HALE BUILDING

For decades, the corner of Kahekili Highway and Waiehu Beach Road has been riddled with macadamia nut trees. The macadamia nut industry once flourished on Maui, however, has closed down in the dwindling economy. I’m reminded this as I pass this corner twice a day everyday; sometimes less but most times more. Suddenly, one day about ¾ of a mile of these trees were taken down. Over the course of a year the scenery of that stretched drastically changed. One day as I passed, I noticed the foundation for a rock wall was being made. Then a storage shed with lawn equipment shows up. The next day I pass and I see dry taro plants in its infant stages. As time went on, more and more taro showed up and more improvements were being made. Every day as I passed by, 2 things popped up in my head; who’s responsible for this and wow, that’s beautiful.

Anabelle had told me that the organization responsible for this is holding a workshop on how to make a Hawaiian hale (pronounced hah-ley [house in Hawaiian]). I was instantly intrigued because it’s always been a goal of mines to become more instilled in my Hawaiian culture. This was my shot. I happily agreed to meet Anabelle there but quite honestly, I wasn’t that excited. I think it was because it was so sudden; I couldn’t get my emotions that under control. Normally, there’s an excitement in me that I need to get under control. This rings true for just about any new experience that I’m about to have.

When I arrived at 10 a.m., I noticed that Anabelle’s car and an Ford Econoline van were there but no students were in sight. I said hello to the 4 workers and took a look around for the first time “from the inside of the fence”. Within a few minutes, Anabelle and about 12 girls came back from their introductory tour (I was the only guy). We sat down on a few picnic tables and were introduced to Uncle Francis, Malia, and Ano. They went over what everything was, is, and going to eventually become. After talking story, we immediately learned how to wrap cord using the “shaka” method. The shaka is used to keep the cord in a compact form while being able to be casted out without tangling or having any knots. I learned how to do it, but upon further inspection by Uncle Francis, “it’s good but not pretty”. Anabelle quickly picked up using the shaka while it took me a bit longer.

After mastering the “shaka”, we were given a small break which most of us used to get to know one another. After 15 minutes, we were now off to learn how to secure 2 pieces of wood together using an anchoring “U” knot. We were broken up into groups of 2 and moved 10’-15’ branches into position. Uncle Francis, Malia, and Ano walked us through step by step on how to do the “U” knot perfectly. Luckily for me, as Anabelle was now struggling, I picked it up easily and ended up helping a few of the other students. Every student ended up doing 2 or 3 cross sections. Without us knowing the true strength of our lashes, this is what we ended up making.

The workshop was only for 2 hours and it came and went faster than we all really wanted it to. I came in only knowing my girlfriend and ended up walking out with about 10 new friends. Though I was a bit conscientious about the whole thing, it gave me a great sense of pride to be immersed in hale building. Uncle Francis mentioned that another workshop will be held next Tuesday. Believe me, I’ll be there. As I was driving home, I was so glad that I participated. I’ve done community service before and volunteered, but this time it was different. This time I wasn’t only helping one person, but I was helping my generation, past generations, and future Hawaiian generations live on. This is an art that will never die.