FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM The Hawaiian storyteller Makia Malo was onstage Sunday at the Honolulu Zoo's front lawn. "We really just want to make sure that children gain an understanding and respect for nature," said Susie Gardner, a zoologist and director of the education program at the Honolulu Zoo Society.

Zoo’s outreach program
has tale to inspire hope

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Makia Malo knows how to get to kids.

He tells them stories.

And they listen.

In a storytelling session Sunday at the Honolulu Zoo, Malo told about 20 kids and their parents about the time his father brought a sea turtle to their Papakolea home when he was 9 years old.

He named the animal Turtle and shared stories of his new pet with friends at school.

"Every minute, I spent with Turtle," said Malo. One day, however, his parents decided to return Turtle to the wild because it was not eating properly.

Malo explained how devastated he was and how he and his family drove to Kualoa to set the turtle free. He described how his legs sank into the sand as he carried the turtle toward the shoreline. Malo said his father painted their family name in bright red paint on the turtle's shell.

"The last time I saw Turtle was quite far out on the top of the crest, and when he dove, he disappeared from my life forever. I still share this story after all these years just in case somebody may have seen my friend Turtle."

Through the nonprofit organization, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, Malo has become a part of an outreach program called "Zoo to You" which helps children learn about wildlife.

"We really just want to make sure that children gain an understanding and respect for nature," said Susie Gardner, zoologist and director of the education program at the Honolulu Zoo Society.

As part of the outreach program, which holds hour-long science presentations for school children, the 68-year-old Malo will be visiting schools on Tuesdays and Thursdays to share his stories, Gardner said.

"He makes a listener feel like you're there. He's very descriptive, very captivating," she added.

Malo has been a storyteller since 1986. He grew up in Papakolea and in Kalaupapa after being stricken with Hansen's disease at age 12. When he was 30, the disease made him blind, but he could not read Braille because the disease also caused him to lose the feeling in his hands.

He said his stories were "an easier way to remove barriers of people's perception of what Kalaupapa was like." Through storytelling, "people, I think, would embrace me more easily," he added.

His physical limitations did not restrain him from enrolling in the University of Hawaii at 37. Through audiotapes, Malo memorized his lectures and took oral exams. In seven years he earned a bachelor's degree in Hawaiian studies. Two years later, Malo obtained a certificate in secondary education.

Malo, who lives in Honolulu with his wife, Ann, has traveled worldwide performing at storytelling festivals in the South Pacific, New Zealand, Canada and the mainland. Gov. Ben Cayetano appointed him to the Developmental Disabilities Commission.

Along with learning about animals, Gardner hopes children will recognize the obstacles Malo overcame.

"To have such a warm spirit of aloha and have gone through all of that -- I find that so impressive," Gardner said.

"I think he'll really get to those kids who think there is no hope."