Ke ‘Olu‘olu — Please, Pleasant, Pleasurable

By Virginia Beck

December approaches, and with it, the time for feasting and celebrating our families and the holidays.

Friends want to visit and eat traditional foods and share gifts and parties. This year it is different. Bittersweet, just like everything else in the pandemic. The year 2020 has been an awful roller coaster ride for the world. In Hawai‘i, the pressures are like on  the Mainland, both better and worse.

Kaua‘i had been very successful in maintaining a level of control on our pandemic and COVID-19 positive tests.

Our mayor and our community largely pulled together to make sure our island residents were kept safe and healthy. We had weeks with no new cases. The governor decided we should open our airports, if visitors were tested. That was the problem. The reliability of tests, the trusted partner labs, the time it takes for results, and then what to do when travelers showed up with positive test results.

We are all learning together, doing the best we can. We were even picky with O‘ahu and the other islands. It was an equal opportunity quarantine for the island.

Our visitor industry was virtually turned off overnight. This caused great hardship on many local families, and especially the children and the elderly. So much of our employment is through the hospitality, restaurants and visitor attraction industry. Multiple incomes for a single family were cut off instantly. And unemployment funds were slow in coming.

It isn’t that we didn’t want our visitors and guests. Of course we did. Even our family members and residents traveling elsewhere had to suffer through the quarantines. Travel for health care was discouraged unless it was an emergency.

The thing about Hawai‘i that is both beautiful and risky, is that our families are often large, and multigenerational clusters are the norm. Housing is very expensive and building costs are high. For those reasons, you will see numerous cars surrounding a single house. It takes a lot of salaries and tips to support that household.

With the loss of income for many, and the isolation of our elders, food insecurity became a very large problem. Our community rose to the challenge with countless volunteer hours devoted to finding fresh produce and donations for food boxes to make sure the elderly and the disabled were supplied.

If you are a visitor, and you have extra cash, consider feeding a family besides your own this holiday season. Salvation Army volunteers are always looking for help, as are the Kaua‘i Independent Food Bank and the Hawai‘i Food Bank. Many churches have food programs and will welcome donations if you attend.

You will bring joy and relief to many when you give something back to island residents. If you don’t know where to go, you could drop donations with the resort front desk or local fire stations. They will make sure it gets into good hands.

Virginia Beck

We encourage each other to buy local. Many restaurants and small stores are closed forever, unable to survive the economic drought. When possible, skip the big box stores and explore the little local crafts and arts stores. The food trucks have reliable food choices. Farmers markets have fantastic produce. All around the island, folks glad to see you, and they offer reasonable prices for quality goods.

Half the joy of a purchase is learning about the people and the products. It is triple the fun when you, the seller and the recipient of your gifts are all delighted.

Aloha, and please enjoy clean air, water and amazing plant life. Wear masks in public to keep yourselves safe, as well as the endangered species of humans on this island.

• Virginia Beck, NP and Certified Trager® Practitioner, offers Wellness Consultation, Trager Psychophysical Integration and teaches Malama Birth Training classes. She can be reached at 635-5618.