20 minute read
Pua Kalaunu
from July–August 2022
Na Kumu Keala Ching lāua ‘o Kumu Pa‘akea Akiu
‘Ae, Pua Kalaunu
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Kaulana nā pua, pua kalaunu Kui ‘ia ia lei puni ke aloha Aloha palena‘ole e Lili‘uokalani He ali‘i nō ia, ‘Onipa‘a ē
‘Onipa‘a ē, ʻOnipa‘a la, ‘Onipa‘a e Lili‘uokalani ē
‘Ike ‘ia ia nani, pua kalaunu Kihikihi nā lima pa‘a ia pua He pua poni, He pua laha‘ole He pua aloha nō, ‘Onipa‘a ē
Kupu maila ia pua, pua kalaunu Hali‘a ‘ia ia ali‘i piha ka ‘i‘ini He leo kaulana, he leo ha‘aha‘a He leo ahonui nō, ‘Onipa‘a ē
Kaulana nā pua, pua kalaunu Kui ‘ia ia lei puni ke aloha Aloha palena‘ole e Lili‘uokalani He ali‘i nō ia, ‘Onipa‘a ē
He mele nō e Lili‘uokalani Famous flowers, crown flower Sewn garland surrounded with aloha Unconditional love to Queen Lili‘uokalani Indeed, a chiefess, steadfast always
Firmly standing, tolerantly accepting Established indeed, Queen Lili‘uokalani
Beauty is observed, crown flower Five edges firmly presenting flower Purple flower, colorful flower Lovely flower, firmly standing
Within this flower, crown flower Remembered chiefess filled with desire Famous voice, humble voice Patience voice, established indeed
Famous flowers, crown flower Sewn garland surrounded with aloha Unconditional love to Queen Lili‘uokalani Indeed, a chiefess, steadfast always
A song indeed, Queen Lili‘uokalani
‘O ka pua kalaunu, he pua kaulana iā Lili‘uokalani. ‘Ike ho‘i ka nani o ia pua lā, ‘elima mau kihikihi i pa‘a ‘ia ke kahua ola o ia ali‘i nei. He ‘i‘ini kona e hō‘ike a‘ela i kona aloha ā ‘onipa‘a mau i kona ‘ike Hawai‘i ola. He aloha nui kō Hawai‘i iā Lili‘uokalani ē! E nā Hawai‘i, ho‘omana‘o kākou i kō Lili‘uokalani ‘ike Hawai‘i ā ‘onipa‘a mau.
Queen Lili‘uokalani’s favorite flower, the crown flower. Observe the beauty of this flower with five edges holding a strong foundation of this chiefess. Her desire to present her passion and compassion firmly found in the Hawaiian knowledge of life. Hawai‘i loves Queen Lili‘uokalani!
To Hawai‘i, remember Queen Lili‘uokalani’s steadfast insights for Hawai‘i.
HAKA:
By Mālielani Larish
Moving hastily, Syndi Texeira lifted her
neighbor’s dog, an 80-pound pit bull mix named Bear, into a vehicle for transport out of Leilani Estates. It was May 3, 2018, and the police and civil defense had informed residents of the Leilani subdivision that they needed to evacuate immediately. Bear’s owner was extremely grateful for Syndi’s help because she could not move Bear’s hefty frame on her own. She silently said goodbye to her home and left, not knowing if she would ever see it again. On that day, steaming ground cracks in the subdivision had burst forth with lava, ushering in a four-month-long display of Kīlauea Volcano’s innate power to transform a verdant expanse into an archipelago of powerful lava fissures. Syndi and other volunteers continued to ask residents if they needed assistance with evacuating their pets. During those first 24 sleepless hours, they safely removed 20 animals from Leilani, including dogs, cats, rabbits, goats, and chickens. Little did they know that this fateful night in 2018 was just the beginning of an extraordinary effort that saved more than 1,000 hurt and displaced animals; it was a night that eventually led to the creation of a permanent emergency rescue organization, the Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance.
