LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Robert K. Lindsey, Jr.
Trustee, Hawai'i

She usually has a smile and usually focuses totally on the bright side of life and living. If she had to choose between light and darkness, yellow and black, positive and negative, I believe light, yellow and positive would without doubt be her choices. If she had a garden it would be filled with sunflowers, pīkake, puakenikeni and johnny jumps. If she had to paint a hundred human portraits, there would definitely be a smile on every face.

She will be my recommendation for Ambassador of Aloha to planet Earth when a Lāhui Aloha is established. I have known Cindi Punihaole for 20 years now. I first got to know Cindi when I was Director of the Land Assets Division-Hawai'i Island, Kamehameha Schools. Her dad, Uncle Robert Punihaole, who was born and raised at Makalawena, Kona 'Akau, had a concern for the iwi of his 'ohana and for the future of Makalawena. We had a memorable “face to face” kūkākūkā. Memorable because a special spirit surrounded that meeting as the Punihaole 'ohana possess a kind, warm and gentle spirit which just permeates the space around you.

From Makalawena, our paths continued to connect across time on Hawaiian matters from Kona to Ka'ū. Two examples are educational opportunities at Waiauhukini serving the youth and mākua of Ka'ū and a regional planning initiative for Kona Hema from Kealakekua Bay to the Pu'uhonua 'O Hōnaunau. An effort to protect the marine life at Kahalu'u Beach Park and Kahalu'u Bay is the topic which NOW brings us together. Cindi now serves as a Public Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for Kahalu'u Bay for the Kohala Center. I serve on the Kohala Center's Board. “Saving Kahalu'u Bay” is the “tie that binds” us and is the inspiration for this article.

Let's go back in time for a brief moment. Cindi was born and raised in Kona in a time that has been snuffed out by modernization and globalization. It was a time when Kona had no domestic water system and HELCO was not providing electricity to certain parts of Kona. Her parents were Robert and Edna. She has two older brothers, Robert Jr. and Clayton, and no sisters. She speaks fondly of her tūtū kāne, Kalolo Eto Punihaole and her parents. “I grew up on the slopes of Hualālai. My grandpa…was a cowboy and coffee farmer (and an herbal practitioner). We grew up picking coffee, hunting, fishing, farming…My dad was a master of trades. He taught me how to hunt, throw net, farm, cook, lay cement, raise pigs and cattle. I believe that my dad taught me survival skills because he knew if he was not here to take care of us, we would be able to take care of the family. Both my mom and dad made major sacrifices in their lives to provide a better life for us. When I was young I felt my life was very difficult. We did not have running water, electricity or inside facilities…I learned compassion and humbleness from my mom and common sense and assertiveness from my dad.”

When she was 5 she contracted polio. It was inner strength, a strong desire to get out of a hospital bed and go home to be with her family, divine intervention and perhaps a dose of mind over matter that helped her beat this demon called poliomyelitis.

She attended school from the first through the sixth grade in a two-room school house in Kalaoa and graduated from Konawaena High School. Kona needed only one high school at the time. Kona was still waiting to be discovered by the “huddled masses.” College followed. Cindi started on the West Coast at Eastern Washington University and shifted to the Atlantic Coast graduating from Stockton State College in New Jersey. When she looks back in time, it is Mr. Richard Maeda her fifth-grade teacher, whom she says was her favorite teacher because he “constantly instilled in me a feeling of confidence and encouraged me to aim for my dreams.”

Now we shall fast forward to the present. Cindi has much to be proud of. She has lived a fulfilled life. She has given more to others than she will ever receive in return through stewardship, environmental outreach and service to Kona. She now serves as Public Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for The Kohala Center. The Center, which for now is based in Waimea, is an independent, not-for-profit academic institute for research and education in the environmental sciences. It works at the intersection of culture, science and community and engages our island's unique natural assets as scientific and intellectual assets. With mana'o from Cindi and a very caring cadre of staffers, The Center “…builds teaching and research programs that enhance island environments and serve Island communities.” She said in a recently documented interview about her work with the Center, “I have the best job on the island…I get to create programs — especially designed for our friends — that explore Hawai'i Island's cultural and natural landscape. In the past, we've spent a full day with Nā Maka Hāloa, working and learning in the lo'i…in Waipi'o Valley. On another day, Jack Jeffrey, the National Sierra Club's Ansel Adams Nature Photography Winner, helped us (at all skill levels) learn how to appreciate nature's beauty through photography.” Now, Kahalu'u Bay is her focus.

Kahalu'u Bay and Beach Park, in 2007, suffers from excess carrying capacity. Put simply, overuse. The facilities built in the 1960s were sized to handle 200 patrons at a maximum. Now they serve 1,000 patrons daily (recent data puts annual usage at 400,000). The beach as well as coral reef is at “great risk.” It's “human versus nature” and human is winning. We've seen it happen at Hanauma Bay. Too many people at too small a place. And, they keep on coming. Kahalu'u Bay is being over used in its current condition.

You can be sure Cindi and a host of volunteers (girl scouts, public agencies (county, state, federal), private foundations, school groups) through an educational outreach program called Reef Teach, complimented by signage, special events, water quality monitoring, baseline environmental studies, sprucing up the bay's pavilion with several coats of fresh paint and wrapping everything up with aloha, are doing what they can to mālama Kahalu'u for many other generations to enjoy. If you can touch the intellect, the head, perhaps you can reach the heart. One must not be faulted for trying.

Cindi has spent a life time honoring her kuleana. “My family has had its roots on Hawai'i Island for many generations and our kuleana, our obligation to care for the land, runs from the Kona coastal areas (the kaha lands) of Mahai'ula to Kūki'o and on to the uplands (the wao kanaka lands) of Kalaoa Mauka.” Next Mission for Cindi, Ambassador of Aloha for our nation yet to be formed. The year 2008 is just around the bend. Mele Kalikimaka.