Lahaina Is Rising!
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Lahaina Harbor two days after wildfires destroyed most of the town, which was once Hawaii’s capital during the monarchy. In the far distance are the tourist resorts at Ka’anapali—built on what were once sugar fields. (From the Lahaina Flyover Photos 8/11/2023 Pictures Courtesy Hawaii DLNR)
When the US colonized Hawai’i in the late 1800s, extractive agricultural systems were encouraged—where sugarcane and pineapple industries flourished. These industries necessitated a docile but hardworking workforce—one major group that was recruited came from the Philippines and were called sakadas, with the initial group arriving in 1906 from Port Salomague near Cabugao in the Ilocos region.
Colonization and the monocropping methods that came with it changed Maui, depleting its soils of fertility but making much of the island more fire prone. Maui’s natural ecosystems were altered as the big companies diverted water from its wet areas to irrigate the fields in the drier parts. This is still a source of contention today.
As workers slowly gained rights and other countries offered cheaper sugar, profits for the sugar companies declined, and the plantations were shuttered. Maui’s last sugar mill--the last in the state, shut down in 2016, leaving large swaths of land untended and fallow and covered with non-native grass species which experts claim accelerated the spread of the wildfires.
For the big companies, tourism was the solution to offset the economic loss of agricultural production. In the 1960s Ka’anapali was slowly developed as a visitor destination, and the closest town, Lahaina, thrived once again as tourists flocked to enjoy its historic ambience.
Fire!
August 8, 2023, will forever be sealed in history as the day that Lahaina burned. Considered a Filipino enclave, Lahaina’s population -- the workforce of Maui’s visitor industry -- is mostly Filipino. Its Filipino population, a combination of newly arrived immigrants and those whose multi-generational families are rooted in Maui, has difficulty in accessing government assistance. Aside from the language barriers, there are cultural and technological nuances that were challenging to access government assistance. For the majority, the process is intimidating, and some are so overwhelmed they don’t know what they need, or where to begin.
Collective Recovery Efforts
Two days after the fire, the governing board of the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce (MFCC) led by its president Dominic Suguitan convened and agreed to establish a Bayanihan Fund to “set up a recovery fund to provide resources to support the immediate and long-term recovery needs of the people affected by the devastating Maui wildfires” and pledged to work with local, national and international partners “to get an understanding of the quickly evolving priorities” triggered by the wildfires. A sign-in form was also launched on its website to keep track of the families requesting support.
The tasks ahead were overwhelming, but for Kit Zulueta Furukawa, one of MFCC’s directors--a Filipina immigrant who arrived in Hawai’i in 2008--there was no hesitation to take the lead. “It’s hard to sit still when your colleagues and friends have lost everything except the clothes on their back,” like her first boss in Maui, Rick Nava. Nava convinced Kit to move to Maui in 2010 to work for his firm MSI Maui, a photo, video, and graphic design company.
Rick, who has been appointed by Mayor Bissen as one of five commissioners and the only Filipino to guide Maui County in its road to recovery, eventually worked with Kit in implementing Hawak Kamay, a Filipino resource fair seven weeks after the disaster.
At the Hawak Kamay Filipino Resource Fair, haircuts and massage were some of the free services given to the fire victims. At the right is Allysen Quijano who flew in from Oahu, while the other stylists were from Maui who worked non-stop. (Photo is from Kit Z Furukawa, from the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce Photo Album)
MFCC is a relatively “young” organization compared with the Oahu-based Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii (FCCH) which they consider their “mother” organization. During the pandemic, the various Filipino chambers in the state participated in Zoom networking to form a statewide coalition and link the chambers to its national and international counterparts. This initiative would prove providential when disaster struck.
What resulted from that online discussion of various community groups was the need to provide an opportunity to gather and offer support for the Filipino community affected by the fires. Familiar faces who can speak Ilocano, Tagalog or Visayan can provide hope in a warm setting and address cultural nuances. This would also address the logistical challenge of distributing aid to victims who are temporarily housed in hotels and vacation rentals and scattered in various parts of Maui.
With translators available, the displaced families are encouraged to apply for relief, and volunteers can literally hold their hands (or hawak kamay) in support as they navigate the disaster relief systems. By buying the relief goods from local businesses, it will also help generate economic activity for the area. But most of all, the community can grieve and pray together. And thus, the planning for Hawak Kamay Filipino Resource Fair that was held on September 23 took root.
Tagalog and Ilocano translators were available to help fill-out FEMA and other government agencies forms to get relief. Translators and interpreters were also available to those needing mental health counseling and other services. (Photo is from Kit Z Furukawa, from the Maui Filipino Chamber of Commerce Photo Album)
The response from various groups and individuals was swift and heartwarming. More than 40 organizations and Filipino groups arrived at the Lahaina Civic Center to offer support on the day Hawak Kamay Filipino Resource Fair was held.
Among the activities provided were talk story tables to allow for kwentuhan (storytelling) with friends. A keiki corner was carved out where Filipino children’s books and school supplies were given to kids, and arts and crafts like parol (lantern)-making kept the kids occupied. Free legal and financial support programs were also provided by the Hawaii Filipino Lawyers while insurance experts, adjusters, bank personnel and others answered questions and offered advice. Binhi at Ani (Maui’s Filipino Community Center) collected names of individuals who would qualify for monetary aid (to be distributed in October according to one recipient).
The most popular were “aloha” bags filled with Pinoy favorites such as sardines and other canned goods, dried fish and snacks that were given out to each family (some 300 families or close to 3,000 affected residents of Lahaina came). Days before the event, an email was received by the organizers apprising them that folks were craving for Pinoy comfort food, thus the decision to bring in pallets of Filipino food items supplemented with fresh produce donated by farmers on Oahu’s North Shore and the Aloha Harvest—a non-profit that collects surplus produce and distributes to churches and other social service agencies.
