Green 2 Going Green

I am so sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have certainly been slacking in the blog world, but my oh my have we been busy recently and has our internet been inconsistent. In our short time on Oahu, we have been trying to fit as much into our limited free time as possible.

Our first weekend here, to make up for the Tsunami’s disruption to our work day, we worked all day Friday to try to finish our tent platforms. Unfortunately the process ended up being substantially more elaborate than we had anticipated and the platforms were still not completed by the end of the day, meaning (not so unfortunately) that we had to spend a few nights in the lodge, staying in double rooms that were luxurious to us.

That Sunday we moved from work to our original plans for Saturday, hiking out to Ka’ena point. Ka’ena point is a nature preserve just down the street from camp and it is an incredible site. Lucky for us, we got to hear a bit about the cultural and historical significance of Ka’ena point before we hiked down. That first weekend, a group of Hawaiian artists was at camp to paint a mural in the camp’s chapel with a group of young art student’s hand picked for the project. What interesting people to have at camp. They were a wonderfully inviting group, eager to talk to us about our visit and about Hawaii. We were able to sit in while they talked to the group about the cultural significance of the mural that was being created, as well as a discussion of the process of design and painting. And for a few days we watched the constant progression of the work of art and then just recently saw the wonderful complete result and were able to help put the clear coat over the mural to keep it vibrant and beautiful for years.

Before and After

But, I am diverting from my original thought…Ka’ena point. One of the artists, “Uncle Al” took time the morning of our hike to tell us a brief history of Ka’ena point. He told us of the concepts of connectivity in Hawaiian culture, that everyone and every thing is interconnected. Ka’ena point is a point where the sun meets the water at the end of the day and is a very spiritual place understood to be the departure point for souls, passing on to another world. I am not certain I am doing his stories justice here, but his tone instilled in each one of us a deep appreciation for his words and for the place we were in. He began with chants that drew us in, and from then on we were captivated by his words. Then on the hike, we were captivated by the views both of the mountains and of the ocean. It was also an exciting location for a few team members who are avid fans of the television show, Lost, as we passed several film locations from season one.

The following Friday (which we took as a day off since we had worked an extra day the previous weekend) we returned to Ka’ena point for an ISP (Independent Service Project) and worked removed weeds from the trail.

That Friday was also Taylor’s 21^st birthday. On Saturday, to celebrate the occasion, we headed down from a weekend away in Honolulu. We stayed at a hostel a mere block away from Waikiki Beach. But before heading to Waikiki, we visited Pearl Harbor. I was so happy to be visiting an historical site, especially one as important and well done as Pearl Harbor. After getting our tickets, we had about an hour and a half before we would be able to view a film and head out to the USS Arizona memorial. After a stop in the gift shop, I wandered the exhibits by myself, fascinated by some of the items, photos, and information of the period. The film and visit to the memorial were also wonderful, giving a very good summary of the events of December 7^th, 1941 before visiting the memorial which is built over the top of the sunken USS Arizona. Parts of the ship remain exposed out of the shallow water.

Following this excellent morning was a relaxing beach afternoon at Waikiki and then a very fun and late night out on the town. Overall the trip was a great success.

This weekend we ended up returning to Honolulu (this time just for the day) to hike the Diamond Head Crater. The trail was extremely crowded with tourists, but the view was pretty spectacular and worth the uphill traffic jams.

While those weekend details have certainly been fun, play is not all we have don while we have been here. Quite the opposite, we have been working very hard. The tent platforms took forever to build but were finally completed Monday of our second week here. I unfortunately was not feeling well that day and took my first sick day of AmeriCorps, sleeping all day and missing the completion of the tent platforms we had worked so hard to build. But no worries, we were able to move into our new home.

The rest of that week was filled with Fence building and other odd jobs around camp. Then came the research time for the projects we have been working on most recently (and the projects that gave this epic blog post its name). The primary purpose of our work here is to make the camp more sustainable. A great deal of liberty has been given to us to design recycling and composting programs ourselves so we have done just that. Katie and Carly did a wonderful job researching various methods of composting and settling on the proper choice for Camp. We now have a composting bin built and started up, 30 some odd recycling and trash cans painting and set up around camp with signs explaining proper recycling practices. My work this past week was primarily dedicated to the rain water catchment system. We are still in the process of installing rain gutters that lead to water barrels and irrigation lines to water garden beds where we are planting papaya, banana plants, and ti leaves. We had a ton of work to do this week and some troubles waiting for proper supplies and staff coordination while our Director, David was away this past week. But progress has been pretty solid and we seem to be on the right track now. We shall see what this next week brings. Monday and Tuesday we will actually be leaving camp to work near by to where David lives in Kailua.

Alrighty then. Second apology of the post: sorry this has been so very long. This was quite a bit for one post. Hope it wasn’t too overwhelming I was try to avoid such delayed postings in the future.