Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 11, 1 November 1999 — Hui Kalo o Waialua [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hui Kalo o Waialua

By Jayson Harper ■ 1 ELEN BAJO is a small

Hwoman with big dreams for the Waialua community. She envisions a community kitchen where loeal farmers r.an nrore<i«s

their crops for commercial sale. Her idea has gone beyond a dream to a working plan, complete with a $25,000 Community Based Eeonomie Development (CBED) grant from OHA and land commitments fromKamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE). Bajo has lived in Waialua for longer than she ean

remember. The connection to the land and the community is what drew her and several other long-term Waialua residents with an interest in taro farming to form Hui Kalo o Waialua. "This all started three years ago. Some people had this idea. 'Why don't we start

farming taro?; Look at all this land'. This was about the same time there was a poi shortage in Hawai'i," said

Bajo. "There are a lot of farmers who grow taro, cabbage, turnips and things like that. They always have a surplus. If we had a kitchen at a reasonable cost to rent out, they could process poi and kim ehee and other things to sell commercially," said Bajo. The hui is using the OHA grant to identify the pre-con-;truction needs of the

kitchen. The funds will go toward developing a business plan and finding a suitable site as well as research the permitting requirements that will eventually be needed. Because many people want to farm but don't have land, KSBE has agreed to lease agricultural land to the

hui at a reduced rate. "Right now we are looking at five sites and negotiating with the landlords. We don't want to build anything from scratch; we want to use an existing structure because of the cost concerns," said Bajo. According to Bajo, the kitchen would have all the accoutrements of a large commercial kitchen, as well as the facilities to provide for the needs of small farmers who want to enter the commereial market. The facilities will include a plaee for packaging and will aeeommo-

PHOTOS: JAYSON HARPER needs. "We're already thinking globally. It's possible that we could expand this kitchen later to process white taro flour whieh the Japanese market wants badly, but nobody in Hawai'i has been able to market to them," added Bajo. The hui has also been raising taro awareness in the Waialua community. Recently it brought in an expert on taro who discussed the different types of plants and how they are grown. Members of the hui have cultivated 27 different varieties of kalo. In addition to workshops like this one, the hui organized the Waialua Taro Festival this past September and has just started Waialua Mālama Pono, a cultural health and wellness workshop. The 10-week program provides instruction on proper dieting and exercise. Given the tight consumer market for produce, one might think commercial growers would be wary of a community kitchen. However, they, as well as poi producers, have been very receptive and have offered their support. "Commerical growers in the area have been supportive. Some growers have sold us supplies at cost and others have given us cuttings of their plants so we ean begin growing our own," said Bajo. In the meantime, Bajo and the hui continue to pursue other avenues for funding, including federal grants. "You have to dream big," said Bajo, "if you don't dream, you'll never get to were you want to be." For more information about Hui Kalo o Waialua, eall Helen Bajo at 637-9364 or 637-5708. ■

Waialua residex»ts |oiit to create a €ommuxiitY kitchen for small farmers

IIIHllllI

Helen Bajo 5

date a full-time staff. It's Bajo's hope that the kitchen would be self-sufficient, deriving ineome from small farmers who would rent the facihties for their individual commercial