Laie local and senior manager in the Student Leadership & Service Department, Terry Moea’i said he and his brother, Kerry Moea’i, have a vision to bridge the gap between BYU–Hawaii and the community. Terry Moea’i said because he and his brother were raised in Laie, they have relationships “on both sides of the wall”–with both students and community members–and would like that to be the case for more people.
Those walls, Kerry Moea’i explained, are the ones in front of the school. He said the community is divided. “Everybody knows where Temple View Apartments are. Every-one knows where faculty housing is. When [people] drive up Moana Street, there is ‘Haole Mo Street,’ then there is ‘Mo Street.’ All the professors live on ‘Haole Mo Street.’”
A beginner’s guide to respecting Laie
President of the Hawaiian Club Kamaua Yamamoto, a senior studying marketing from North Kohala, Big Island, said students need to find the balance of making the local communities their home while also realizing they are guests.
“No matter if [people] stay here for a week or a semester, there is an impact [they] will leave. Even if [they] think [they] are just doing [their] own thing, it is going to affect someone who lives here,” explained Yamamoto.Yamamoto said the best way for students to respect this community is by living the honor code and getting to know the people within this community.
Kerry Moea’i added it is important to recognize there are cultural barriers every-where, which is why it’s important to be educated about them. Because of this, he said he makes a special effort to address the divide between BYUH and the community in the social work department.
He said his mission is a phrase in Hawaiian, “E kulia i ka nu’u,” which translates to “strive to reach the highest summit.” Terry Moea’i clarified the summit is a place where “the needs of both the students and the community” are honored.
He said one example of this gap was the party on Laie Point in September 2021 that violated COVID-19 guidelines and the honor code. Terry Moea’i said the gap can be bridged by creating a “space where dialogue can happen, where I can say to the students in a loving and Christlike way that what [they] are doing is hurting [the community]. There could be this opportunity where truth, mercy, justice and peace can happen. I believe we can collaborate in so many ways.”
However, he said, conflict between BYUH students and the community is still happening and has been happening for a long time. For Native Hawaiians, there has been a “constant and repetitious state of taking” due to historical conflicts between the Native Hawaiian people and newcomers, including American settlers and the Church, he explained.
Terry Moea’i added this mindset “is really a roadblock and an obstacle” keeping the community and BYUH students from having the unity they need to have. He said an inter-section between the two groups must happen to keep the conflict narrative from controlling the relationship. Kerry Moea’i, who is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work, said people should not wonder whether or not this healing can happen, they should simply be determined to make it happen.
Gratitude is the key
Emarie Majors, a junior from Hamilton, Montana, majoring in art and political science, said, “I feel very welcomed and respected by the Laie community within the little interactions I have had with them.” She offered her thoughts on how to bridge the gap. Majors encouraged students to get to know the locals, and the locals can also get to know the students. “An openness from both sides needs to be exercised,” she shared.
Majors said the Laie community has been much more welcoming than the university she attended previously. She shared an experience when a friendly man she didn’t know waved and smiled at her. “ That really struck me,” she said. “I found myself saying, ‘Hi,’ to more strangers that day just because that guy was so friendly to me.”
Majors said students need to be cautious not to “get so caught up in what [they] are doing” they don’t recognize the hospitality and kindness of the locals.It is more the student’s responsibility, Majors said, to express gratitude for living in the local communities, especially because “in general, with any student population anywhere, [they] are often consuming and not really putting back into the community. [They] are taking more than [they] are giving back.”
Respectful ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’ts’
The Hawaiian Club presidency got together and spelled out basic guidelines for any-one who is unsure or wants to understand how to respect Laie and surrounding communities, Yamamoto said. The guidelines included a list of dos and don’ts and came down to three words, “malama,” “kuleana” and “aloha.”
According to the wehewehe website’s Hawaiian dictionary, malama means “to take care of,” kuleana means “to be responsible” and aloha means more than a greeting, it is “respect,” “love,” “compassion” and “family.”
The following list created by the Hawaiian Club presidency outlines key ways for students to better respect the community:
Malama
Pick up after yourself
Treat this like it is your home
Don’t walk barefoot
Don’t bring dirt inside
Respect the land, do not litter
Kuleana
Learn about Hawaiian culture and history, from the right sources
Know our limits and nature safety
Don’t turn your back to the waves, when in doubt, don’t go out
Wear honor code
Don’t walk in the middle of the road
Don’t speed through Laie
Don’t blast music, especially late at night
Don’t make this your vacation
Aloha
Make local friends
Say hi to people, shaka back!
Treat this like your home, you are a guest
Listen to our kupuna (ancestors)
Have a sense of humor
Don’t think you know everything