Kauai Midweek Magazine Cover Story
In her thoughtfully written article called “Restoring Kaneiolouma”, author Coco Zickos interviews Poʻo Rupert Rowe and tells the story of the project.
“Hui Malama O Kāneiolouma was founded in 2009, but efforts have been underway to preserve the area since the 1990s. Nonetheless, it was as early as the 1950s when Henry Kekahuna predicted the changes that were occurring within the Hawaiian culture and sought to preserve sites like this. Several decades later, Billy Kaohelauli‘i took on the South Shore project and asked Rowe to partner with him.
‘All we had to do was follow his (Kekahuna’s) vision and the mission he had to preserve the past. As a kanaka maoli myself, I understood the meaning of the legacy in our culture,’ says Rowe.”