Madame Pele 2

The lava is less than 500 feet from our beloved town of Pahoa.  The national media has descended to record this moment in history.  Our little village is now world famous. With each media outfit scrambling to get a great "scoop", there is a tendency towards sensationalizing an already exciting event.  The world is getting a different view than we who are closer to the source.  Friends and family have panicked after seeing closeups of burning, bubbling hot lava on national television, imagining lava rivers fast approaching our home, when in reality, the type of lava flow we are experiencing is a slow process.  Even though our home is 8 miles away from Pahoa, our lives will be affected profoundly when the lava crosses the highway.  We’re still not sure which of our 2 grocery stores will remain open or if we will be able to easily access any of these stores without taking lengthy detours.   The lava will be the dividing force.  New districts will be formed by Pele.  Some of my daughter’s friends are already transferring schools, moving in with friends and relatives in order to be closer to these schools. 

I’ve never been more in awe of nature than these last few months.  I’ve learned that even with careful preparation strategies, an act of nature cannot be prevented.  There is a man in Pahoa who has erected a barrier in the form of a berm of dirt to divert the lava.  We shall see in the next days and weeks what becomes as a result of that.  In doing so, he may have alienated his neighbors, who may be adversely affected as a direct result of the lava being diverted.

I’ve learned the true meaning of “go with the flow”.  We are trying to live up to this motto and not be frantic and stressed (like I have been on a few days very recently).  When people ask, “What are you going to do”,  I say “We’ll just have to wait and see”.  

 My daughter’s school, the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAAS) has been contingency planning for over a month.  The school is being divided into north and south campuses, the locations as yet undecided.  We’re hoping it will be smooth transition if and when it becomes necessary.   
A group of students, with two dedicated teacher advisors, have created a website and a Facebook page called Hope for HAAS. These kids, who have grown up using social media to communicate with each other, are now using it as a tool to shout out to the world about their school possibly being destroyed by lava.  The Facebook page, with 3,713 followers to date, has generated the recognition of media organizations all over the world. They have been interviewed on NBC's Hawaii News Now, CNN, have been written about in TIME Magazine and were interviewed on Radio Australia.  It has been very exciting to watch all of this evolve.  It has taken away some of the kids'  fear of the changes Pele may bring about for them personally, while empowering and strengthening their ties to their school. The Hope for HAAS group has shown the world and hopefully the Hawaii Department of Education, that public charter schools are worth funding. Currently charter schools are underfunded, receiving about half the amount per child enrolled compared with what public schools receive.    
The Hope for HAAS student group has made the best of a difficult situation, a valuable life lesson to learn at any age.  

by Jill Steele

*photos courtesy of USGS.gov and Hope for HAAS