Growing up in Nānākuli in 1929
Sarah Kawailima, born in 1916, a Nānākuli homesteader, talking about her experiences growing up in Nānākuli in 1929:
"We would carry water from the [beach] park in gallons for drinking. Water that came from the pipe [at home] was brackish. We washed clothes on a flat pohaku and pounded the clothes with a flat stick. We also boiled the dirty clothes. Then we spread the clothes on the dry weeds to dry. When it rained, we would fill up all the pots and pans and big drums to save water. We used the stove ashes to clean the pots like a cleanser. We mixed our poi with flour. We had aku for raw fish. The head, bones and tail were made into a fish soup. We had meat if Father brought home meat from the [McCandless] ranch.when we didn't have anything in the house to eat, we would go to the Nānākuli beach to pick up limu. Mother would fix the limu, put it in empty jelly jars, and we would go house to house to sell it. Whatever money we got, we would buy what was needed. On weekends we would camp at Kawaihapai near Ka‘ena Point. We would catch fish and raid the mountains for ko‘oko‘olau, ti, taro, Hawaiian oranges, and luau leaves. When we didn't have tea, we would pick the leaves of the ti ki-nehe. It was similar to the ko‘oko‘olau, only it had kukus. Mama would cook palaoa lulu and palaoa palai. For breakfast we would have palaoa papa‘a without butter. We had a kiawe tree that had honey."
Reference Cited
Waianae Coast Culture and Arts Society. 1986. Ka Poe Kahiko O Waianae: Oral Histories of the Waianae Coast of Oahu. Topgallant Publishing Company, Limited. Honolulu, HI.