Central Hub for Animal Rescues
As the sun rose on the second day of the intensifying eruption, another group of concerned citizens convened online to help the animals and humans in the hot zone. In an attempt to provide a centralized communication platform, Alessandra Rupar-Weber and Malia Becklund started the Hawai‘i Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network (HLFARN) Facebook group. This group served as an online hub where the community could coordinate animal rescues from areas impacted by the eruption. Syndi Texeira, Laurie Lyons-Makaimoku, and three other women volunteered to serve as administrators for the group. The core HLFARN admins worked tirelessly to ensure that the needs of the rescued animals were met once they were safe, whether that involved transport, placement in vetted foster
The Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance
homes or sanctuaries, placement in temporary pastures for farm animals, or the provision of food and veterinary care. Many of the rescued animals were reunited with their original owners, but sometimes owners had to leave the island or were no longer in a living situation that allowed them to care for their pet’s needs. In partnership with county, state, and private groups, the Hawai‘i Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network saved pets and farm animals from the Kīlauea eruption and provided for their long-term well-being with the financial backing of a successful GoFundMe campaign. Ultimately, community volunteers formed the backbone of the efforts to help animals and their owners. “Without volunteers, none of this would have been possible,” says Laurie. “A tight-knit community of dedicated individuals quickly formed, with people from all walks of life coming together to perform rescue missions, drive their trailers, deliver food, provide animal care, and so much more. The bravery, fortitude, and compassion that these animal lovers showed were truly remarkable.” Alessandra, who has promoted animal welfare in Hawai‘i for the last 10 years, recalls that she only slept a few hours a night during the first two months of the eruption because demand for coordinating support services for the animals mushroomed so quickly, and the local animal organizations were simply not equipped to handle the magnitude of the unfolding natural disaster. Once the eruption ended in September 2018, HLFARN admins and volunteers continued to work until the end of the year, supporting fosters, locating permanent homes for animals, and assisting with supplies and transport.
Stories of Success
Amazing stories emerged out of the animal rescues. One handsome black pit bull puppy, who was sighted on the lānai of an abandoned home in an area landlocked by lava, had to be removed by helicopter in coordination with people from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), who had arrived in early June to lend their expertise. Although HLFARN administrators were unable to locate the dog’s original owners, they found the dog a wonderful new family. The family’s young son embraced his new dog, christening him “Pimple” in his effort to say the word “pit bull.” Syndi and another volunteer even took a boat to the Pohoiki area in search of a three-legged dog named Sweetie, whose owner had lost a home to lava. Although they did not find Sweetie, they did encounter a dog and cat that they were able to rescue.
Protecting All Animals from Mauka to Makai
Alessandra, Syndi, and Laurie’s past experiences with animal rescues, combined with their unwavering love for all of our island’s animals from mauka to makai (upland to seaside), motivated them to form the Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance, or HAKA. Syndi serves as the executive director, Alessandra is the compassion care coordinator, and Laurie serves as the communications coordinator. HAKA became a legal nonprofit in June 2019, towards the tail end of another monumental KeOlaMagazine.com | July - August 2022
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Some of the dedicated Hawaiÿi Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network volunteers wear masks to protect against volcanic fumes in 2018. photo courtesy of HAKA
Syndi Texeira helped reunite Bruce with his cat Toby after they were separated by the 2018 Kïlauea eruption. Bruce is a local artist whose wooden carvings grace Pohoiki Beach. photo courtesy of Syndi Texeira
undertaking. After finding out that a dairy in ‘O‘ōkala was about to close, the group organized the rescue and rehoming of more than 400 cows from the shuttered dairy. In one recent miracle story, HAKA’s collaborative network of care transformed the life of a down-on-her-luck dog who
Abandoned on a länai during the 2018 eruption, Hawaiÿi Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network administrators found ‘Pimple’ the pitbull a wonderful new family, who still care for him to this day. photo courtesy of HAKA
was sighted wandering around the town of Kea‘au by a HAKA volunteer. The honey-hued female had an unsightly growth hanging from her mammary glands. A couple had already scooped the dog up and surrendered her to animal control by the time that Syndi drove around Kea‘au in search of her. Syndi contacted animal control staff, who were happy to learn that HAKA could help address the dog’s plight. Within minutes of arriving at HAKA, a volunteer foster dad came to pick up “Mila,” as she was now called. HAKA arranged two surgeries for Mila to remove the large growth and found her a new foster mom, who started to train her and lavish her with love. Eventually, HAKA found the perfect “forever home” for Mila, where she melted the heart of her new owner.
