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Celebrating Prince Kuhio

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Celebrating Prince Kuhio

Molokai residents and homesteaders gathered last Saturday to honor the legacy of Prince Jonah Kuhio, who lobbied for the Native Hawaiian advancement and established the 1920 Hawaiian Homes Act, providing land for Hawaiian families.

The annual community event at Lanikeha featured food, Hawaiian crafts, homestead products, exhibits and music. Sponsored by Ahupua`a O Molokai and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the celebration was also an opportunity for homesteaders to join and get information on local homestead associations.

“Molokai is where the first homestead began in the 1920s, and without Prince Kuhio we would not have homestead today,” said Kilia Purdy-Avelino, one of the event’s organizers.…

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Volleyball Wins the One That Counts

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Volleyball Wins the One That Counts

The Molokai Farmers boys’ volleyball team split last weekend with games against Kamehameha Maui at The Barn.  On Friday night, after dropping the first set, the Farmers took the next three to win the match.

“We started out slow and lost the first set but I told them in the huddle that it’s time to step up and it’s ours for the taking and they came out and played better and we got the win in four sets,” said Head Coach Hale Domingo.

Saturday’s game was a non-league match and the farmers lost in five sets.

“When we play the Division I schools, only the Friday night game counts in the standings,” explained Domingo of Molokai’s Division II team.…

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Scouts Build Stand-up Racks

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Last week, a Molokai grown Boy Scout returned to his roots to help the island’s youth. While on spring break from Kamehameha-Kapalama (KSK), high school senior Rusty “Naholowaa” Nakayama and a group of fellow Boy Scouts came home to build stand-up paddleboard racks as part of Nakayama’s quest to become an Eagle Scout.

Boys can join the Cub Scouts at the age of eight and become Boy Scouts at the age of 12. In order to reach the rank of Eagle Scout, they must earn 21 merit badges and put together a community service project by their 18th birthday.

“I’m not only doing this to get my Eagle, but it is satisfactory to give back to the community,” said Nakayama.…

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Slammed with Passion

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Slammed with Passion

Emotions were raw and honesty took a front seat at a poetry slam at Molokai High School last week. Youth used their tongues to bear their souls in a form of spoken word performances known as slam poetry, having been guided in the art for several days by visiting national champion slam poets.

A group of poet facilitators from Pacific Tongues, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering spoken word arts for Pacific Islanders, spent last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Molokai Middle and High school. They visited classrooms, held workshops, did writing exercises and inspired students with their own verbal prowess.

Their visit was made possible through a grant written by several Molokai High teachers following the group’s first visit to the island last year.…

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Rebuilding a Tradition

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Rebuilding a Tradition

When Sheldon Wright builds walls, his main focus is to listen. He hefts a rock in his hands, flips it, spins it, lets it fall and hears the clack as it hits the stack of rocks in front of him. To construct walls the way Wright does—the same way ancient Hawaiians did hundreds of years ago—he has to tune into the tools of his trade.

“The rocks speak to me,” said Wright. “They tell me where they want to go.”

Wright is carrying on the Hawaiian tradition of dry stack masonry in which the rocks are placed in an interlocking fashion that requires no mortar, he said.…

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Farmers Afar: Rizpah Umi

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Farmers Afar: Rizpah Umi

In a new series, the Dispatch celebrates former Molokai athletes who have taken their homegrown skills to new stages off island. If you know of a Molokai athlete competing at college, the professional level or elsewhere, let us know by emailing editor@themolokaidispatch.com or calling 552-2781.

The first Native Hawaiian wrestler in Wayland Baptist University (WBU) history is already making a name for herself and the small island she hails from. Just a freshman at WBU, 2014 Molokai High School graduate Rizpah Umi was named an All-American wrestler last month.

Umi earned the distinction after finishing eighth out of 29 wrestlers from across the country.…

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Obituary: Jane Yuen Chang

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Obituary: Jane Yuen Chang

Jane Yuen Chang, the last surviving member of Y.K. Yuen’s family, passed away peacefully on March 20, 2015 in Maunaloa, Molokai. She was fondly known as “Aunty Jane” throughout the Friendly Isle.  Jane endeared everyone with her kind, gracious and gentle spirit. She was 91.

She was born in Honolulu on Jan. 24, 1924 to Lin Tai and Y.K. Yuen.  Her father opened the first pineapple plantation store on Molokai in the early 1920s, and eventually operated four grocery stores on the island.  Jane survived her sisters, Lilyan and Marybeth, and brother, Sonny.

Educated in Honolulu, Jane attended Hanahau`oli School and graduated from Punahou in 1941.…

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Damien Mosaics a Labor of Love

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Damien Mosaics a Labor of Love

Community Contributed

By Maria Sullivan

Four mosaics, depicting Father Damien and his life’s parallels with Jesus’s life, were recently installed next to the front door at St. Damien of Molokai Church in Kaunakakai. They were created by Sister Dorothy Santos during a long and spirit-filled journey and as a labor of love and devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the order to which both she and St. Damien belong.

In 2011, Saint Damien Parish former pastor Father Clyde Guerrero was in the homestretch of supervising the construction of the long awaited Saint Damien of Molokai Church. Aware of her work in making beautiful mosaics of Father Damien and other holy persons, Father Clyde asked Sister Dorothy if she would create the mosaics.…

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A Field to Call Home

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

A Field to Call Home

The Molokai softball team finally has a place to call their own. For years, the girls and coaches bussed to practices and games at the county’s ball field in Kaunakakai. Meanwhile, they put in hours of labor on weekends the last couple of years to pick rocks and prepare their future field at Molokai High. It all became worth it last Saturday, when the brand new field officially opened with a blessing and the first pitch was thrown on their home diamond.

In the 1990s, Head Coach Coco Augustiro said a field at the high school was built for softball but it wasn’t constructed to code and instead of holding games there, it was used for PE.…

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Prom Dresses Without the Price

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Prom Dresses Without the Price

Last year when the prom dress she’d rented online failed to arrive, Molokai High student Giesha Nunez had to travel to Maui to buy a gown—on the day of prom.

This year Nunez and dozens of other banquet and prom-bound teens got to browse formal dresses on Molokai. All were available for free in the island’s first Bella Project Prom Dress Giveaway, hosted by Child and Family Services (CFS) last Wednesday.

“Molokai has a lot of extra assistance to help the kids,” said Molokai High parent Cheri Rivera, who feels that’s a unique trait of the island. “It’s a blessing to have … for the girls, to feel extra special on this special night.”…

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