Lava Land Part 15: The Spirit of Aloha Lives On

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Over the past few days I've called orchid growers all over the state to source cut orchids for my internet florist business and they have confirmed what I’d already suspected would happen as a result of six Kapoho nurseries being destroyed.  There is a severe shortage of Hawaii cut orchids and there will be for some time.  While signing up for FEMA I spoke to one grower and who said, “I’m in the late afternoon of my life.  I don’t have the time to rebuild.”  With Thailand underbidding Hawaii in the orchid industry, I wonder how many will decide to rebuild.

Ready for work (and play)

Some Kapoho residents, like my husband Drew, a landscape gardener whose business was located entirely in Kapoho and Mitzi Bettencourt, owner of Little Big House Hawaii, not only lost their homes, they lost their businesses as well.  

Bettencourt, a 30 year resident, designed, remodeled and managed many of the homes in her Vacationland subdivision.  “Her” homes had a distinctive eclectic island style and in the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright, her interiors were inspired by environment and functionality.  

Perfect island style kitchen designed by Mitzi Bettencourt

So many have lost work as a result of this eruption.  How many people will choose or even have the option to stay in Puna with the eruption so unstable?  I fear for the future of Pahoa after walking its streets recently.

On a positive note, the generosity of people during this time has been uplifting.  Today I was in Hilo shopping for basic household necessities since mine are under the lava with my house.  It was painful making decisions, remembering the items I was replacing.  At the checkout counter a woman who had overheard my conversation with the cashier approached me in the parking lot.  She pressed money into my hand and when I protested she insisted and offered me a free weekend at her vacation rental in Volcano.

Mitzi signs were everywhere in her beloved Vacationland.

I’d never met her before and she’d introduced herself as Bernie when I thanked her.  My friend Rosemarie said, “Can you imagine that ever happening on the mainland?”  Truly I cannot.  Several hours later, after finding her rental listing on the internet, I received an email. She is the mother of one of my Maui business contacts, someone I work with on a weekly basis, and she put it all together after looking at our family’s gofundme page.  I welcome anyone who has lost something as a result of this eruption to share their story about the kindnesses of others.  The spirit of Aloha lives!

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids" 

Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Lava Land Part 14: Aloha Kapoho, Aloha Puna

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

We spent many a Father's Day out in Kapoho Bay.

It’s been a week since since my last post, a week of action.  We finally caught a break in the form of a dear friend we hadn’t seen for two years dropping back into our lives and finding us a two week vacation rental near the ocean in Keaukaha.  It is a place where we can live on our own again until the next chapter of our lives begins.

I am still on the computer and phone most of the day, but at least now, in between calls to rental agencies, our insurance agent and friends and relatives, we take long healing walks and swims.   Our dog Luna has stopped shaking, having nightmares and over the past days has even resumed her daytime naps. 

My husband's "office".

For some days after we moved our small pile of possessions here, I avoided watching lava videos and updates, but a few days ago our family was offered a free lava excursion by Kalapana Cultural Tours, Ikaika Marzo’s outfit.  At the beginning of the three and a half hour boat ride, he set the tone by reverently announcing that some aboard the boat had lost their homes to the lava.  It was a cold, rainy, bumpy ride that began at 3:30 a.m.  We saw the Kapoho lighthouse, for us the only recognizable remaining landmark of the area.  The boat was encompassed in a sulfphury steam that reminded me of the sulphur baths on Israel’s Dead Sea where I had lived a happy year on a kibbutz in my twenties.  One of the deck hands,  Kainoa Hauanio, a Hawaii County Lifeguard who had recently lost his home in Leilani, showed us where Champagne Pond had been.  It was incomprehensible thinking of the many hours (thousands) I had spent snorkeling and enjoying its beauty with family and friends.  We climbed to the top deck of the boat to get a better view.  It was not a healing experience, but it was an affirmation.

We weren’t able to see the lava river they are now calling the Kapoho river.  Maybe a helicopter ride will be my next step.

Our Pond

My appetite is returning and I have even found my hairbrush, although my husband noticed yesterday that we are grayer than we were before the lava came.  I have pledged to stop feeling so scared about all of this change because it is the only way forward, at least that is what my husband keeps telling me.  My friend Lorn who has lately been volunteering at ‘The Hub’ said, “Someday this will be a story you will tell to your grandkids.”  I am looking forward to looking back on this.  Aloha Kapoho, Aloha Puna. Happy Father's Day!

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids" 

A Love Letter to Kapoho & Puna
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Lava Land Part 13: Changed

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Luna looking out at Kapoho bay from "our access".

I have surrendered and am no longer cooking dinners.  My husband is not too stoked about this but for once I don’t care.  For the past three nights we’ve picked up delicious food from the “Hub”, our new favorite restaurant.   I am so thankful to all of the kind people that have volunteered their time. I am too sad right now to cook well.  I can barely brush my hair or even find my brush right now.  

What I want most is to go home, go to sleep and wake up in my own comfortable bed, walk out to the lanai hear the thump, thump of my dog Luna’s tail,  fall upon her with kisses and rubs, then go back inside and make the coffee.  I miss my mornings.

