Culturized with Twinkle Borge & James Koshiba of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae

Twinkle Borge is the leader of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae, a village of 250 people living unhoused on State land adjacent to the Waianae Boat Harbor. She has organized her village into a powerful asset for the wider community that offers safety, healing, and purpose to people who've lost their housing. POW residents serve Waianae in a variety of ways, including conducting regular cleanups all across the Waianae Coast, feeding and clothing residents of other houseless encampments, and distributing back to school supplies each year to both houseless and housed families in need. In 2018, Twinkle and others led an effort to defend the village from the threat of State eviction, then spent the next year and a half raising funds to purchase land that the village could relocate to. In 2020, Twinkle and the village completed the purchase of 20 acres in Waianae Valley for their permanent home, and are now working on construction. She is also a member of the Steering Committee of Hui Aloha.
James Koshiba - In 2015, frustrated by the explosion of homelessness in Hawaii, and dwindling compassion for those on the street, James pitched a tent in a large urban encampment and forged relationships with people experiencing homelessness. He later became a supporter and student of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae, a self-organized village of more than 250 people living unhoused at the Waianae Boat Harbor. Through these relationships, he began to understand homelessness as a problem of severed connections with place and community. He co-founded Hui Aloha, to demonstrate how re-building community with those who are marginalized is key to solving some of our most persistent social problems, including homelessness. Today, Hui Aloha partners with people on the street to launch service projects in their communities, reconnecting them with housed neighbors, and help both housed and unhoused people find healing and purpose together. HA is now working to build affordable homes for those who cannot afford housing in Hawaii, which has the largest gap between housing costs and wages of any state in the nation. Prior to Hui Aloha, James co-founded and was Executive Director of Kanu Hawaii, which worked to build movement for sustainability. He was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii and spent several years on the continent earning degrees from Brown University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
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#Waianae #homeless #hawaiihousing

[@fobypawz418]

Twinkle Borge is showing how we can live in peace with the land and with each other like the Ancient Hawaiians, but in a more modern context.

[@lifewithmapuanatandal]

Aloha Sista Twinkles! I admire and respect your intentional perseverance to making sure houseless families had a safe place to live. I applaud your hand-up teaching! Your testimony was so inspiring. Also mahalo to James Koshiba for seeing the value of cultivating this wonderful relationship. ❤

[@nomalangak]

God bless that elder. She is an inspiration 🙏🏾

[@Culturised]

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[@michellemcintyre9245]

Twinkle is the best

[@LaniJeb96960]

RIP Twinkle

[@jasminelaflor9773]

Love you so much Aunty Twinkle ✨!

[@josephKEOarthur]

Sons & Daughters of da Pacific, still around, ya? 😮