MAUI, Hawaii — It may take an extended period before the full extent of human losses is discovered after the blazes. The death count is higher than 110 and is expected to continue growing.
As people grapple with this news, they’re trying to figure out the fate of precious artifacts as well as their ties to the island’s past.
The Na ‘Aikane o Maui Cultural and Research Center was where you could find the remains of Ancient Hawaii prior to European colonization. “Old documents. Maps. Genealogy. The books were made by our kings” Ke’eamoku Kapu the center’s director. “Our culture center became a hub for a large portion people from our Native Hawaiian people longing for the past.”
For Kapu the centre was more than just the precious tangible heirlooms of his family. It was also where his people met. “It served as a space for worship. A site of traditional culture and rituals.”
The site was located situated on the main thoroughfare of Lahaina which was the capital city of the earlier Hawaiian Kingdom. Kapu was back in the rubble a few days after the fire to examine what remains in the town. “Oh, man. My neighbors are gone. Our churches are apartment buildings that are thriving with families. Generations of families have gone.”
He also visited the location of the center for culture in the hope of finding certain artifacts. He found nothing. “Carving images created from stone. It was one of the stones. A stone was handed directly to me by several chiefs in Samoa, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Tahiti, Samoa, and was a major loss.”
A few of the documents and books that were kept at the center weren’t just documents from history they were also educational documents for Indigenous people who fought for the ownership of the land and the water that was the property of their ancestral ancestors. Kapu himself was a participant in legal proceedings that culminated in the State Supreme Court and won his rights to claim the land his family owns since the time that of the Hawaiian kingdom. Kapu shared his knowledge to other members of the community who were in the center of culture.
“That was an excellent benefit of the center that it could invite families to come in and share what I’ve learned to assist to get their land back. She has been working on to complete all the paperwork. All the documents are gone.”
When he speaks, Kapu points his finger towards his temple on the right.
“All that I’ve is what I’ve got in this place. I just broke down crying. Like we got erased.”
Kapu admitted that he’s not been able to fully think about the loss. He’s been through three fires on Maui prior to this one. “I do not sleep. I wake up having nightmares. Then I get up and think all is well and then awake and realize it’s not. It’s probably a reason behind why I’m doing this thing I’m doing. Because I’m active.”
He’s helping Maui’s Emergency Management Agency – helping in the running of one of their distribution centres in Lahaina together with a few relatives of his. He’s distributing food, supplies and water to the people who are affected from the fire. Kapu states that Indigenous people have a special understanding to the task.
“We know exactly how the majority of people are experiencing right now. We know about the trauma. We have heard about being dislocated.”
Kapu is also an intermediary between the local government and the Indigenous community. He is on an advisory committee to the mayor while the county works out the responses to the fire. “There’s plenty of distrust in the community at present and our role as advisors to the community is to reduce that distrust and if we don’t then it will become chaotic.”
He intends to work with the government to ensure that the rebuilding and recovery process continues. He’s concerned about the potential of compensation for lost property and is encouraging the community to stay true to their property.
“What do you think it will be to take to restore this capital city of the Kingdom again? What’s the timeframe it will require? This is the legacy we’re discussing. What’s the reward for losing it?”
Copyright 2023 Copyright NPR. To learn more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDEwMjQ0ODM1MDEzNDk4MTEzNjU3NTRhYg004))