The collection and delivery of fresh produce was coordinated by Davelyn Quijano, whose family farm in Waialua grew most of the eggplant, okra, ampalaya and malungay that were distributed that day. Davelyn was one of hundreds of volunteers who flew in from different parts of Hawai’i and beyond to help. Much later, we learned that her husband’s family lost nine members from the fires.
Immigrant Roots
Davelyn’s maternal grandfather was one of the sakadas recruited to work in Waialua, one of Hawaii’s sugar plantations on Oahu’s North Shore. When the plantation closed in the 1990s, parcels of land were offered to retirees, and their family was able to purchase 3.30 acres of farm land which her oldest son, a retired Marine, wanted to nurture as a haven and a source for healing. Thus, the initiative for Davelyn and her family to bring the vegetables to Maui and be part of the resource fair.
Davelyn Quijano and Sandra Desierto, Miss Hawaii Filipina 2023 hand out Filipino vegetables at the resource fair. Aloha bags containing Pinoy comfort food as well as potted orchids were also distributed. (Photo is from Davelyn Quijano)
Davelyn’s story is one that mirrors the narratives of most Filipino immigrants in Hawaii. She arrived in 1978, and five years later, returned to Sinait, Ilocos Sur, the family’s hometown, to marry her childhood sweetheart, Ador, and bring him to Hawai’i. They would raise a family (three boys and a girl), and along the way, she worked in insurance and real estate.
In 2019, her husband’s relatives in Maui, asked her to help them purchase a house in Lahaina. Adela and husband Joel Villegas, their two grown children, Jun Mark and Angelica, pulled their resources together to qualify for a loan to purchase property in Hawai’i—where real estate costs are astronomical. At the time, Angelica had just married and brought to Hawai'i her husband Kevin Baclig—also from her barangay in Sinait. Davelyn notes that since Kevin was new and still looking for employment, he was not listed on the deed.
Receiving the key to their newly purchased Lahaina home in 2019 is Angelica Baclig. Next to her, is her mom Adela Villegas. Next to Davelyn Quijano (in red shoes) is Junmark Quijano, Angelica’s brother. (Photo is from Davelyn Quijano)
The house that they purchased was just five houses down from where their other relatives lived—Lydia and husband Salvador Coloma, Lydia’s sister Luz and brother Filemon Quijano, a niece Glenda Yabes, and their daughter, Oliva, still in her 20s who survived the fire and was working at the Royal Lahaina hotel when the fires broke out.
The Quijano siblings were able to immigrate to Hawaii through their sister, Luz, who was a widow, and was recruited by Koinonia Pentecostal Church in Lahaina to serve as one of the church pastors in the early 1980s.
Tragic Losses
On the morning of August 8, Kevin called his wife, Angelica, from his workplace in Kahului where he worked as a nurse. He urged them to evacuate immediately. That would be the last time he would talk to his wife. He speculated that Angelica must have gone to the other house to help the older relatives to flee.
The authorities would eventually identify Angelica’s remains and those of his relatives through DNA testing. Some DNA samples came from relatives the Philippines. Adela Villegas, Kevin’s mother-in-law would be the last to be identified, but the fate of Oliva’s mom, Lydia Coloma, is still unknown.
Lydia worked at Foodland Lahaina, and on that day, she went to work. Relatives speculated that the supermarket’s staff were advised to flee—that Lydia may have been on her way home when she was overcome by the fires.
According to Davelyn, Kevin has asked relatives in the Philippines to start the prayer rituals for the dead. But for him, it’s back to work as a nurse, and dealing with the overwhelming paperwork that he needs to sort out—insurance claims, mortgage payments, passports to renew at the Philippine Consulate (which still insists on the steep $150 fee for burned passports, causing dismay among the folks helping with the rescue and relief efforts).
Kevin was advised to present the insurance settlement he received to a contractor who will reconstruct the structure that was burned. But nobody knows for sure when rebuilding will occur. Government officials still insist on cleaning up and removing the toxic detritus of the fire before rebuilding starts, and rightly so. Lahaina’s aquifer is most likely contaminated, as well as the water pipes and related infrastructure.
For Oliva, the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to her mom, Lydia, has kept her in limbo. It may take time before she can find closure. She has since moved to live with a cousin in Honolulu with plans of moving to the US Mainland. There is still uncertainty on what she plans to do with her parents’ property that had burned down.
Davelyn has sought advice from lawyers she met at the resource fair on how to unravel the inheritance issues. She also sought help for her, her family and relatives as they grieve and find comfort in this overwhelming loss. She noted fondly that people’s eyes lit up when they were offered the fresh produce from her farm at the resource fair. “But they can’t cook in their hotel rooms!” she laments. The hotels served as temporary shelters for the fire victims. “Maybe the next Hawak Kamay, we can prepare and cook the pinakbet with them.” She remembers how back home, communal cooking in big pots outside helped in the grieving process, “where we sing, pray and laugh together” to lessen the load and find comfort in one another’s presence.
The displaced folks in Lahaina have a long and difficult road ahead. But there seems to be a “collective belief in the future, a powerful reminder that adversity can pave the way for even greater resilience,” as eloquently articulated by Susie Berardy, the current president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawai’i (FCCH), who has committed the chamber and its coalition partners to help the residents rebuild a stronger Lahaina.
Rose Cruz Churma is a retired architect and has been a Hawaii resident the last 47 years. She spends her retirement years advocating for stronger Hawaii-Philippine links.
