground, the people have learned how to restore the ancient fish ponds, and are supplementing that with modern aquaculture methods that don’t require oil? And the people on the island’s windward side are using their abundant water to again grow kalo, and growing food with hydroponics, and as in pre-Western times they are able to feed everybody without depending on foreign oil?

It would be the best of the future and the best of the past. What if?

From the TMT:

May 15, 2008

 PASADENA, Calif.–After completing a worldwide survey unprecedented in rigor and detail of astronomical sites for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), the TMT Observatory Corporation board of directors has selected two outstanding sites, one in each hemisphere, for further consideration. Cerro Armazones lies in Chile’s Atacama Desert, and Mauna Kea is on Hawai’i Island.

The TMT observatory, which will be capable of peering back in space and time to the era when the first stars and galaxies were forming and will be able to directly image planets orbiting other stars, will herald a new generation of telescopes.

To ensure that proposed TMT sites would provide the greatest advantage to the telescope’s capabilities, a global satellite survey was conducted, from which a small sample of outstanding sites was chosen for further study using ground-based test equipment. This ground-based study of two sites in the northern hemisphere and three in the southern was the most comprehensive survey of its kind ever undertaken.

Atmospheric turbulence above each candidate site, and wind characteristics, temperature variations, amount of water vapor, and other meteorological data at some of the candidate sites, were continuously monitored for up to four years. Based upon this campaign, the TMT project will now further evaluate the best site in the northern hemisphere and the best site in the southern hemisphere.

“All five sites proved to be outstanding for carrying out astronomical observations,” said Edward Stone, Caltech’s Morrisroe Professor of Physics and vice chairman of the TMT board. “I want to congratulate the TMT project team for conducting an excellent testing program, not only for TMT but for the benefit of astronomical research in the future.” In addition to the “astronomical weather” at the sites, other considerations in the final selection will include the environment, accessibility, operations costs, and complementarities with other nearby astronomy facilities.

The next step in the site analysis process is the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will thoroughly evaluate all aspects, including environmental, cultural, socio-economic, and financial, of constructing and operating the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawai`i. An environmental impact statement for Cerro Armazones has already been completed and submitted to the Chilean government for their review.

The community-based Mauna Kea Management Board, which oversees the management of the Mauna Kea summit in coordination with the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, concurs that the Thirty-Meter Telescope should proceed with its EIS process. Regardless of whether Mauna Kea is selected as the Thirty-Meter Telescope site, information generated from the EIS will be useful in the management of Mauna Kea.

Henry Yang, TMT board chair and chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, expressed the gratitude of the board. “The selection of these top two candidate sites is an exciting milestone in the Thirty-Meter Telescope’s journey from vision to reality. We are grateful for the tireless efforts of our project team and the tremendous vision and support of the Moore Foundation and our international partners that have brought us to this point. We look forward to moving ahead rapidly and with all due diligence toward the selection of our preferred site.”

The TMT is currently in the final stages of an $80 million design phase. The plan is to initiate construction in 2010 with first light in early 2018. This project is a partnership between the University of California, California Institute of Technology, and ACURA, an organization of Canadian universities. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has provided $50 million for the design phase of the project and has pledged an additional $200 million for the construction of the telescope, and Caltech and the University of California each will seek to raise matching funds of $50 million to bring the construction total to $300 million.

“We look forward to the discussions with the people of Hawai’i and Chile regarding the opportunities to open a new era in astronomy in one of these two world capitals of astronomy,” says Professor Ray Carlberg, the Canadian Large Optical Telescope project director and a TMT board member. “Canadian scientists have partnered in the extensive site testing carried out by TMT and we are very pleased to see that it has led to two great options for TMT.”

TMT gratefully acknowledges support for design and development from the following: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, National Research Council of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, and the National Science Foundation (USA).

Adopt-a-Class, Community

Keaukaha Comes to the Farm

Lehua Veincent, principal of Keaukaha Elementary School, brought his teachers and staff to the farm on Friday.

