Hui No Ke Ola Pono secured funding and brought the entire Malama staff to Maui for a weekend in February of 2020. The materials list was sent over days before and HNKOP secured the tools, materials and a site at Maui Community College. We spend Friday evening going over the mechanics of an aquaponics system, plant / fish anatomy and some basic pest management. As with every Hawaiian gathering, it involved the sharing of food and through it pilina (closeness). We got a chance to break bread together and do a few icebreaker activities allowing both the Maui staff and the Oahu Malama staff to get to know each other on a more personal level.

The following day we hit the ground running with tools buzzing at 8am. The Malama staff demonstrated how to build the first aquaponics table and the Maui staff was left to build the other 9 tables. Ma Ka Hana Ka `Ike - Through work you learn. And that's just what the Maui staff did. Learn how to reconstruct the table demonstrated, learn to use some of the tools (as a few didn't know how to), and learn about some of their co-workers and their families. The HNKOP staff works together and know each other on a professional level. During the build they got to know each other's family members solidifying the team even further. As we ended the day, some of the systems were take home to those that lived further away from the MCC Campus to alleviate the need for additional trucks. That evening we set up two systems in upcountry Maui to save time the following day. 

On Sunday, we started off with a short lecture on the mechanics of how-to set-up the system and split up to install the remaining 8 systems on different sides of the island. The HNKOP staff was in charge of putting them together so they would be familiar with the inner working of the systems and would be able to reconstruct the systems if there was a problem in the future. The Malama staff was on site to answer questions and adjust design for the space allotted. We ended the weekend with a gathering at one of the HNKOP staffs houses in the pool sharing food.