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WAILUKU >> A Maui program has turned the story of a mythical Hawaiian superman into a passage through adolescence for some youths. Program on Maui cultivates
respect through cultureThe Maui Hero Project teaches
life lessons in its Hawaiian activitiesBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comThe Maui Hero Project, named after the mythical figure Maui who captured the sun atop Haleakala, takes youths on coming-of-age journeys through Hawaiian culture, offering activities such as fishing, rock climbing and taro planting.
Project director Loren Lapow said the youths learn the role the adolescent Maui played in the mythology of the Hawaiian Islands and to appreciate their island home and value other people.
"You learn the island demands respect," he said. "You learn to respect yourself and to treat other people with respect."
Iao Intermediate School counselor Charlie Schlacther said the project improves youths' self-esteem and has helped adolescents who needed to improve social skills or had behavioral problems.
He said he has also referred youths who simply needed after-school activities.
"It's been a really positive experience for the kids," Schlacther said.
Ryan Ogawa, 12, part native Hawaiian, said he thought the program was going to be "junk."
"But then, at the end, it was fun," he said.
His mother, Donna Ogawa, said the project taught her son to be responsible, and Ryan now seems have more interest in school.
"His attitude is a lot better," she said.
Lapow said the project does not focus on academics but helps in reshaping the attitude of youths to prepare them for learning and life.
Besides Lapow, Maui Hero facilitators Tyler Martin and Kim Nishihara also discuss myths and legends from other ethnic groups.
Lapow said the project is based on the importance of mythological characters in society and lessons to be learned about following one's bliss in making life choices -- a idea promoted by the late mythologist Joseph Campbell.
"In following your bliss, you will come to know the hero in you," Lapow said. "The Hawaiians call it 'na'au' -- following your intuition."
Lapow said the project offers the opportunity to experience rites of passage often lost in today's society and reduced to getting a driver's license, doing drugs and having sex.
The Maui Hero Project, funded as a pilot program through a three-year $300,000 federal grant, provides youths with eight weeks of after-school experiences from 2 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays.
Lapow said the project, started in November, has graduated 30 students, and 30 others are currently going through the program.
The program accepts youths ages 11 to 14, male and female, and children of all ethnicities, although many of those entering have been native Hawaiians and adolescent males. There is no tuition fee.
The project teaches youths to respect nature, honor their relationship with it and to extend that relationship to the world outside themselves.
In a scaled-down taro patch above Iao State Park, youths learn about taro cultivation and the medicinal qualities of Hawaiian plants from Kahu Vince Colleado of Puu Honua 'O Iao.
The students perform a variety of tasks and sometimes go on hikes into the valley, where there once were extensive taro terraces.
In the creation myth of Hawaii, male twins both named Haloa are born, one a human being and the other manifesting as a taro plant.
Colleado said he explains the symbolic importance of taro, where the stem or "oha" forms the basis for regeneration, and its relationship to the Hawaiian word "ohana," or family.
Videotapes of the youths' experiences are recorded to allow them to relive their personal story through the program.
Lapow said the project provides a sense of belonging.
"Kids want to be a part of something. They really want to be accepted and have a place that is cool," he said. "We're trying to connect these kids with things that resonate."
The next class begins June 1. For more information, call Maui Hero Project on the Valley Isle, 808-572-3755, or visit www.mauihero.com.