The Hawaiÿi Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network organized transport and a foster home for “Koa, the Lava
Horse.” photo courtesy of Harry Durgin
April 29, 2022, World Pet Day, Pahoa Animal Hospital. photo courtesy of Syndi Texeira
“It takes an enormous ‘ohana [family] of people who give their all to transform the life of a dog like Mila,” Alessandra says. “Mila was not housebroken, she was not leash trained, but that’s the wonderful thing about animals: they know what love means, and they know what it means to be in a wonderful home. Mila adapted very fast.” In addition to coordinating disaster and emergency rescue assistance for animals, HAKA continues to be an online hub that provides integrated services and cooperative caretaking networks for island pets and farm animals. In the near future, HAKA hopes to revive a monthly pet food pantry, build upon relationships with local organizations, and secure the equipment, volunteers, and training necessary to conduct even the most advanced animal rescues. Alessandra gives the example of a calf who was stuck in a ditch in Hāmākua for four days because no one had the necessary equipment for her rescue. She envisions a future in which HAKA could respond to a situation like this immediately. HAKA founders also see a drastic need for emergency
HAKA partnered with Aloha ÿÏlio Rescue. photo courtesy of Aloha ÿÏlio Rescue
veterinary services on the island and hope to establish an emergency veterinary center. Syndi points out that, even for pet owners who are established clients of a veterinary center, emergency pet services are difficult to obtain after 10pm or on weekends. Syndi reminds people that veterinarians are working very hard in what can often be a thankless job. “We need to show appreciation for them,” she says, affirming that her beloved bulldog, Rachel, is still alive today after being rushed to surgery late one evening.
Regina, Alessandra, Deb, and Syndi at a Kona event in 2018. photo courtesy of HAKA HAKA members helped organize the rescue of 400 cows from the shuttered ÿOÿökala
Dairy in 2019. photo courtesy of Karen Bell Silva
Reflecting on the Past to Prepare for the Future
Using the lessons learned from the 2018 eruption, HAKA is passionate about getting people prepared for the next eruption or natural disaster. Syndi says that the field rescues she participated in during the eruption were “heartbreaking, you saw dead animals everywhere.” The HAKA ‘ohana believes that our animals deserve better. With preparation and early proactive intervention, the process of evacuating people and their animals during an emergency can proceed more smoothly and efficiently. As part of that essential preparation, HAKA is currently registering residents into a Disaster Animal Rescue Enrollment (DARE) database. In order to register, residents simply need to fill out a quick online form, which will help secure the assistance that owners and their animals will need during an emergency or disaster. HAKA is also currently recruiting volunteers to help in future emergencies as rescuers, foster homes, and transport drivers (with and without large trailers). In addition, HAKA seeks volunteers anytime who would like to assist with events or outreach, or who would like to give animals love as foster parents or permanent homes. “We are in a state in this world that we need to take care of each other,” Alessandra says. To that end, HAKA is dedicated to demonstrating “compassion, kindness, and care for animals and people.”
