Coming together: Strength grows from within Kauai residents show the power of coming together after a natural disaster.
By Hawaii Community Foundation Dec 3, 2018 Honey Chandler tied the rope to a muddy table that had become wedged under her neighbor’s lanai. Her horse, Hokupaa, stood patiently waiting as she tied the other end to his saddle. Honey mounted Hokupaa, and together they dragged the table out, and then to the road. “A lot of places were so muddy that cars can’t get there—but a horse could,” she says. In the wake of the massive April flood on Kauai’s north shore, no one asked Honey to bring Hokupaa down from his stable to rescue the Hanalei buffaloes that were floating down the river or roaming and stranded on the beach. No one had to tell this teenager to volunteer, pulling rubbish from underneath houses and out of Waioli Stream. During the community’s time of need, many young people like Honey stepped up and took up the work. Across the Garden Isle, kamaaina and visitors rallied together to help each other, giving their time, resources, talents and manual labor. “It was chaotic at first; everyone was in panic mode,” Honey says. “But it became beautiful very quickly as we all put our heads together and worked together. I learned that when you put your mind to something, you’re capable of doing something you didn’t think you were at the beginning of the day.” As difficult as the recovery effort has been so far, it has also been beautiful, as Honey suggests. The floodwaters rose high that week in April, but the spirit and determination of Kauai’s people rose even higher.