They arrived in a big yellow school bus, and then everybody gathered outside the office in a loose circle while Kumu Lehua (in the orange shirt) chanted.

And then the tour started. Richard spoke a little, telling how they decided to move the farm to Pepe‘ekeo and talking about the significance of the resources here in helping them decide.

He led a tour of the tomato houses, and explained that they look very simple “but a lot of thought went into that simple design.” He spoke a bit about how they operate.

 

Someone asked about organics, and Richard said something I found interesting. He explained: “Our objective is to feed as many people as we can, the best we can. Like the ahupua‘a system the Hawaiians used to have – what works, works. We try to use the best technology available in the smartest way possible.”

Charlotte Romo, the farm’s greenhouse expert, elaborated, saying the farm “doesn’t want to get stuck in a label of ‘organic.’” She pointed out that when they have to spray, they use the same products organic growers use. And that she scouts each of the more than 100 tomato houses every single week to check not only what insects are present, but at what stage of development. She pointed out that what kills larvae isn’t what works on an older insect, and that they spray only for what is present. “We don’t want to just spray all houses the same,” she said.

 

While we toured the packing house and the banana operation, I had a chance to talk a bit with Kumu Lehua.

Keaukaha Elementary  School

 

I learned that Keaukaha Elementary is the only school on this island to have moved out of the federal “No Child Left Behind” restructuring.

Kumu Lehua told me, “Our school learns differently. Without the trips (provided by community members through Adopt-a-Class), I don’t think the academics would have gone up. For us it’s about getting them out. Before, there was a moratorium, you couldn’t take the kids out,” he said. “But that’s how our kids learn.”

Just before they brought out the lunches they’d brought for all of us, Kumu Lehua spoke. He explained what the school’s connection with Hamakua Springs has meant.

“Three years ago,” he said, “when Richard called me, it was because of Mauna Kea. I was fortunate to talk story with him. When I came to Keaukaha School, that connection became important to the children.

“I want to mahalo Richard and June,” he said. “They’ve meant a lot to the school, though a lot of people outside the school don’t know it. If it wasn’t for last year, there are things we wouldn’t have been able to experience, especially the excursions.”

He explained that before they came to the farm that morning, they had had three community kupuna (elders) come in and speak to them. He motioned to his staff. “You heard our kupuna say, ‘At one time Keaukaha School was not one to be recognized.’”

“Mahalo to Richard and June for being there,” he said.

Community, Sustainability

Woe is Not Us!

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The reason we decided to do our E Malama ‘Aina sustainability festival was in order to plan for the worse case.

• Matt Simmons at The Oil Drum is sounding even more worried than usual.

• What happens if the ship does not come? Fuel Shortage Stops Water Supply in Rotuma, Fiji. Could it happen to us?

• T. Boone Pickens is saying that our country needs to do something now. He is going to build a massive windfarm in order to help the country get off foreign oil.

• Since we started planning the E Malama ‘Aina Festival several months ago, David Murdoch, the president of Dole Foods, has even requested that our Governor declare a state of emergency because of Hawaii’s vulnerability to fossil fuel shortages.

Well, we’re not sitting around saying, “Woe is me.” We’ve decided to do something about it.

We are asking people who are doing sustainable things to join us, by putting up a booth and showing people what they do.

Such as a local kid who lives in Hakalau. Using water from the river, he makes electricity and with that electricity he makes hydrogen. The hydrogen runs a hydrogen scooter.

This is just a proof of concept; they are planning much bigger things. Big enough that the legislature authorized a bond float of $50 million to help them develop the process into transportation fuel for Hawai‘i.

For quite a long time now, traditional farmer Jerry Konanui has been very concerned about our ability to feed ourselves.

“There are a lot more people becoming increasingly aware of our future,” he said, “and the demand for food production knowledge as well as seeds and plant materials are increasing at a higher rate than in the past. I’ve personally been called upon lately for workshops and as a source of plant materials a lot more than in the past.”

Jerry will talk about kalo, making poi and how things were done in the old days. And also, why these practices are still valid today.

