~Update June 2018 "LAVA~LOGUES"

~Update June 2018      "LAVA~LOGUES"
 

Aloha everyone and THANK YOU again for all your love and continued  support as we adventure into the unknown! We are very fortunate to have  our community worldwide who have been able to help us get through this  situation so far. With all of your help we have been able to establish a  bit of a "stable" and safe footing since our evacuation began more than  2 months ago.
We just wanted to give you a brief report of our lives during the month  of June 2018. We have been care taking a small cottage near a busy road  that has kept us worried about our pets escaping and getting hurt all  the time. Most of our days have been involved in trying to domesticate  our wild jungle animals and keep them from destroying the little place  we are staying in.
It seems like most of June we found ourselves traveling back and forth  from where we are staying in Hawi all the way to Kea'au on the other  side of the island to visit FEMA and report our case. After alot of  running around and waiting in lines for hours, we ended up receiving  about $1000 of relief money from the Red Cross and Fema for our  dedicated efforts.
As we were spending alot of money on gas traveling the 5 hour journey  back and forth over the mountain, we thought it might be helpful to get  some donations together from the community up North and deliver supplies  to those displaced and living in the lava disaster zone. We dropped off  boxes of healthy food and useful supplies to Pu'uhonua O Puna  throughout the month. It was so great to see the happiness and gratitude  we brought to the shelter workers and volunteers.
While we were in Puna we had an impromptu appointment with a FEMA agent  who needed us to take him as close as we could to our property for  verification we could not return home. We agreed to meet him in Pahoa  and we had a police convoy escort us past the road barricades and take  us down the road to where the 50 foot lava river is flowing large and in  charge over highway 132. We noticed the FEMA man was in mild shock and  had his mouth open in amazement at what he was witnessing. We took some  quick photos and said our goodbyes as we could feel the toxic gasses  around us starting to take their effect.
 

Over the past month we have had the opportunity to hike and enjoy some  amazing places in our new area that have brought us some sanity and  peace while we pass over the rapids of uncertainty we are dealing with.  Luckily we have met some wonderful and very helpful people who are  helping us find work opportunities and potential places to stay in the  near future all around the island. It is hard for us to make drastic  life choices right now and commit to anything long-term after what we  have been working on the past 5 years.  Its not easy to begin again so  quickly.
We have been helping our neighbors with some work on their properties in  their gardens, landscaping, cleaning, trash hauling, and child care. It  feels great to help people who have been offering us food, shelter, and  hooking us up with possible long term work on their land. We have also  been helping our friend from Oahu establish a new network of organic  farmers and distributors from around the islands. It gives us the  opportunity to meet more farmers around the island and help them get  connected to a larger buying market on other islands.
Good "Farma-Karma" work.
Also we thought it would be therapeutic to start a little mobile garden  of potted herbs and veggies where we are staying that can move around  with us. Our friend sold us some amazing organic heirloom seeds that she  has been importing from Puerto Rico from various farmers there who lost  their farms during Hurricane Maria last year.  A good seed is the start  of a healthy future!
Once again we are humbled by all the love and protection we have  received along our journey and would like to extend our gratitude across  the oceans and around the world to all you wonderful people! We look  forward to updating and letting you know what we are up to soon.
Much love and aloha
Malama Pono'
Ariel and John