Pu'uhonua o Waianae

The weather earlier in the day was not raining so I decided to go to the Pu'uhonua o Waianae open house. During the hour drive out to the encampment it clouded over, but it never rained. This homeless encampment is on State-owned property next to the Pokai Bay boat ramp where I spent one summer during college, part of a group diving on an artificial reef collecting data for future reef enrichment projects. I haven't been back here for over 40 years; a lot has changed! The residents at Pu'uhonua o Waianae wanted to show the general public how the camp was run to dispel myths that many people have about homeless people. Based on the people in my tour group I think they were mainly preaching to the choir today. The State has recently proposed to possibly move the nearly 200 residents from this 19 acre site to a nearby 2 acre site which means going from about 4100 sf per person to about 430 sf; which will force the loss of a lot of amenities. Among other things, the current site has walking/biking paths throughout that are wide enough to allow emergency vehicle access, a recreation tent that kids can only go to after their homework is done, a garden area & chicken coop to provide some fresh food for residents, & a donation tent where anyone can drop off items. They also have rules and block captains to help enforce the rules & keep peace, order, and safety in the camp, which has been in existence at least since 2006. This is not the first pu'uhonua that has been created here.

Kalo patch n foreground and chicken coop in background.

Apparently the State is also saying that the residents are also negatively impacting the habitat for the 'opae'ula, an endemic shrimp. It lives in anchialine pools, some of which are on the encampment property. Rocks walls have been built around some of the known pool areas to keep people & dogs out, with additional rocks marking the locations of the holes to keep them from being impacted. Some areas are off limits to camping because the limestone karst layer above some underground caverns is too thin and will collapse. The residents have asked the State to teach them what else they need to do to keep the pools healthy but have not been successful in getting any training.

Some of the anchialine pools on the site.

When I got back I checked out Mom's orchid and found another flower has bloomed! Earlier in the week I saw that the orange has flowers again; we'll see if its just as productive as it was last year. The papayas are bigger but still totally green; it's been about 10 months since I put the seedlings in to the ground, looks like it might be a full year of in-ground growing to produce a ripe papaya.

I didn't notice the bug on the flower when I was taking the photo.

The first of the new crop of orange blossoms.

Fruits on the tallest of the 3 trees.

The rain has finally arrived; it's raining while I write this. The island is under a flash flood warning until early tomorrow morning; the windward side of the island is getting the heaviest rain. I wonder how much rain they are getting at Pu'uhonua o Waianae?

Happy Birthday to cousin Justine! Happy Birthday also to Paul & Greg!