Historic Campus Gets New Life, New Vision

By Ma’ata Tukuafu

The parking lot is brand new. The short walk is breathtaking as the sun shines through the lush trees and the road curves, opening up to beautifully renovated buildings. This is the Kohala Institute at ‘Iole (KI), and the GRACE Center is the former 19th century Kohala Girls School in Kapa‘au, now a state-of-the-art facility.

A lot of planning and work has gone into creating this space which will be home to many programs benefitting young students to corporate gatherings, college-level learning semesters to family reunions.

The Kohala Girls School was founded in the 1800s, and the six buildings which were renovated and turned into the GRACE Center were built between 1874 and 1921. The exteriors were restored to their original specifications, while the insides were brought into the 21st century with modern utilities and amenities including high-speed fiber-optic internet connectivity and a commercial kitchen. Between the restored buildings and a few newly built cottages, GRACE Center offers over 15,000 square feet of learning, meeting, and lodging space.

Noelani Kalipi is the Executive Director of the Kohala Institute, which manages the 2,400 acres of the ‘Iole ahupua‘a (traditional Hawaiian land division from uplands to the sea). Incorporated in January 2016, Kohala Institute is a separate entity from the New Moon Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1999 which owns the ‘Iole ahupua‘a. Kohala Institute adopted New Moon Foundation’s mission and strategic plan: to use ‘Iole ahupua‘a as a space to bring people together to collaborate on solutions.

“We call it GRACE Center because it is a living embodiment of our core values, represented in the acronym GRACE: Gratitude for what we have been given, Respect for history and culture, Accountability for our actions, Courage to act with integrity, and Engagement of others for a better world,” Noelani says. “Our vision is that GRACE Center will be a living lab of place-based and experiential learning for all ages to come together and collaborate on solutions for the future.”

The entire mission of Kohala Institute is to “provide opportunities to connect with the land and universal values for a better world.” To collaborate on solutions means offering a place-based learning experience which “integrates culture, history, contemplative practice, education, and sustainable practices to yield connection to environment, self and others.” Does this sound ambitious? Yes, it is, and Noelani is the first to admit it.

GRACE Programs

GRACE programs are a series of methodologies which offer opportunities for students, individuals, groups and corporations to participate in problem solving, leadership development, and retreats. Programs may be tailored to suit a group’s needs and be combined with Hawaiian cultural traditions taught by experts from all over Hawai‘i Island.

Collaboration For Solutions is KI’s signature program that uses Hawaiian cultural traditions and cooperation, bringing people together to solve problems. Participants establish relationships with the land, with each other, plus find ways to work together and agree to make positive changes. Noelani envisions both visitors and Hawai‘i residents learning from this program to increase perspectives and achieve common goals.

The GRACE Learning Journey offers age-appropriate activities that allow participants to learn more appreciation for each other and the earth they live on. Workshops may be custom-made and are divided into age groups for adults and children.

The GRACE Leadership Journey is a 12-month program for high school juniors that will teach Hawai‘i’s future community leaders how to communicate in spite of being from different schools, geographic areas and backgrounds. Each student will work with a mentor to guide them through goal setting, life coaching and time management skills.

Growing Economic Sustainability Through Teaching Sustainability

“The GRACE values project is a hands-on experience. It just breaks even [financially], so we have created some other projects in order to help create the funds to support it,” says Noelani. These are sustainability projects which include a fishery, farms, agricultural and ecotourism tours, natural resource management and renewable energy systems.

The Kohala Mountain Fish Company, located on five acres adjacent to the GRACE Center, is a closed-system aquaculture tilapia fish farm. It includes a hatchery, nursery grow tanks, processing facility, and a water filtration system. The market for tilapia on the mainland US is over 65 million pounds a year, imported mostly from China. Noelani said within a few years, the fish farm will have the capacity to produce up to five million pounds a year. In addition, Kohala Institute will be able to teach others how to build and put up their own fish tanks on their own properties and to increase economic development in aquaculture-based jobs. Water from the fishery is filtered and feeds into the taro patches located below it.

Informative tours at ‘Iole explore land and water management within the ahupua‘a. Divided into distinct time periods, the tours provide guests with information on resource management at ‘Iole, like water distribution through the generations: Kamehameha I’s ‘auwai (pre-Western contact), lateral tunnels (missionary era), and the Kohala ditch (plantation era). The agricultural and ecotourism tours of the fish farm, agricultural projects and sustainability projects include workshops where people can pick products from native botanical gardens and use them while learning about cultural practices and traditions.

