As Vene Chun guided a Hawaiian canoe to shore in front of tourists learning to surf at one of Maui’s public beaches, his thoughts were confused.
He had just returned from throwing ash into the sea with his family, which had been devastated by fires that charred the town of Lahaina farther west. For days, he and his outrigger canoe were right there, bringing food, water, whatever the survivors needed.
And what about surfers? Chun, 52, stood beside her canoe in a grassy park 20 miles from the ash-torn disaster, wearing a wreath that reflected her Native Hawaiian roots. Seeing a novice failing on a longboard somehow made him smile.
“There has to be some degree of normalcy,” he said. “We have to move forward and at the same time always help each other.”
While search operations in Lahaina continue, life continues in most other parts of Maui, forcing residents to come to terms with loss and death alongside life and tourism. On an island of majestic beauty where hundreds died or went missing in a torch-like wildfire at a 19th-century Hawaiian king’s fort, many locals at one point cried with their friends, The next moment you are working hard to please the vacationers.
“It’s very strange,” said Niji Wada, a 17-year-old surfing instructor in Kihei, where Chun keeps the canoe. “We have a very close friend whose house burned down.”
Native Hawaiians often talk about the historical trauma of losing land to colonization and the problems associated with pink hotel towers and invasive species. “Two Mauis” existed even before the fire that supposedly devoured the island’s cultural center. One for wealthy tourists and one for workers struggling with a shortage of affordable housing.
But the sudden, near-total destruction of the seaside town of Lahaina, population 13,000, has sharpened the divide and baffled both Maui’s elected officials and residents whose lives depend on both worlds. .
Immediately after the fire, the message was heard clearly enough that non-Maui people please stay away. Since then, geographical nuances have been sought after.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green stressed Monday that only West Maui—Lahaina and about a dozen nearby hotels and resorts that were unaffected—should be considered off-limits to visitors. Other areas in the southeast are still open, he said.
“If nobody traveled to the island, it would be devastating,” he said.
The damage caused by disasters to families, businesses, and the spirit mostly spread outward in concentric circles, similar to earthquakes. The epicenter of the burned down buildings and bodies, which some call the hypocenter, is cordoned off like a crime scene. Just outside, where the building remains intact, hundreds of West Maui residents are trying to stay in their homes, stay at neighbors’ homes, or camp on the shoreline.
There, electricity, water, and internet services were cut off for days, making it difficult to get in and out for supplies, prompting residents and evacuees to travel by car or truck to help people from unaffected areas of the island. A lot depends on what you can bring. Or boat.
At the home of former Maui County Marine Safety Commissioner Archie Kalepa on Monday, dozens of neighbors and volunteers gathered at the edge of a firebreak to organize a donation. Generators, water, snacks, and diapers were crammed into the garden, and the shelves were superstore-level organized. Under a tarp, men and women taped maps of their neighborhoods to cardboard to track which homes had been damaged, destroyed, or still intact.
At the evening briefing, plans were made to repair the roof and build a fencing to keep the stinking dust out before a tropical storm hits later this week.
Carla Buenconsejo, one of the community leaders, said that dealing with tangible objects, such as trees, water, and finding homes for the suddenly homeless, is itself a form of shared solace.
“That’s pretty much everything for now,” he said.
But for many, that wasn’t enough. You still have to work, and in Maui County that usually means serving tourists. person offering 70 cents of every dollar produced there.
Offering a more modest Maui experience for middle-class travelers, Kihei was unaffected by the wildfires that devastated Lahaina, a 30-minute drive away.
Still, signs of extreme emotional labor were everywhere. Hotel management said they collect donations from some employees and distribute them to others. “Closed today for volunteers,” read a handwritten note from a person named Jessica at a small shop in Kihei that offers snorkel rentals.
“You can still get your gear after 12pm,” the note added. “Please call or text me.”
At a nearby craft market, some shopkeepers said they feared the first warnings to visitors were already intimidating.phrases like “Stay Away From Maui” An early mantra, the words circled around in their heads wishing they could rewrite the message with more clarity and perspective.
“First, make sure the locals have enough supplies, and I agree with that,” said Sarah Guthrie, who runs four souvenir stalls with her husband. “However, it would be nice to say, ‘Don’t come if you’re a tourist.'”
Noting the worst sales week of the year, she asked, “If I lose my business, how can I help someone?”
Another merchant, Scott Taylor, also said he struggled to balance support for locals with retail appeal. As he sat at a kiosk serving hand-made bowls, he said he wished the island had just taken a few weeks off. But more than that, he mainly hoped tourists would stay away from Lahaina and avoid “grief tourism.”
“Respect, that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
Many visitors are leaving West Maui in response, trying to open hundreds of hotel rooms for evacuees. Some even added donations to their itinerary.
Marlene Rice, director of development at the Maui Food Bank, said the tourist families went to Costco to deliver a carload of merchandise before they started their vacation. Some flight attendants from Texas delivered suitcases filled with luxury amenities and luxury clothing.
“It was exactly what we needed,” Rice said. “Something different from what we were seeing.”
She held back her tears. Many others, likewise, had trouble explaining the grief and all that the tragedy caused.
“It’s pretty jumbled, you guessed it,” says Tony Papa, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “There’s really a lot going on.”
He recalled research he had done on coping skills. The study found that some people mix horror stories with a touch of humor. He specifically recalled a woman who had spoken about how her husband died, blurting out, “Now she at least doesn’t have to pick up her husband’s fucking socks.” Ta.
The study found that those who confronted the darkness and left room for light did the best.
Many people near Lahaina feel unprepared for it. They whisper about the possibility that many children died in a fire, possibly locked in the house while their parents went to work. The official death toll is 106, with about 1,300 still missing as of Monday.
With such dire expectations, the idea of visiting the island and seeing people enjoying the beaches and mountains that make it so appealing is totally wrong for those who survived the catastrophe. It feels like
Still, there are signs that some locals are starting to feel okay. “I went swimming,” an elderly man whispered to a friend Monday at Kalepa’s neighborhood pod, known as “Archie’s House,” and said he felt refreshed as he sighed and looked up at the sky. .
After 30 minutes, a rainbow appeared, and the smiles of those who noticed spread.
Chung, like many others, called for a shift in focus to “rise like the sun.”
On Tuesday he was back on the water and canoed supplies to Lahaina. The man who hired him to help scatter her mother’s ashes thanked her for moving to Maui and making her island a part of her life. he said.
Mr Chun said the family lost his mother’s home in the fire, but he didn’t know if she died in the fire or if she died shortly before.
“I didn’t ask,” he said. He didn’t think it mattered either.
“We have to move forward.”