On this Memorial Day weekend, it’s much quieter than usual, which is lovely. Of course, there are none of the usual public events taking place, which is a disappointment to many.

Hawaii had one of the highest levels of compliance with its stay at home order, according the cell phone tracking data. Our diligence and public spiritedness was rewarded by remarkably low infection rates.

Our beaches have now been opened, but there is still a mandatory 14 day quarantine of all arrivals. According to friends of mine, some of the people at the beaches are clearly tourists. We have not done a good enough job of finding and arresting those who are violating our quarantine law for all arrivals. But we’re getting better at it!

The cheaters should not expect to be tolerated, let alone greeted warmly. They and any local who helps them violate the law deserve to be treated harshly. They are putting their own pleasure ahead of the safety of the residents of Hawaii, which is despicable.

But there are many wonderful things happening, and in this blog I want to focus on two that involve students at Waimea Middle School. (For more on our schools, see http://yrh.ewp.mybluehost.me/2020/03/05/waimeas-schools/)

First, Kamaha’o Ocean, a 14-year old 8th grader at our local public school, has put together a great CSA program. He’s sourcing meat, fish, fruit and vegetables from local ranchers and farmers (the most recent fish, menpachi, is from an open ocean fish farm), and putting together weekly bags. It has forced me to cook with different ingredients, which has been great fun. http://www.painabyocean.com There is a story about his efforts in the May edition of Honolulu Magazine: http://www.honolulumagazine.com

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Of course, his is not the only CSA program in Waimea, but I find it particularly thrilling because of his age, and rather enjoy the fact that he includes meat and fish as well as fruit and vegetables. I usually eat a very plant based diet, but I’m glad to support local meat producers during this time.

Another Waimea Middle School effort, also involving food, is their distribution of Kokua Kits to their students. These include books, seeds, and food harvested from the school’s Mala’ai Garden. Here’s the link: https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2020/05/23/hawaii-news/its-just-who-we-are-waimea-middle-school-delivers-2000-plus-kokua-kits-to-students/

There are many people here who are struggling financially. If they were dependent on the tourist industry, they have almost certainly lost their jobs. Hawaii has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation at the moment. It seems inevitable that many people who moved here to enjoy the beaches and work at the hotels are going to need to move back to the mainland. Realtors have seen an impressive slow down in activity, as everyone tries to sort out what things are worth in this new world, and to determine what their financial future looks like.

We have probably had longer-lasting shortages than people on the mainland experience. No one had hand sanitizer for months. Local distillers have stepped in the make enough. I bought some at ACE with hemp oil in it (because that was what was available), and I’m glad to have it. It has a funny, gritty, texture as it dries, but it is certainly better than nothing. Flour is still in short supply, along with pet food and toilet paper.

I can’t imagine our lives will ever go back to the way they were, but there were plenty of ways in which we could have done better, and now we have the chance to do so. On this Memorial Day weekend, we have much to look forward to!