Bernard “Lono” Kalawaia Kaina turned an Eagle Scout project into a connection with his Hawaiian ancestors and the community that helped to raise him.

The 18-year-old Lahainaluna High School graduate earned the Boy Scout’s highest rank with a project on restoring Moku‘ula, the former royal residence of Chief Pi‘ilani at what is now Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park in Lahaina.

He rallied businesses, his family, friends and fellow scouts to help him convert 2.5 acres of overgrown, debris-strewn land into a clean and leveled site that eventually will be a visitor’s park and community garden with Native Hawaiian plants.

The site at the mauka end of the park had been a dumping ground for household, industrial and green waste. Kaina’s project involved clearing the trash as well as 15 kiawe trees.

A cleanup was completed in July 2001, but Kaina stuck with maintenance of the area through this year, working with the Friends of Moku‘ula, the nonprofit organization planning the restoration of the historic site. 

Before tackling the cleanup project, Kaina visited the area with Friends of Moku‘ula Executive Director Akoni Akana. The two said they ran into homeless people and drug addicts and advised them to leave the area.

“This area was way different before,” Kaina said.

Akana said his organization could have connected Kaina with the resources needed in the project. But the young man, quoted by Akana, “said ‘No, no, I can do it.’ . . . And he did.”

Kaina’s project easily saved the Friends $10,000 to $12,000 in cleanup costs, Akana said. The organization’s next step will be to hire a professional landscaping company to maintain the cleared area. 

When trying to decide on a project for his Eagle Scout badge, Kaina turned to his grandmother, Orpha Kaina, who raised him. The two discussed a number of ideas including Moku‘ula, to which Kaina can trace a genealogical connection through the Maui Chief Pi‘ilani. 

Kaina said he felt spiritual connection to the place, and he takes great pride in having contributed to its restoration. “I’m a hands-on guy,” he said. “Just the satisfaction to see something change” made the project even more enjoyable.

He credited his grandmother, his family and friends, the Boy Scouts, businesses including Goodfellow Brothers Inc. and Maui Land & Pineapple Co., and the community in general for helping him.

Kaina earned the Eagle rank as a member of Troop 79, sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lahaina. His court of honor was held Nov. 1. 

An all-star linebacker at Lahainaluna High School, he plans to attend the University of Oregon, where he’ll major in political science and even play some football. But for now, he is attending Maui Community College and continues his involvement in Scouting as a leader the church’s Cub Scout Pack 79. 

— Claudine San Nicolas, staff writer

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