For more information: linktr.ee/808HAKA facebook.com/groups/hakaohana/
By Jan Wizinowich
Although not native to Korea, the hibiscus has
long been its national symbol. Probably originating in India, the hibiscus is easily transplanted, and endowed with adaptability. It most likely made its way north through China into Korea, where it was adopted as an emblem of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), and as the national symbol of the Republic of Korea (1948). It has long been a symbol for the endurance and prosperity of the Korean people. Perhaps the attributes of the hibiscus were carried in the hearts of Korean immigrants who arrived in Hawai‘i, a native home of hibiscus. Between 1903 and 1905, when the first officially sanctioned Korean immigrants arrived in Hawai‘i, their homeland was in flux—a pawn in global political events and heading towards Japanese occupation in 1910. They approached their new situation with hard work and the hopes of the restoration of the land of hibiscus. Koreans make up one of the smallest immigrant groups on Hawai‘i Island, and much of their lives and accomplishments live in shadow. University of Hawai‘i at Hilo English professor Seri Luangphinith, author of The Paths We Cross: The Lives and Legacies of Koreans on the Big Island, is setting out to change that. What started out as a catalogue for a 2017 Korean art exhibition became a book that captures an array of the history, culture, and experiences of Koreans on Hawai‘i Island. The project emerged out of a request from the university’s students to add Korean studies to the humanities curriculum. Seri began to study Korean with Korean language teacher Hanna Kim, who introduced her to the unique work of Korean artists. Two of those artists, Hae Kyung Seo and Byoung Yong Lee, were featured in a 2017 Korean art exhibit at the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center. Hae Kyung Seo began developing her unique style of calligraphy from the age of seven. Through many years of exploring various forms, her art is now a combination of calligraphy, poetry, and inkwash paintings to depict Korean history, among the first in Hawai‘i.* After earning a degree of fine arts from Hongik University in Seoul, Byoung Yong Lee left to study at the Pratt Institute in New York City. In 1994 he moved to Hawai‘i Island where he engaged in community activism, notably the restoration of the Korean immigrant graves at ‘Alae cemetery in Hilo. Byoung Yong Lee’s more contemporary expressionistic artwork provided a contrast with the more traditional art of Hae Kyung Seo, but also created a synergy of cultural roots.*
Lives Well Lived
When Seri began interviewing people, the project grew exponentially. “Every interview yielded two or three more people to contact,” said Seri. As well as the interviews, Seri scoured scholarly articles, books, local community publications, newspaper clippings, oral histories, archives of Lyman Museum, the Plantation Museum, and the main Hawai‘i State
A few of 400 plus rubbings of Korean gravestones collected and transcribed by Seri.
photo by Jan Wizinowich
Archives, unearthing the rich tapestry of Korean lives.
Probably the most well-known Korean immigrant was Syngman Rhee, prominent Korean national and eventual first president of the Republic of Korea. During his time in Hawai‘i, he worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Korean immigrants through education and enterprise, while helping to organize the Korean independence movement in Hawai‘i. Rhee created the Korean Christian Institute, a coeducational boarding school on O‘ahu, which provided opportunities for the children of plantation workers to improve their lives through education. On Hawai‘i Island, Rhee helped to start Donjihoe Investment Company and Dongji Chon (Comrade Village) just south of ‘Ōla‘a (Kea‘au area) where they harvested lumber, made charcoal, and farmed. “The charcoal factory was just one of several unassuming businesses run by Korean nationalists in the 1920s,” said Seri. In the late 1940s, with funds from the closure and sale of Korean Christian Institute and funds from the Dongji Investment Company, Inha Technical College in Incheon was opened. Highly rated, it continues to provide education for Koreans and Korean Americans, specializing in engineering and physical sciences. The original 7,000+ Koreans in Hawai‘i began a legacy of hard work and innovation. Soon Koreans began leaving the plantations to begin businesses in Hilo. There was a Korean drugstore on Front Street (now Kamehameha Avenue) owned by Park Bong Soong, a shoe store owned by Parls Nails Hun on Volcano Street, and a hotel owned by Choy Hung Choon on Front and Richardson.* Husbands of many picture brides tended to be older and so the women often outlived the men, and became the backbone of the community. Over the course of her life, Harry Kim’s mother, Ya Mul Kim, undertook a poultry business, a lauhala weaving venture, and started the beloved Kea‘au Kimchee Factory.* Working in the ginger fields until 2003, Yeon Boon Kang and her husband Shin Mook Kang went on to start businesses of their own. Yeon started H and K Lunch Shop and Shin created an organic piggery based on waste management techniques developed in Korea.* Overcoming many obstacles, Moon Soo Park earned a medical degree as a pathologist and went on to found Clinical Laboratories of Hawai‘i. Just before he retired, while on medical missions in Southeast Asia, he encountered the natural farming techniques of Master Han Kyu Cho and hosted several workshops, enabling Hawai‘i Island farmers to develop sustainable agriculture, which became known as Korean Natural Farming.*
Memorial created by Korean artist, Byoung Yong Lee, marking the Korean section of ÿAlae Cemetery, Hilo.
