Pu'uhonua O Nēnē

Pu‘uhonua o Nēnē

There was once a very intelligent and motivated man who went to a prestigious school and became an astute attorney. Somehow along the way he got into drugs and lost everything, his wife, his business, his home. He was from Lahaina and we first met Uncle and got to know his story at the War Memorial Shelter. He is a very respectful older gentleman, who despite his injuries due to the fires, would always ask Aunty Nettie, “Do you need help?” Aunty Nettie talked Uncle into going to the hotel and when they said goodbye, she said, “I will see you down the journey.”

Sure enough, he showed up at Pu’uhonua o Nēnē and was surprised to see his friend Aunty Nettie. Uncle wanted to help out at Pu’uhonua and we put him to work assisting with the off-grid systems. One day he showed up in very ragged and dirty clothes, we encouraged him to shower and care for his basic hygiene needs, then we gave him new clothes, “we are going to get you looking like a smart attorney,” we told him. He loved it and wanted to do a fashion show. When interviewed by the Maui News, they asked him who made the most impact, his unequivocal answer was “Aunty Nettie, she believed in me, ‘til my dying day I will never forget her.”

He ‘ohu ke aloha, ‘a‘ohe kuahiwi kau ‘ole

Love is a mist, there is no hill upon which it does not settle

‘Ōlelo No‘eau, Traditional Hawaiian Proverb

In late September, we showed up with a small army of volunteers to help build an off-grid tent city in Central Maui to house Lahaina’s houseless community as they were being evicted from hotels and had nowhere to go. Due to the timeline, we had three days to transform an open industrial lot into a small city with residential units, kitchen, cafeteria, intake and medic tents, bathrooms/showers, recreation areas, and off-grid water and electrical infrastructure—including air conditioning for all the tents!

We showed up Tuesday and by Friday, September 29, we blessed Pu’uhonua o Nēnē and began welcoming residents to their new home. We were asked to step in to manage the facilities under Aunty Nettie’s leadership while training Project Vision’s team to sustain ongoing operations. Pu’uhonua o Nēnē was an incredibly complex, multi-layered, and ambitious project and there was so much we learned along the way. We worked hard to establish the safety and comfort of all residents, and nurture a supportive and loving community, even while dealing with things like drug use, poverty, conflict, violence, and suicide.

Throughout our time there, we continued to strengthen infrastructure and expand facilities to better meet the evolving needs of residents while strengthening the capacity of Project Vision’s team to operate Pu’uhonua. One of our key priorities was to hire residents as a part of this core team and train them in the many aspects of operations.

We built and stocked a community store of donated goods that provided residents with essential supplies like clothing, shoes, toiletries, sanitary products, bedding, and more! The residents loved the store and worked hard to help Aunty Nettie get it done in time for its grand opening.

Anybody can make an impression but Na Kia’i O Maui seeks to always make an imprint—leaving a lasting legacy of aloha with those we serve.