A Kauai nonprofit for youth suicide prevention, Kukulu Kumuhana O Anahola, is working with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to turn a rundown, 10-acre piece of land in Anahola into a youth center and agricultural garden training site.

Kukulu Kumuhana O Anahola, or KKOA, submitted its Ulupono Anahola plan to DHHL with the hope that the property will become a place to empower the community by teaching it about its cultural roots through farming.

“A key place that we want to start is always with the families, because once the family starts deteriorating, it can send individuals in the family spiraling,” said Rae Nam, the executive director for KKOA. “Families can worry about having food, but we want them to have healthy food, because Native Hawaiians have many health issues.”

The agricultural space will be divided into 100 10-foot-by-10-foot garden plots. Half will be given to youths throughout the community to farm on while the other half will be given to the families of DHHL beneficiaries living in Anahola, Nam said.

If the program can empower families to grow their own food and maintain a healthy diet, then it will ideally lead to a healthy mind, body and hopefully better mental health, Nam said.

The youth center will be a space that local youth organizations can use for education and building life skills and self-identity through cultural values.

KKOA was founded after six people on Kauai committed suicide in October 2008, three of them being youths from Anahola, Nam said. The town also was known to have the highest suicide rate on the island, she added.

The deaths drew a community meeting where KKOA’s founders, Manulele Clarke and Ku‘uleialoha Punua, first met and came up with the idea to create safe spaces in the Anahola community where suicide prevention resources could be offered.

Once founded, KKOA began by inviting the community to movie nights, which would open with cultural activities at the Anahola clubhouse, said Punua.

Attendance began with about 30 to 50 people and has since increased to about 300 attendees, prior to the pandemic, Nam said.

“It gave us an opportunity to actually bring in more partners that could begin to let the community know what kind of resources are out in our community,” Nam said.

Some of the cultural activities have included ukulele lessons, lauhala weaving or the repainting of the Anahola clubhouse. KKOA also partnered with various outside organizations to make things such as community-­supported agriculture boxes, deliver hot meals to kupuna and to offer suicide prevention training, Nam said.

Through community surveys, KKOA found that the community’s top priorities are education, building life skills and perpetuating culture, Nam said. The organization also recognized that feeding one’s family can be a big source of mental and physical stress, especially during the pandemic, she said.

Teaching the community to farm its own food in ways that model Hawaiian culture will help reduce fear and stress during difficult times, Nam said.

“Kauai is very rich in resources,” Nam said. “We’re hoping that once we can get this 10 acres up and running that people can actually start growing and learning how to grow things, and they will begin to see a shift in eating habits and just being outdoors.”

The property, which was once filled with abandoned vehicles and was the site of homelessness and drug abuse, has been cleared out and fenced. Since then, the surrounding community has been vigilant in alerting Nam whenever they witness trespassers on the property, Nam said.

Plans also include the construction of a kitchen, two gathering places, a community garden and private pods to serve as quiet spaces where people can talk, Punua said.

The nonprofit still requires various approvals for things such as a final environmental assessment, the installation of a wastewater system and building permits before construction can begin, said Cedric Duarte, DHHL’s information and community relations officer.

Once the approvals are finalized, Nam estimates that the construction of the youth center and the agricultural area will take between three and five years.

Throughout Hawaii, suicide remains the most prevalent on Kauai. From 2017 to 2019, Hawaii Health Matters reported about 22 suicide deaths per 10,000 people on Kauai. Of the demographics listed on the website, Native Hawaiians had the highest suicide death rate by nearly fivefold.

Nam and Punua believe that in a Native Hawaiian community like Anahola, providing cultural support is vital to building a sense of self.

“A lot of our people fall through the cracks because they don’t know who they are,” Punua said.

Having an understanding of one’s cultural background and traditions also creates a sense of purpose and belonging, Nam said.

“Your culture is like a protective agent to help you know that you have a purpose, you have an identity with a very strong group of people.”

Those who would like to learn more about KKOA’s services or are interested in volunteering can visit kkoa.org/volunteer.