We are putting on the E Malama ‘Aina festival to show people that they are not alone. That, working together, we can do this. And we are going to have fun doing it.

Roland Torres, producer of Kama’aina Backroads on OC 16, is helping us put on the festival. He knows all the Hoku award-winning entertainers and he is the festival’s Entertainment Chairperson.

There will be a keiki village.

The Master Gardeners will have a booth where they will give away plants and talk to people about how to make their own gardens.

Charlotte and Rodrigo Romo will have a booth adjoining our Hamakua Springs hydroponic vegetable booth, where they will talk about their time living in the Biosphere 2 and what they learned there about sustainability.

Bernie Kratky will show how to grow plants in his novel system of non-circulating hydroponics, where the plants grow in water.

Nancy Redfeather and friends from the School Garden Network will show what they do.

Manu Meyer will demonstrate “Got Epistemology? A Hawaiian Way of at Looking at Sustainability.”  Something like that.

The car dealers will bring out their most fuel-efficient vehicles.

And someone will show how he made an electric bike.

Let us know if you have something sustainable to share. Otherwise, please mark your calendar for November 7th and 8th and meet us at Mo‘oheau Park in downtown Hilo.

Adopt-a-Class, Community, Education, Schools

In Good Standing!

I was so happy to receive this email a couple days ago. It’s from Lehua Veincent, principal of Keaukaha Elementary School. That’s the school we work with through our Adopt-a-Class program.

Kumu Lehua announced:  It is my honor and my privilege to announce that Keaukaha School has MET Adequate Yearly Progress for SY 2007-2008 as announced by the Department of Education yesterday.

This second year progress has moved the school out of RESTRUCTURING STATUS into IN GOOD STANDING, UNCONDITIONAL!

On Friday, the local paper had a sub-headline: “31 of 42 Big Island Schools fail to make the grade.” Keaukaha School was one of the 11 schools that passed.

For as long as I can remember, 40 years at least, it was assumed that Keaukaha kids had a hard time doing schoolwork. Or maybe some people were assuming even worse.

That has now changed forever. Keaukaha Elementary has proved itself a role model as measured by modern methods.

Last year at this time, I heard whisperings that Keaukaha Elementary School had made progress with their ratings, and that with one more year of good results it would be removed from the list of schools to be restructured. Was it true? People were asking: could it be? Some were in tears.

A year later, and we have this incredible announcement.

It is much, much more than just an announcement. I feel like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I can only imagine what it must mean to the community, teachers, staff and especially to KUMU LEHUA.

Read the whole announcement, from Kumu Lehua Veincent, below:

To members of the Keaukaha Community Association, Keaukaha School Foundation, Keaukaha Parent-Teacher Association, Keaukaha School Community Council, Queen Lili’uokalani Children’s Center, Kamehameha Schools, Ke Ana La’ahana PCS, Hamakua Springs, INPEACE/SPARK, and UH-Department of Education!

It is my honor and my privilege to announce that Keaukaha School has MET Adequate Yearly Progress for SY 2007-2008 as announced by the Department of Education yesterday.

This second year progress has moved the school out of RESTRUCTURING STATUS into IN GOOD STANDING, UNCONDITIONAL!

We take one year at a time with new students, new attitudes, new behaviors, and new ways of learning guiding our next action step. We continue to build upon this dualistic approach to learning in not only maintaining our stance in achieving the standards set forth in our educational realm but also a standard set forth by our own kupuna, ‘ohana, and the history of a unique place of setting – our beloved Keaukaha. We move forward by looking backwards! We move forward with humility yet with focus and strength! We move forward with pono!

As business and educational partners to Keaukaha School, you have all kokua by embracing Keaukaha School and the many ways of learning that honors genealogy, history, and place! Your unconditional aloha to all of our keiki here at Keaukaha School is acknowledged and appreciated! The cliché that “we couldn’t have done it without you” extends farther — your support establishes the foundation from which learning takes place and empowers a community to do what is pono for all that live here!