The institute has dedicated 30 acres at ‘Iole to agriculture and currently includes the five acre Kauhale, a garden which includes the lo‘i patch and lei making plants (hau, ‘ōlena and wauke among them). The Mea‘ai food gardens include an ‘ulu orchard, bananas, broccoli, ‘ōlena and kale. Working with University of Hawai‘i’s College of Tropical Agriculture, it is a working research and food production farm. Eventually, KI will allow opportunities for farmers to lease areas to farm and share resources in distribution and marketing. Farm crops will be used to sustain dining needs at the GRACE Center and will provide produce to local businesses, markets and schools.

Kohala Institute is working with partners to build a customized electrical microgrid to provide for energy needs on the property and its multiple facilities. Using solar and other renewable resources, the KI Energy program will showcase innovation and utilize the institute as a living laboratory.

In partnership with the Kohala Ride Wild Club, the institute also hosts horsemanship and equine programs for youth, and licenses parts of the ahupua‘a to four ranches.

GRACE Center can hold up to 200 people for a conference and there are 80 beds in total. The multi-purpose facility consists of six newly renovated buildings, and 10 new one-bedroom/one bathroom cabins. There are 40 hostel-style dorm beds, a corporate conference room, a 1,400 square foot great room, a 700 square foot dining room and a certified kitchen and dining room. Other buildings offer classrooms, a library, and individual treatment rooms that can be used for one-on-one counseling, massage, or similar services. These facilities are available for retreats, university collaboration, corporate meetings, conferences, classes, family celebrations, and community events.

Rave Reviews

In May, Kohala Institute’s effort in restoring GRACE Center was recognized by the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation with a 2017 Historic Preservation Honor Award. Since the foundation began giving the awards in 1975, the award has been the highest recognition of projects, organizations, or individuals working to preserve Hawai‘i’s archaeological, architectural, and cultural sites.

More recognition of the special place the Kohala Institute has built with the GRACE Center and its programs has come from groups who have experienced ‘Iole ahupua‘a. One of the first groups was Lavaroots Performing Arts & Kissidugu Foundation. Michal Anna Carillo recently held their Merveilles Hawai‘i Drum and Dance Conference at ‘Iole and says it was a wonderful experience.

“It was a fabulous space for our drumming and workshop retreat. Everyone loved the accommodations and those who came to the retreat loved it [GRACE Center],” Michal says. “Noelani is positively fantastic and works with a great team of people.”

Michal has already planned their next African Dance retreat called Camp Merveilles Hawai‘i for November 2017 at GRACE Center and says she is excited about collaborating with the Kissidugu in this optimal space.

Another group who has utilized the accommodations and learning facilities at ‘Iole are students from Maharishi University of Management, a consciousness-based educational institution in Fairfield, Iowa. Lonnie Gamble, Dean of the sustainable living program at Maharishi, created a Hawai‘i semester to give students a chance to use the ahupua‘a as a living lab. Lonnie says the semester-long course at ‘Iole has been the most transformative education program he’s ever been involved with.

“We are bringing a college presence into Kapa‘au and Hāwī,” says Lonnie. “Hawai‘i is such a great laboratory, and ancient principles are still alive. Our students learn to plant taro and learn from cultural practitioners. The program continues to exceed all our expectations.”

Various groups, schools and organizations may customize their tours or programs to fit the needs of their participants. Shelby Loo, a sixth grade teacher at Waimea Middle School, says their students were able to incorporate their core values into their community service day held in the Kauhale Gardens at ‘Iole. The students were divided into two groups; some did planting, others worked in the kalo patch. There was a planned activity for the students that included a learning game based on the rock/scissors/paper game, as well as having lunch together.

“The majority of the kids worked, and some weren’t as brave as the others to get into the water in the kalo patch,” Shelby says with a laugh. “It was a beautiful day of teaching kids that sense of place, as well as learning the value of hard work.”

Noelani said she is excited about demonstrating success at Kohala Institute. Within the strategic plan, between the sustainable tours, the fish farm and the GRACE Center programs, she hopes approximately 100 to 120 new jobs will be created in the next four years.

---

For more information about the Kohala Institute, GRACE Center and the ‘Iole Ahupua‘a in North Kohala, visit kohalainstitute.org. ❖