Youth tackle community projects

LAWA‘I — Raising money to come to Hawai‘i is not an easy feat, said Bob Datz of Massachusetts.

Datz, a writer for the Telegram and Gazette in Worcester joined Daniel Ybarra of San Diego, Calif. in escorting a group of about 16 people to Kaua‘i, including a group from Kake, Alaska.

“This is the first time we’re coming to Kaua‘i,” said Ybarra, a public defender for juvenile delinquency cases in San Diego. “We take our kids visiting so they can see problems in other cities as well as parts of the world.”

But those visits are not pleasure cruises as Ybarra links the trips with liberal doses of cultural exchange and community service.

“People don’t realize that Hawai‘i has its share of problems too,” Datz said. “When you tell them you’re raising money to go to Hawai‘i, they think you’re going on vacation and there are no problems in vacations.”

Ybarra said the trips have been steeped in an indigenous educational environment and his group has taken kids to Alaska, New Zealand, Fiji, and cities on the East Coast where they meet with local residents and leaders to discuss similarities and differences.

This indigenous educational environment created a bond between Ybarra and the people in Kake whom Ybarra invited on the Kaua‘i trip.

“The people in Kake have always welcomed our youths to their community since our first visit in 2001,” Ybarra said.

“They have hosted our kids as if they were long lost relatives and have treated them to camping on the beach, drumming, singing, seat lodge rituals, canoeing, fishing, and wonderful learning opportunities by meeting with elders and peers in the community.”

Ybarra said several of the kids have described these experiences as life-changing.

“I’m the lawyer for them,” Ybarra said. “These are kids from backgrounds that include poverty, neglect, abuse and abandonment. They include kids involved with the juvenile system, Drug Court, and foster children who are about to ‘age out’ of the system as well as youth from the local Native American tribal communities. We travel under the Stony Knoll Youth Services, a charitable corporation dedicated to working with kids from disadvantaged environments.”

The San Diego-based group’s trip here involved helping Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity with its building projects while attempting to make contact with local groups, one being the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

“I loved doing the Ocean Count,” said Cynthia Relph of San Diego, Calif.

“We saw two whales breach together. They said that doesn’t happen very often, and I got to meet so many people. When it was over, I was still going ‘blow, breach, blow, blow,’ like the count was still on. I have to come back to Kaua‘i to do the count again.”

While working on a Lawa‘i house for Habitat, Relph was thrilled to have installed windows.

“If I knew it was going to be this easy, I should’ve helped my dad with construction,” she said. “Maybe now, I’ll build a playhouse for my granddaughter.”

Since the group’s arrival on Feb. 17, Janis Benn, the Kaua‘i Habitat for Humanity volunteer coordinator, has had the group working in the ReStore thrift shop, the Lawa‘i site, and the ‘Ele‘ele site while trying to coordinate cultural activities with Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School.

“This is a good group,” said Jim Adamic of Wailua who was helping Marcia Aceveda of Kake, Alaska, learn how to use the radial arm saw to cut a 2×6 stud, Aceveda shrieking in excitement with the accomplishment.

“But the groups are all good. You get to meet a lot of new people, and it’s sad when they have to go, but there’re more groups to meet.”

Ybarra said the group leaves Wednesday, but is already trying to plan a return trip with another group, pending fundraising efforts.

“The SKYS the limit,” he said, referring to the Stony Knoll Youth Services charity.

• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.