How innocent we were, just a few months ago. With nothing more to fear than a cold or at worse the flu, touching like this was natural. Without all the warnings our minds are now sending us, this image evoked the joy of community and not the fear of community. For us at Auwahi, it showed something beautiful, the community building on itself, using itself as the structure to address and heal where nature had been wronged. In many ways, this image of hands-on-hands-on-seedling symbolizes what Auwahi is all about.

All that has changed – or at least been put on hold – as social rules of the planet are reshuffled. Because of this, we of course have put our volunteer trips on hiatus. Besides the direct medical toll of the virus, there are other serious social impacts. In Hawai’i, we touch, we kiss, we shake hands in at least two or three different ways, give high fives, and one of the cores of maoli island greeting, we honi, that is, touch noses and exchange breath, an act that if done in today’s world would make a virologist faint.

So, we wanted to let you know that we miss you all and our wonderful trips up in the mountains. And many of you have reached out to us, to say not having those mountain forest hours has left your world poorer as well. The forest is always epic, always beautiful – but somehow it feels a little empty without your gentle chatter and laughter. Hey, ok, maybe the forest misses us a little bit too, maybe especially when we come to her early in the morning, all scrubbed fresh and clean, to do good things together.

One day, this will be behind us. When that day comes, we will be there, steadfast, ready to help you scrub your boots and give them an alcohol dip, so that we can all head back up to where the forest will welcome us with open branches. On behalf of all the Auwahi staff and all the native trees, shrubs, vines, and ferns of Auwahi, we send our prayers of peace and healing to you and so look forward to our return together again.

P. S. We switched pages on Facebook so please remember to ‘like’ our new page: https://www.facebook.com/auwahiforest/.

Also, spread the word for interested folk to sign up to get notifications of our volunteer trips by visiting our website www.auwahi.org/how-to-volunteer-at-auwahi or emailing us at volunteer@auwahi.org.