January 18, 2022
Around 4pm I took a long walk around the community of Manoa on Oahu, HI. While on a mission to learn more about the community and its residents, I was also able to enjoy Manoa's amazing view of the alluring mountains, as well as the diverse wildlife peaking out from every street corner. After working past my initial challenge of talking to strangers, I was able to have some long, meaningful conversations with a few residents. Many of which gave me more insight into the serene community of Manoa. I chose Manoa as my neighborhood for this project because usually in smaller towns you are able to get a more personal take on the issues effecting their community, and hopefully that will give me more ideas for future articles.
The next picture displayed is the route I decided to walk on. While my original intent was to stay in the hub of Manoa at the Mānoa Marketplace, I found myself wandering more into the suburbs. From here I was able to find more local community members to have conversations with. After a while of walking past houses, I stubbled upon a large park, which I later discovered was Manoa Valley District Park. After spending sometime in different spots of the park, I ventured farther into Manoa and then looped back to the marketplace I had originally started at.
When I first started my walk I had a harder time talking to people, or better yet, getting them to talk to me. One of the things I noticed was that people were often friendly until I mentioned that I was a journalism student working on a story. The first person I talked to was at the bus stop next to the Manoa Starbucks. Her name was Rebecca and she had just recently moved to Hawaii for an internship at a school in Kaimuki. She talked to me about how she taught students in Malaysia for about two years, and is now teaching high school to kids coming from other countries. She told me that most of the kids she teaches are coming to Hawaii because their parents moved here for work, or because they have health issues and can't always be present in class. I thought this sort of hybrid program was really interesting, and it makes me wonder whether or not some of these kids are military kids who are used to being moved around.
After talking to Rebecca, I moved on to the suburbs where I noticed a long line of no parking stands up on the front lawns of the houses. After a breif walk up the street I spotted a man, who later I found out his name was Nofo, who was wearing a shirt labeled security guard. I asked him what kind of security work he was doing, and he explained to me that for the last six months he's been working as a security guard for television shows, more speciifcally, Magnum PI. As many people on Oahu may know, both Magnum PI and Hawaii Five-0 are popular crime and investigative televisons shows filmed all over the island. Nofo told me that they often choose random
houses to shoot scenes in.
From here I continued walking straight until I noticed a huge pack of dogs on my right hand side. I walked over to ask this lady, later identified as Colleen, if this was a dog park and she told me that while many people bring their dogs here, it was just the Manoa Valley District Park. After talking to Colleen for a little while I learned more about the concerns residents on Oahu have about the increase in homeless population, more specifically in the downtown areas. She also mentioned that one thing she loves about Manoa was the poke place off E Manoa Road called, "Off The Hook." Having eaten there myself and throughly enjoying my experience, I wasn't suprised to hear her mention the name.
Walking farther in the park I met a pair of locals named Mika (lives in Kaimuki) and Herald (lives in Manoa). Both Mika and Herald enlightened me a bit more on the homeless crisis. They told me that there were rising crime rates in Manoa, and a huge increase in car and home break-ins. Most Manoa residents consider it to be a pretty laid back and safe community, so it was pretty disheartening to hear about all the crime. What was also mentioned, specifically by herald was that the prison (closer to the west side of the island) lets out people who steal cars, break into homes, etc, after about two hours, because they are so heavily impacted. This could be cause for concern in Manoa's community according to Mika and Herald.
The next person I talked to was an older resident in Manoa's beautiful community, and I was able to gather a lot from our conversation about some of the controversies spreading through Manoa right now. This is Ella Tokunaga and she has lived in Manoa for 55 years. She told me a little about Manoa in the past and how many businesses, such as Toyo Supermarket, have been run out of business by the larger companies (like Safeway, Longs, etc). Ella said that she loves Manoa and she believes that "every community has it's ambiance." While Manoa's community demographic used to be mostly local, it has changed over the last few years and there is a fewer percentage now of locals. One community concern Ella brought to my attention was the bankruptcy crisis of the Manoa Chinese Cemetary. She said that they graveyard association wants to build a massive apartment complex on top of an old Manoa Forest preserve, as a way of making more income to keep the Cemetary in business. While Ella hasn't decided how she feels exactly about the situaition, she told me that many of the new residents have been arguing that it will destroy the calm, peaceful Manoa we now know and love. The question is, will they get the green light to go ahead with the project or will the local residents in Manoa's community stop this from happening?
After my long conversation with Ella, I discussed a completly new topic with a resident named Christian Vonhamm. He said that while he lives in Eva Beach (west side of the island), he knows a great deal about the Manoa community and even takes singing lessons once a week at Medici's, in Mānoa Marketplace. He said that a main goal he would like to see accomplished in the community of Manoa, and on the island of Oahu as a whole, is to keep the Aloha spirit alive. Christian mentioned that between technology and covid he's seen a decrease in Hawaii's Aloha spirit. He mentioned that while most everyone has access to internet, people are getting "unconsciously exposed to toxicity" online. He also stated that this constant research on news is making people hold too firmly onto their beliefs in a way that's creating cautious and conflict with those around them. It was nice to hear his side of the story and I hope that the Aloha spirit begins to increase as our communities rebuild themselves back up to what they once were.
See below are some more pictures from the walk in Manoa's amazing community.
Left side images are both of Manoa Valley District Park, Top Right are flowers in the Manoa suburbs, and bottom right is a small restaurant/cafe I stumbled upon on my walk home.
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