For my STEP Signature Project I visited the Big Island of Hawaii with a volunteer organization called GIVE. Myself and about 15 other volunteers spent the week working on farms, at an elementary school, and learning about Hawaiin culture.
My view of the world changed during my trip to Hawaii because I learned about the culture and how it is different from the culture I am used to here on the mainland of the United States, specifically Ohio. I am now aware that Hawaii is a very community centered society that builds relationships and bonds with one another. The community takes care of one another and does anything they can to help those in need. I realized that I live in a very individualistic mindset. I want to take what I learned in Hawaii and apply it to my life here in Ohio. I learned that we need to be more in tune with the nature and land that we are provided with. Ways to do this is by eating locally grown and made food, appreciating nature, and thinking of humans and nature as equal. Doing this is a way to help our environment, economy, and society all together.
One activity that we did when I was in Hawaii was to take part in an imu style dinner. An Imu is a traditional style of cooking that typically occurs at Luau’s. It is a style of cooking that uses an underground oven built from large porous stones, banana stumps, tea leaves, and pieces of burlap. An imu takes immense preparation which I was able to be a part of and I learned each step of creating an imu. Once the imu is created the food is cooked overnight to slow cook the food inside. For our imu dinner we invited neighbors and gave all of our leftover food to people in the small town we stayed in. This showed me that the community is very giving and takes care of one another.
Another activity that I did while in Hawaii was make a farm to table dinner. For this meal we picked food from the farm that we were staying at and cooked it as our dinner. We used many different fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices all from the farm garden to create a delicious meal for all of us. This taught me that we are able to have food growing locally that is sustainable for living and for the environment. The other volunteers and I bonded on this experience and it gave us ideas for things we can implement into our own home gardens.
Attending a local farmers market showed me the kindness and community that the people in Hawaii share with one another. The local people were excited for us to be there to learn about their culture. They welcomed us with open arms in exchange for our respect and willingness to learn about the history of Hawaii and how we can save the nature that needs to be preserved on their land. We met people who grow their own food and share it with one another. This opened my eyes to creating a stronger bond with my neighbors and friends here at home.
This transformation is valuable to my life because I want to implement the things I learned to make a positive impact on my life and the lives of those around me. I hope to teach the valuable lessons that I learned in Hawaii to the people of my life here in Ohio. I think it is important to learn how other parts of the world work and how their culture is different from the one that I am used to. I have goals to build my own home garden to become more sustainable and share this information with family, friends, and neighbors. Sharing knowledge is a powerful way to change the world which is a simple thing that I can do with what I learned from the people and land in Hawaii.
