Paʻa Pono
The Story of Paʻa Pono
Paʻa Pono 96792 was never a program. It was a call to action.
A call for our community to take back the narrative that was being written about us and to remind ourselves—and the world—of who we truly are.
At the time, our Waiʻanae Coast was experiencing a heartbreaking rise in gun violence. The headlines, the news stories, and social media painted a picture of our community that was difficult to recognize. While the pain was real, it wasn’t the whole story.
As someone born and raised in Waiʻanae, my heart was breaking. I didn’t want our children growing up believing that violence was the identity of our community.
I wanted them to know the Waiʻanae that raised me—a place where neighbors become family, where aloha is a way of life, where our kūpuna guide us, where our youth rise to lead, and where the beauty of our people is every bit as powerful as the beauty of our ʻāina.
As we prepared for our annual Mauka to Makai event, I knew it couldn’t simply be another community gathering. It needed to be a first step toward healing. A moment to bring our community together, reconnect with one another, and remind ourselves of the values that have always defined 96792. It was an opportunity to begin replacing fear with hope and division with unity.
Searching for guidance, I went to Uncle Kamaki Kanahele. I shared my grief for our community. I shared my fear that we were allowing others to define us by our hardest moments. But I also shared my hope—that together we could reclaim our story.
Uncle Kamaki listened with the quiet wisdom that made everyone around him feel seen. When I finished, he simply looked at me and said,
“That is Paʻa Pono.”
In that moment, everything became clear.
He had given words to what I had been searching for.
Uncle Kamaki Kanahele (bottom center) with ʻElepaio and Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive Center staff and community members.
Uncle Kamaki Kanahele (far left) with members of Waiʻanae Kūpuna Council.
Paʻa pono.
To stand firm in what is right.
To stay grounded in our values, even when life is difficult.
To choose aloha over fear.
To choose unity over division.
To choose hope over despair.
Those two words became our community’s call to action.
Not to ignore the challenges we faced, but to refuse to let them define us.
We invited our community to help reclaim our narrative by sharing the stories that reflected the true heart of 96792. Through #PaaPono96792, we began celebrating the acts of aloha that rarely made the news—the beauty of our ʻāina, the strength of our poʻe, the wisdom of our kūpuna, the accomplishments of our youth, neighbors helping neighbors, and the countless everyday moments that remind us why we are so proud to call Waiʻanae home.
Little by little.
Story by story.
Photo by photo.
We began replacing a narrative of hopelessness with one of hope.
Because the truth is, Waiʻanae has never been defined by its hardest moments.
It has always been defined by its people.
-Alicia Higa, Executive Director of ʻElepaio
May we always be the authors of our own story. May we always stand firm in what is right.
Paʻa Pono.