I honor you, our faculty and staff, our ‘ohana, and our community.

Please share with your constituents at your respective agencies this voice of aloha and mahalo!

Me ke aloha nui ia ‘oukou a pau!

na’u, na Kumu Lehua

Adopt-a-Class, Community

Ripples for Education

It’s a cliché, but it’s true that you really never know what will happen when you drop a tiny pebble into a pond.

Since Richard first heard that Keaukaha Elementary School didn’t have enough money to take its students on field trips, and set up the Adopt-a-Class program to send the students to Hilo’s ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, the ripples have been getting bigger and bigger.

The community stepped up to that call, and paid for buses and admission fees so that Keaukaha kids got to take some amazing field trips this school year.

Ka‘iu Kimura, Assistant Director of ‘Imiloa, says that the Adopt-a-Class program has taken off beyond just Keaukaha now. “Some of our members at  ‘Imiloa have adopted other classes now,” she says. “It’s the coconut wireless. People have called and asked, ‘How can we sponsor Pa‘auilo School,’ for instance. It’s infectious.”

And then Gordon and Betty Moore got involved. Gordon was co-founder of Intel Corporation, and he and his wife now divide their time between the San Francisco Bay Area and the Big Island.

Kimura says they’d visited ‘Imiloa (“under the radar; they don’t like recognition”) and liked what they saw. One of their people contacted ‘Imiloa and heard about Richard Ha and the Adopt-a-Class program.

He invited ‘Imiloa to submit a proposal to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to expand the program so that 50 percent of all school students on the Big Island could visit ‘Imiloa.

They did. It was accepted.

And then, ripple ripple, Kimura says that when ‘Imiloa sought bids for buses to transport the students – the biggest expense – they found that “bus companies are so willing to work with us that we think we’re going to be able to expand it from 50 to 100 percent of the students on the Big Island.”

That’s every Big Island student in public, charter and private school having the opportunity to learn about science and astronomy and native Hawaiian culture at ‘Imiloa. All because some people felt bad that students in Keaukaha didn’t have money for field trips and did something about it.

“Basically it means that for the next two years,” explains Kimura, “we will service 15,000 Big Island students in grades K through 12.”

The Moore Foundation grant has a matching requirement for the second year, so ‘Imiloa will be launching a campaign to help fund the second year soon. And ‘Imiloa is bringing in an outside evaluator in hopes of finding a way to expand the school visits beyond the two years, so it can offer them on a perpetual basis.

The Moore Foundation’s grant technician told her they are now considering having the Moore Foundation start funding kids in the San Francisco Bay Area to go to science centers near them, too.

“I just want to mahalo that core group that put together that Keaukaha opportunity,” says Kimura. “Not only the Moore Foundation, but also the local community people who really liked that idea and were willing to support schools in their own area.”

“It’s resonated out from Keaukaha to the whole island to the Bay Area,” she says. “It’s been an exciting thing to see it grow.”

Community, Renewable Energy Sources, Sustainability

Festival Update

The Malama ‘Aina Festival is starting to get traction.

Roland Torres, executive producer of Kama‘aina Backroads, will be working with us. When I told him that the festival will focus on Hawaiian culture and then, in that context, alternate energy, food producing, recycling and waste management methods, he told me this aligned with his personal philosophy and that he wanted to get involved.

We cannot be more happy that he has agreed to join us. His Kama‘aina Backroads program on OC 16 is uniquely local Hawaiian style.

Since the Hawai‘i Island energy forum this past Friday, I’ve had many calls from people with alternative energy projects. One interesting wind energy project involves a wind energy machine that spins like a top.

I talked to the H2-technologies people yesterday and in addition to producing hydrogen for transportation, they can produce ammonia for fertilizer. If this works, it will be a big deal for agriculture in Hawai‘i. This will help some of us to continually produce food intensively.

We will be asking auto companies with alternative energy cars and trucks to come and put some on display. One car company committed to display and even volunteered to become a sponsor.

