Exhibit documents boys' journey

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	'Homestay Halawa: Boys on the Brink' 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, through June 30 Honolulu Community College, Building 7, Room 433

"Homestay Halawa: Boys on the Brink," by photojournalist Monte Costa, is composed of just 18 photographs displayed grid-like on three walls in a small room on campus.

But in Costa's view, every contribution to community consciousness and cooperation is significant.

Costa's exhibit documents the lives of 10 at-risk boys, 15-year-olds from Wai'anae and Nanakuli, who four years ago visited Halawa Valley, Moloka'i, as part of a Boys and Girls Club program. The program was aimed at helping them gain control of their futures.

At the hospitality of cultural activist Glenn Davis, the boys immersed themselves in traditional Hawaiian culture, values and — not least of all — hard work. In Halawa Valley, they helped maintain traditional lo'i, or taro patches. They built fences and tended a kukui grove.

"There are rites of passage to society that are missing for a lot of these kids," Costa said. "This program was a way for them to get on the right track."

Costa, who has had a long affiliation with the Boys and Girls Clubs through her mother, spent two weeks at the boys' campsite photographing their labors and sharing in their conversations.

As with her famous work for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Costa's Halawa photos are compelling in their stark, visual honesty. She hopes the collection will help raise awareness of the ongoing efforts of programs like the Boys and Girls Club and, in a deeper sense, the societal problems that continue to plague young men and women.

"It's not just our problem or their problem," she said. "We have to take these things holistically. The solutions have to be in the family, in the schools, in the sports programs that the kids participate in. It has to be there 24 hours."

Last summer, Costa ran into one of the boys from Halawa at a Kahuku High School graduation.

"He had moved away from a bad family situation in Wai'anae to Kahana, where he was getting the support he needed from an uncle. He managed to graduate and he was about to join the Army. It was a success story, even if it was one out of 10."