Written by Hawaii Students, Abdulaziz & Nick
Our group had a lot of fun with bee farming and making medicine from natural plants! We harvested vegetables, planted banana trees, and built a water tank for our friends and hosts at the Pono Grown farm. Everyone is happy to have a bed and indoor showers again, after flying to the Big Island and staying at a hostel. The views are stunning and the weather is great!
Our Top Three Highlights of the Week:Â
🐝 We saw the process of producing honey, interacted with boxes and boxes of bees, and learned more about their behavior.
🌿 Khadija, a guest teacher, taught the group about natural herbs and her travel experience; with hands-on experimentation of Aloe Vera from its original plant. Her wisdom was infectious!
🛫 Despite our farewell to Maui, the start of our journey on the Big Island was very exciting and all were grateful for the beauty and memories of Maui. The hostel was a refreshing change of pace and scenery, giving the group a chance to relax after long weeks of adventuring.
But transformation always comes with opportunities for growth: What were our main challenges this week?Â
This week marked the halfway mark of the Hawai’i Gap Semester program, and a lot of people had to deal with fatigue, stress, and lower energy levels. Everybody struggled some days. We had to work as a team and look out for one another a lot this week.
What has surprised us about our hosts this week:Â Â
This week provided an opportunity to get to know the interns who were working at Pono Grown a lot better. Getting to understand all the different people, all at different stages of their life and what brought them all to this farm was seriously inspiring, and resulted in a lot of people making a commitment to return to the farm as an intern one day. It was also a space for shared learning, as the interns were very interested in what we had learned the past weeks, which was a great chance to self-reflect and articulate what we had gained thus far.
Ways we’ve grown since the start of the program:Â
Everybody in the group has gotten a lot more self-sufficient. The dinner meals have consistently been improving, there have been far less maintenance issues, and everybody has really started to come into their own. We’ve also become more proactive, both as individuals and as a group.
Our gratitude of the week:Â
That we got to leave Maui with a bang! Everybody had some big realizations at Pono Grown, and everybody felt in their element during some part of our stay. This meant that the group departed for Big Island with a lot more confidence and motivation to absolutely rock the rest of this trip!
A HAWAII CREW SPECIAL: An Original Story 👇
“WHERE IS IT???”
A forceful screech tore through the air, disturbing the silent peace that had inhibited it just moments prior, like a tank bulldozing through a serene forest.
The author of this vociferous shriek stood at a towering eight feet tall, hidden behind the towers of trees that engulfed him and his torn golden jumpsuit, which bore the scars of his most recent battle, displaying the cuts through the shredded fashion statement.
Jacquavias Junior was no foreigner to combat. Gripped in his arms was his greatest possession, the Sword of Randy, which he had used to slay Jarold the mighty just four nights ago, in a battle so gargantuan that it had nearly ripped apart the earth from its core. Fifteen million bees buzzed around him, on alert, ready to pounce at the first sense of conflict. They were a parting gift from his dear mentor, Evannuel the Third, who had trained Jacquavias in the many arts of nature bending.
Jacquavias’s eyes flittered around calculatingly, narrowing every now and then to focus in on anything that caught his attention, only to frustratingly discover it was an uneven patch of light, or an oddly shaped stick.
“Where is that blasted ring” he muttered to himself embitteredly, as he continued to make his way through the forest.
All of a sudden, the bees rose together, senses heightened, and rushed forward in a swarm, as though attempting directly rip through whatever stood in front of them. However, before Jacquavias even had time to react, the swarm was engulfed in a giant bubble of golden light. He stood motionless, and watched in horror and dismay as his cherished arm disappear in a haze of light, and turn to dirt before his very eyes.
A tall, armored shape emerged from the glow, a dual sword held in his left hand, the tip of which was pointed directly at Jacquavias’s heart.
“You could not live with your own failure” boomed Forrest, lifting his diamond encrusted shield up so that it covered his entire upper body
“And where did that bring you? Back to me” He continued, now drawing his sword back, preparing to strike.
This time, Jacquavias was prepared. He leapt twenty feet into the air, and brought his sword down with ferocious intent. Forrest rolled out the way, and Jacquavias’s sword struck pure dirt. Forrest pointed his sword at Jacquavias and instantaneously, a laser shout down from the sky, beamed off the tip of the sword and hurtled towards Jacquavias at the speed of light. It was only thanks to his lightning-fast reflexes that he managed to dodge it.
Jacquavias’s eyes turned red. They gleamed out a series of mini knives all aimed directly at Forrest’s chest, and would have ripped his heart to shreds if it wasn’t for his plated armor. He quickly yanked them out and sent them back with blinding speed and accuracy, and watched in raptorous glee as they dug themselves into Jacquavias’s shoulder.
Jacquavias let out a deep howl of agony as he sunk to his knees, overwhelmed by the stinging stab wounds.
Forrest lesiurely strolled over to his opponent who lay sprawled in a damaged heap on the ground, smirking broadly, assured of his imminent victory.
“How….” sputtered out Jacquavias, blood pouring from his mouth “How did you……”
Forrest chortled in elation. “You see, if you wanna be a lion- you gotta understand the rules of the jungle.”
“This…..is literally…. a forest” breathed out Jacquavias, who was trying to get back on his knees.
Forrest’s eyes narrowed maliciously, as the dug the tip of his sword under Jacquavias’s neck.
“Any last words?” He asked quietly, almost at a whisper, as his voice lost the humorous quality it had previously held, and tense energy coursed through his body, suggesting an imminent strike.
Just as he felt his victory was assured, Jacquavias struck in a blinding flash. His arms lashed out and flipped Forrest over, and in an instant, the tables were turned, as Jacquavias stood over a confused Forrest who now found himself on a heap in the floor, with his hands somehow tied behind his back.
“You should have” rasped out Jacquavias, still imbalanced from the pain in his shoulder “Gone……for the head”
And with those final words he struck down, with the fight and fury of a thousand elephants. However, instead of the satisfying sound of success, he was surprised to be greeted with the clanking sound of metal clashing with metal. He looked down, intrigued, and was shocked to find his sword lodged in the middle of a ring on Forrest’s index finger. Forrest’s eyes shined with an evil triumph, and a smirkish smile curled across his face. Jacquavias’s body tensed, as he knew what was about to happen, but before he could react, Forrest pushed his finger back an inch.
Jacquavias was met with the strongest recorded wind in the history of time, as the force of a single ring push was enough to send him hurtling through the forest, before finally having his flight stopped by a single oak tree which stood at the edge of the woodland.
He sat up groggily, and could distinctly make out the shape of Forest apparrating in front of him, his armor illuminating the land. He lifted his fingers into a snapping position and glanced over mockingly at an immobilized Jacquavias, who watched helplessly.
“Kiss. My. Ring” He spat at the fallen soldier, before he brought his fingers together, and the everything spun to black.
Until next time! ❤️ Spring 2023 Hawai’i Semester
Photos featured in the gallery below are recent uploads from ALL Hawai’i semester students!Â