Tonight after we picked up the dinner, we turned right out of the parking lot and headed toward Lava Tree forest.  We knew the road block would be ahead but we continued because we wanted to drive this road one more time.

Each day seems endless and filled with emails for prospective rentals and phone calls to our insurance adjuster and our insurance advocator (who dropped into our lives as if from heaven). The hardest part is waking up each morning and remembering.  Our main focus is still looking for a rental house.  As it turns out most of the good rentals don’t allow dogs.   Our dog has given us so much comfort during this time.

We signed a lease for a rental in Captain Cook two days ago, after driving 2 1/2 hours to look at it and today the landlord called and said, “My wife is very intuitive she’s been praying on this for a few days and we think it isn’t going to work out for you here. We would like to break the lease.”

Each of our morning walks ended here.

We still can’t believe this actually happened.  They weren’t intuitive or compassionate about our situation. I wonder how people like that can live with themselves?  We feel like we were saved from a bad situation. It's the only way we can make sense of it. 

Today is a new day and my husband and I must rise to challenge our circumstances as we all must do now.  I pledge to strive to move forward and feel acceptance.  We have an opportunity to go on a lava boat Wednesday.   It is hard to see the media footage and the pictures and associate them with my home, our community. I need to see Kapoho covered by lava with my own eyes to make it real.  It is hard to see the footage and the pictures and associate them with my home, our community.  Seeing the changed coastline will be dramatic.  I don't know what it will take to bring closure but I think this could be a start. 

By Jill Steele

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Steele Emergency Lava Relief Fund:  gofundme

Lava Land Part 12: United in Tragedy

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

So many beautiful spots gone.

Everyone in Puna is mourning.  We have all lost something.  There is a different feeling about Pahoa.   People wear it on their faces, you can see the sadness and the sleepless nights in their eyes.  At the “Hub”, which is what everyone is calling the intersection of Highway 130  and 132, the road we used to be able to use to drive to our homes in Leilani and Kapoho, there are a lot of nice people, volunteering their time, cooking, sorting and serving.  It’s a store where money isn’t a credential and tragedy is.  

Some of us are sad for friends.  Some of us are sad for our lost surf spots and beaches and some us are refugees.  There are two types of refugees. There are the evacuees and there are those who have lost their homes.  We have all lost our way of life.

The most beautiful tree in Kapoho.

I spend my days combing the rentals on social media sites, something I never dreamed I’d be doing at this stage of my life, except for helping my kids with their housing needs.  I broke down  earlier this week after looking at two particularly awful places.  

Tackling the insurance claim we need to file is terrifying, so I attended an insurance forum   presented by a non profit outfit yesterday.  The room was inadequate and people stood outdoors in the rain straining to listen.  I found the language and the terms they used confusing.  I had to leave after an argument broke out between one of the attendees and a presenter. We deserved better than more drama.

Kapoho Bay

At the Pahoa Community Center there are various organizations such as the Red Cross, Catholic Charities and veteran’s groups.  They are fully staffed and seem efficient.  They all seem to conduct themselves with the right amount of compassion.  It is humanity at it’s best.  

I was in Hilo today to picking up a document and found it odd that people were seemingly unaffected.  I wondered how life could be going on as normal.  Puna is it’s own planet at the moment, an island unto itself so to speak, but we are united in our tragedy.

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Lava Land Part 11: Stewards of the Land

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers

Our sweet beach cottage.

I wish I never had to hear the words Fissure 8 again.  “Fuck Fissure 8," is what I want to say but my Hawaiian friend said to me, “We are stewards of the land.”

I want to think of it like that instead of being angry at God or  Goddess.  If this is Pele’s way of rebirthing the land, maybe I  should listen and hear that this is an opportunity for our own rebirth.  I am scared at this abrupt change of direction in our lives, being forced to make new decisions about the course it will take. I want community more than ever.  We are all grieving.  Some of us have lost homes but all of us have lost our favorite places along Puna's coastline.  

Everything about this past week has been hard. Everything seems like a big effort.  Even opening and closing unfamiliar doors seems like effort.   I have no routine anymore. Humans and animals need routine. My dog and I are working on a new one at our temporary residence with our good friends.  

The Access

I am trying to let go of the possessions I no longer possess. It is painful. I want to stop waking up in the middle of the night thinking of what I've lost.   This will probably take some time.  

I miss my daily life most of all, the simple, quiet Kapoho life I was privileged to live for 25 years.  We married, had children and watched many other children of Puna grow up during this time.  They were beach kids with tough “Hawaiian feet” running barefoot over pavement and lava with their pick of swimming spots scattered throughout the community. All of those Kapoho places are gone now, but our family is safe and most importantly and we are surrounded by an outpouring of love from extended family and friends.

Kapoho Bay being filled with lava.

I am writing to share our experience with the hope that those who are going through this with us will find comfort and feel less alone.  All of us lava evacuees whether we have lost homes or not, are kin now.  Everyone who has been to Puna’s most beautiful coastal spots is mourning.

As the volcano goddess Pele rebirths the land, so be it that all lives changed by her flow will be reborn too.  The universe has a different plan than the one we planned for.  

Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers