‘Never give up hope’: Maui residents reflect on a year in the wildfires’ aftermath
This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat. You can sign up for Civil Beat's newsletter here and support the nonprofit newsroom here.
One year after deadly wildfires upended life on Maui, several thousand people gathered across the island Thursday to grieve the lives that were lost, reflect on all they’ve endured and affirm their resolve to keep their communities intact as the difficult work to rebuild continues.
At Hanakao’o Park in West Maui, chants of “Lahaina strong!” echoed across the water as hundreds of those residents paddled out on surfboards just offshore from the beach park. They cheered and splashed as crews aboard the Hawaiian voyaging canoes Hokule’a and Mo’okiha O Pi’ilani looked on in support.
Thousands of flower petals rained down on the paddlers from a helicopter overhead....