Days 1-2: Welcome to Maui

Aloha from Maui!

My name is Brad DeFauw, and I am lucky enough to be one of the trip leaders on this year’s 2015 Hawaii Community Service trip. Over the course of the next 18 days I will be writing from the tropical, 80 degree, breezy shores of Hawaii to share some of the exciting things that we’ll be doing on the trip. The trip promises to be full of rewarding work as well as unforgettable experiences that we’ll all be able to carry with us forever.

Let’s start from the very beginning: Day Zero. Before any of the kids arrived, this year’s Trip Director (Rebecca) met with myself and the other Trip Leader (Shaye Lynn) a day early in Hawaii to get settled in, organized and ready to go. Rest assured -- we made sure to scope out all of the best beaches and restaurants in Maui. For the kids. Yeah, definitely for the kids.

This is not a picture out of a magazine. We took this. With the help of some filters. But still.

Once Rebecca, Shaye and I were all unpacked and adjusted (to the best of our ability) to the six hour time difference, we couldn’t wait for the kids to show up. Day One consisted of meeting everyone at the Maui Airport, a beautifully small airport that included a door-free lobby. It perfectly captured the “ALOHA” spirit of the island.

Sidebar: What does ALOHA actually mean? I didn’t know before I came here, but the word “ALOHA” is actually an acronym for something much more powerful. Each letter stands for an authentic Hawaiian word that perfectly captures the spirit of the islands…

A - Akahai: kindness

L - Lokahi: unity

O - Olu’olu: agreeable

H - Ha’aha’a: humility

A - Ahonui: patience

Aloha is used here in pretty much every sense of the word you can think of: in a greeting (Aloha!), in a farewell (Aloha!), as an adjective (it was so Aloha of the small fish to clean the big fish’s teeth!), etc. The idea is that any way you use the word, you’re not truly captured the essence of “Aloha” unless you are filling all five of its characteristics: kindness, unity, being agreeable, humility, and patience. I thought this was a really awesome way to begin the trip. Anyways...onwards.

All the kids arrived in the Maui airport (yay!) and immediately started to get to know each other and their trip leaders. We played some icebreaker games such as Indian Chief and Bang! while enjoying snacks and the beautiful, breezy Hawaiian sunshine. Did I mention that it was breezy here? It’s really breezy here. It’s fantastic.

Once everyone got to the airport we headed to our hotel, the Maui Seaside. The hotel is a small, quaint hotel that’s right on the water in Maui. Once everyone was settled in, we discussed some basic pool/common space rules before letting everyone had some free time. Again, everyone immediately dove right into meeting each other -- some opting for soccer, others for a dip in the pool, and others for a relaxing poolside lounge after a long day of traveling. After ordering some pizza, discussing the behavioral expectations for the trip, and having everyone lose to yours truly in Rock, Paper, Scissors, it was time to go to bed and get ready for a big Day Two.

Our beautiful seaside hotel.

Day Two was truly incredible. It was an early wake-up, as we woke up at 7:00AM Hawaiian (although that’s 1 PM Eastern so is it really that early? I digress.) to embark on our snorkel cruise. But Brad, what exactly is a snorkel cruise? Well, let me tell you.

Our first stop was the world-famous Molokini crater, a sheltered islet about a half hour off the coast of Maui. Because the crater is sheltered, we were able to see many species of fish in their natural habitat -- over 250 to be exact! After we were done exploring the carter we traveled to the island of Lana’i, where we were once again lucky enough to see a wide array of wildlife in their natural, secluded, protected habitat. We even saw a Green Sea Turtle and a couple of the fish made famous from “Finding Nemo” which are indigenous to Hawaii and can only be found here.

Ok, fine, I didn't take this picture. But this is the Molokini Crater, the first stop on our snorkel cruise.

After a full day in the sun we ate some Mexican food and prepped for our first day of Community Service at the Boys & Girls Club of Maui tomorrow morning.

The motto that I imagine for myself and for the kids on this trip is “work hard, play hard.” So far, we have definitely played hard (really hard), but I know that I speak for everyone here when I say that we are so excited to get to work and make a big difference in Maui starting tomorrow morning.

I’ll close this blog in true Hawaiian fashion:

Mahalo for reading and aloha ‘oe,

Brad