Day 6: The One with Seeds by Mikaela Alex

Traveling to the Ka'upulehu Dryland Forest was an adventure in itself. But once we arrived, the struggle of not finding the forest was in the back of everyone's minds. 

Though the initial plan was to complete much more intense labor by the end of the afternoon, everyone felt proud of what they accomplished. The task was to collect seeds from a tree called the A'ali'i. At first, everyone seemed apprehensive due to the large number of pods and the lack of seeds. With the help of Lehua Alapai, a native Hawaiian, the deseeding of the leaves became a lot easier. She taught us an easy way of rubbing the leaves to crumble the pods and release the seeds into the bottom of the container. In our research groups, we realized how much easier the work became, and roughly 30 minutes later, everyone had a good amount of seeds gathered together. 

We ended our day in the forest with a circle, in which everyone said a word that described how they felt after we completed the project. This activity seemed simple, yet I enjoyed hearing what everyone said about how they felt after completing the work. The feeling of accomplishment was high; though the work was little, the lasting impact on us and the land would become so rewarding. We saved Lehua and her team about 10 hours of work, and that helped us realize just how much of an impact we can make if we work together,

The entire experience at the dry land forest will be something I remember for a long time. Hearing the stories of Lehua and how so many natives have had to leave for numerous reasons was really eye-opening to me. Her emotions and her love for her heritage were inspiring; I someday want to share that level of emotion with the people around me. 

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