“Seeded Lands” // Summit 3.0, Feature

For Summit 3.0, writer Kelsey Amos and I visited MAʻO Organic Farms in Waiʻanae.

“This isn’t just a farm; it’s a place where young people get the kind of care and attention that Mr. Miyagi bestows on Daniel-san. And they really need it. MAʻO interns are all from the Waiʻanae coast, a region where many families are facing generational trauma and poverty brought on by their marginalization and colonization as indigenous people.

“As a nonprofit, MAʻO seeks to address all of this and more through a leadership program where young people just out of high school work on the farm in exchange for a number of benefits including tuition, monthly stipends and guidance while completing a two-year degree program in community college (many MAʻO interns are the first in their families to attend college).”

Photographed: January, 2017

Location: MAʻO Organic Farms, Waiʻanae, Oʻahu