Posted on: Sunday, December 5, 2004
Volunteers help scrub Hawai'i beaches, parks
By Denise Saylors
Special to The Advertiser
"It was different when I was a kid. We spent time outdoors. We played and worked outdoors and in the ocean. Of course, we kept it clean. Now the kids spend so much time on computers and indoors that they don't think about caring for the ocean and the environment. When I was a kid, we were taught more things." — Harry Silva, 60, Wai'anae
Plenty of parks and beaches on O'ahu need attention. To volunteer, contact Clint Jamile, Adopt-a-Park and Volunteers in the Park coordinator for the Honolulu Parks and Recreation
Department, at 692-5852.
Volunteers can select the area they want to clean, and Jamile helps organize a cleanup day.
• To report illegal dumping, call Honolulu Environmental Concern line: 692-5656. • For assistance in properly disposing of hazardous chemicals, tires, autos, paint or batteries, call Honolulu Recycling Office at 692-5410, or the Environmental Concern line at 692-5656. • To report illegal dumping in process, call 911. He doesn't feel it's nearly the same anymore — with kids or adults.
Times have changed, Silva says, but when he looks to the future, he wants his grandchildren to inherit the clean environment he grew up in and not today's mess.
"Things just can't remain the way they are. That's why I'm here; I want to help," the 60-year-old Wai'anae resident said.
"Here" was the Ma'ili Point cleanup day on Sept. 24. Silva and a handful of volunteers joined forces to give the beach on the Wai'anae Coast a much-needed facelift.
The renovation started when Patty Kahanamoku Teruya, a concerned citizen, and Clint Jamile of the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, spearheaded the beach cleanup day. Teruya arrived with a small army of volunteers and Jamile arrived with an assortment of gloves, shovels and rakes.
"The mentality has changed," Teruya said as she bent to pick up a rake and surveyed several worn tires dumped on the grounds. "This is our 'aina. It's so sad how people treat this land now.
Teruya has been a Wai'anae resident for 27 years. She recalls how Ma'ili Point used to be a great place to watch the surf pound the rocks. She's hoping the cleanup makes it great once again.
The work isn't easy.
Volunteers sifted through mounds of old tires, car batteries (including one that was leaking acid into the water) and even a freezer.
Jamile said more than 6,400 people have volunteered to help clean up O'ahu's beaches and parks this year, exceeding 20,000 hours of cleanup time.
Today, freshly planted coconut trees line Ma'ili Point. Though it has not yet fully reached its original beauty, Ma'ili Point is beginning to blossom again. Where it once resembled an unofficial dumping ground, it is resembling a piece of paradise once again.
"Without the volunteers, it couldn't be done," Jamile said.
For Teruya, the effort to clean the beaches continues. She's part of the Leeward Coast 'Ohana Beautification Group that has cleaned about three beaches each year since 1999.
Denise Saylors is a journalism student at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
When Harry Silva turns back the clock, he talks about clean oceans and how people respected the land.
Want your park cleaned?
