05/30/2026
Wednesday, MEMA and the County of Maui came through Holomua Road to conduct a "fire risk" assessment. It was the first time I had seen so many County representatives together on this road, including Nohe, who stayed at the bottom. As a lineal descendant of this ʻāina, I have always believed that if you represent a community, you should be willing to walk with the people, listen to their stories, understand their struggles, and work alongside them toward solutions. Instead, what I have witnessed for years are efforts focused on gates, displacement, and pushing our people further from the places they call home.
When the Bill 95 first came forward, I was still learning. I didn't fully understand the systems, policies, and politics that continue to impact our communities. What I did understand was my kuleana.
As a descendant of this ʻāina, I knew I could not sit back and watch my people continue to suffer. I knew I had a responsibility to mālama poʻe and mālama ʻāina. So I committed myself to learning, organizing, advocating, and building relationships that would help restore dignity and opportunity for our most vulnerable people.
Wednesday was proof that our people are not the problem.
The Holomua community, my Environmental Workforce Development Cohort, the collective organizations I have the privilege of doing this work with, and the community members themselves demonstrated what becomes possible when people are trusted, supported, empowered, and connected back to their kuleana.
The restoration of Holomua Road did not happen because government came to save us. It happened because the people who have been judged, criminalized, displaced, and overlooked chose to care for one another and their community. Through hard work, accountability, and self-governance, they restored a place many had already written off.
People often think they need to know everything before they begin. I didn't.
When I started this work, I had no roadmap. I only had the conviction that our people deserved better and that I would do everything in my power to restore pathways for healing, purpose, and belonging. The knowledge came through the work. The relationships came through the work. The solutions came through the work.
It has been one of the hardest journeys of my life, but Wednesday reminded me why I continue.
Watching those who have spent years viewing our houseless communities as a liability drive through and witness the transformation for themselves was powerful. They saw what I have always known as a descendant of this place: our people carry the answers. They carry the ʻike, the resilience, and the capacity to restore themselves when given the opportunity.
The solutions have always existed within the community.
Wednesday was proof that when we invest in our people instead of displacing them, restoration happens. When we reconnect people to kuleana, they rise. When we trust community, community responds.
That is the future I will continue fighting for.