Roland Torres has a mock-up website he will use to keep everyone up to speed on the festival as November 7th and 8th approach.  We’ll keep you posted here, too.

Community, Hamakua Coast, Water

Andrade Camp Water System

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Yesterday was the groundbreaking and dedication for Andrade Camp’s new water system.

It’s hard to believe that we started this project – to help transition our neighbors at Andrade Camp from a private, sugar plantation water system to a standard county water system – five years ago.

The 31 households in Andrade Camp, next to the farm, are made up of former sugar plantation employees. They have always paid a flat rate for their water usage, $8/month, and the sugar company took care of all maintenance on the water lines.

When C. Brewer sold all its sugar lands a few years back, the company told residents they’d have to take over the private water system and start paying the county for their water use.  The company went down to just six workers doing all the maintenance on their lands, and by the end, there was only one executive on O‘ahu making all the money decisions.

Fortunately, on the ground, it was John Cross that was in charge. I’ve known John for 15 years and he is one of the good guys. He was the one who decided to put in individual meters at each house. He did everything he could to make sure the private water system was operational. Knowing what was happening at the company’s O‘ahu headquarters, I’m sure John did some pretty creative accounting to make sure everything was going to work out for Andrade Camp.

It was quite a process to transition this small neighborhood from that point to the county water system. We wanted to help, and formed the Andrade Camp Association. Roy Oka was elected president. Myself, Rick Ryken and Richard Matsunami were on the board of directors.

We asked for a meeting with Water Supply.  Representative Dwight Takamine, John Cross, who represented the sugar company, Milton Pavao, the boss of the key Water Supply personnel and the Andrade Camp Association Board attended this important meeting.

 

After that meeting we recruited Roy Takemoto, from the County Planning Department and Attorney Alan Okamoto, who had experience with Hamakua Sugar and transition issues. Dayday Hopkins and Jane Horike also helped us organize ourselves.

Dwight Takamine was the driving force behind this project. There were several times that it looked like the project had died, but he would not give up. I’ll bet he called more than 15 meetings in order to keep the process moving. He is very good at getting the best out of people. He was able to keep everyone on the same page and working together.

He insists on sharing the credit with everyone. But all of us who were involved from the start know that it was Dwight who made it happen.

I’ve known him for as long as I’ve been farming in Pepe‘ekeo. He does this kind of collaborative process with all the groups on the Hamakua Coast. I respect and admire people who are doers, not talkers.

I am not a political person. But based on my observation over the past 15 years, I support Dwight one hundred percent in his run for the Senate.

Fast forward to yesterday, the groundbreaking and dedication ceremony for the new Andrade Camp water system.

Here is the press release about yesterday’s event:

Pepe‘ekeo Community Celebrates Successful Ground Breaking for Andrade Camp Water System

Pepe‘ekeo, Hawai‘i – June 10, 2008 – A gorgeous summer day unfolded for Pepe‘ekeo Community as they celebrated the ground breaking of the Andrade Camp Water System Improvements Project.  A little fewer than 100 people gathered on Andrade Camp Road to hear their partners’ celebratory comments and witness the symbolic groundbreaking.

USDA Rural Development State Director Lorraine Shin commented this morning, “Our goal at USDA is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for people in rural America.  Attainment of this goal is evident today with Andrade Camp and our partners from all levels of government and community.”  The Andrade Camp Water System Improvement Project will successfully transition their private plantation era water system to a modern County water system.

Deputy Manager Quirino Antonio spoke on behalf of the Water Board, County of Hawaii– “This project demonstrates that together we can make a difference.  Together we can map a better future for generations to come.”

The blessing was held on Andrade Camp Road in Pepe‘ekeo this morning.  A lunch celebration followed at the Kula‘imano Community Center.  Many partners spoke during the luncheon about the sincere efforts of all involved.  Representative Dwight Takamine closed the celebration with, “This effort surrounding this small community was made possible because each and every partner held the best interest of Andrade Camp Residents at heart.  Thank you all, sincerely.”

Construction begins June 12, 2008.