New center sees fun as learning experience

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KANE'OHE — The YWCA Camp Kokokahi's $2.2 million renovation will clear the way for a new learning center that will combine recreation and Hawaiian culture at the Kane'ohe facility.

The YWCA's Camp Kokokahi is undergoing a $2.2 million renovation to develop a space for teaching Hawaiian culture. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The intent is to develop an appreciation for Hawaiian culture that would lead to appreciation for the richness and depth of all cultures, she said.

The YWCA will provide a permanent home for groups such as a hula halau and a Hawaiian immersion school. These organizations would then contribute to programs at the YWCA.

Expected participants are Halau Mohala 'Ilima led by kumu hula Mapuana de Silva, Waikalua Loko Fishpond Association, Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center Ko'olaupoko Unit, 'Aha Punana Leo preschool, Ke Kula 'O Samuel M. Kamakau school and the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture.

The natural resources of the YWCA's 11 acres and its close proximity to fish ponds and Kane'ohe Bay will enhance the cultural programs, Ka'uhane said.

"We don't want it to be singularly just a recreation center," she said. "It has so much more potential than that. We want schools to see us as a destination. We want to look at it from a management training standpoint."

The YWCA will officially bless the facility and unveil its learning center at its Day On The Bay family fun fair, which takes place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Camp Kokokahi.

The center, which is expected to take five to 10 years to develop, will combine such YWCA programs as summer camp and leadership conferences with Hawaiian cultural activities that could include lauhala weaving, fish pond cleaning and lo'i cultivation.

The improvements made it possible to move forward with the center, Ka'uhane said.

They included the renovation of Midkiff Gymnasium, which has been closed since the mid-1980s, pool office upgrades, repaved parking lots and handicapped accessible walkways.

The Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture was the lead agency that solidified the concept, with a grant from the Hawai'i Community Foundation, said Sherylin Franklin Goo, executive director of the institute.

The state Department of Education, Hawai'i Nature Center, Polynesian Voyaging Society and the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs also expressed interest in the partnership, she said.

Goo said she envisions the partners working with each other and the YWCA to enhance visits to the camp whether for leadership conference, education or recreation, with such things as lei making demonstrations, Hawaiian language classes and hula performances.

"We all know that they will carry on their own mission," she said. "We also know we have a mission for the cultural center to which we will all contribute activities."

Kumu hula de Silva said the center would be a boost to Hawaiian culture and the community at large.

"We see it as a place where all of us dislocated arms of Hawaiian culture can join together in one place," de Silva said.

De Silva said the presence of many aspects of the culture in one spot will increase the impact it has on the community.

"We're not just looking at it as an education center but also as living cultural center," he said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar via e-mail or at 234-5266.