photo courtesy of Seri Luangphinith
Another well-known Korean son is Judge Ronald Ibarra. His Korean mother, Young Hi Lee, was born at Kehena Ranch, where her father worked planting corn. When Ronald was young, the family moved to a coffee farm in Captain Cook. After much hard work and two law degrees, he became the first administrative judge of Korean descent to be appointed on Hawai‘i Island.*
Look to the Ancestors
Amidst doing oral history interviews, Seri began digging through old newspapers and public records of Koreans in the Lyman Museum archives. “Then, on a hunch, I started looking at Korean cemeteries because I knew that Japanese and Chinese immigrants recorded hometowns and families on their graves and sure enough the Koreans also did the same thing.” The ‘Alae cemetery slopes down to the highway just north of Hilo town. In the center is the perfect canopy of an African shower tree. Just behind the tree is a large obelisk engraved with the Hawaiian version of Arirang, a Korean national song. The obelisk, created by Byoung Yong Lee, commemorates the lives of the Koreans who came to the island before him and
marks the Korean section of the graveyard. The grave markers of this and other island cemeteries, many abandoned, provided Seri with clues that contributed to the picture of the lives of the Korean immigrants. The gravestones list parents, spouses, siblings, children, hanai (adopted) relationships, and close friendships, as well as village of origin, social standing, and political stance. Additional insights were gained by searching out the origins of the use of a particular style of Chinese characters as well as Giwon, a traditional method of recording time derived from the legend of Dangun. The photo of the gravestone of the Chueng family sparked an unexpected connection with a descendent of a Korean immigrant family. On New Year’s Eve 2021, Seri got a surprise email from Gary Chong, who had found his grandfather’s gravestone in the book. Seri had learned of the graveyard located in an abandoned coffee field in Hōlualoa through the Reverend Gyo Mun Kim of the Korean Methodist Church in Kona, whose book first documented some of the graves.
Stories Continuing to Unfold
A chapter of The Paths We Cross: The Lives and Legacies of Koreans on the Big Island relates the journey Seri and her fiancé took to Korea to search out the ancestral graves and villages recorded on gravestones of the Hawai‘i Island cemeteries. This is a story that is just beginning to unfold. Since the 2017 publication of the book, Seri has continued to research for the next volume, which she hopes to
Hölualoa Cemetery gravestone of Gary Chong’s grandfather’s grave.
photo courtesy of Seri Luangphinith
Mainstreet Hilo circa 1918. After leaving the plantations, Korean immigrants were able to create businesses that served the Hilo community.
photo courtesy of Lyman Museum
have published in 2025. A cornerstone of much of Seri’s investigation has been following the stories told by the gravestones of Korean immigrants, found in several grave sites around the island and this and other emerging information is evolving into the next volume of Hawai‘i’s Korean story. “Researching graves in particular gave us a glimpse into the past to a time when Korea was still a unified peninsula known as Joseon, when Jeju Island was once still part of Jeolla Province and when Seoul was called Gyeongseong—these became a starting point in our later quest to track down and photograph more than two dozen hometowns of the first generations of immigrants as recorded on their headstones,” said Seri. For Seri, as a daughter of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, these projects are a heart quest. “That’s why the stories of Koreans resounded with me—they remind me of what my father’s countrymen suffered. I empathize with Korean history and have learned what occupation and war can do to a people and culture. When a country unravels like that, the traumas are lingering. There are stories I will never be able to tell, what people had to do to survive.”
For more information: seri@hawaii.edu
References: * The Paths We Cross: The Lives and Legacies of the Koreans on the Big Island. From the Land of Hibiscus: Koreans in Hawai‘i pacifichorticulture.org/articles/the-hibiscus-revolution/
