LAHAINA (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaiian cultural practitioner Keeaumoku Kapu stood in front of his cultural center, Na Aikane O Maui, on Front Street on Monday.

“We’re facing the most troubling times of our lives,” he said.

Kapu said many precious artifacts lost in the August fires can never be replaced.

“Books that were autographed by our kings and queens. I had one book that was signed by Queen Liliuokalani, her autobiography. Kamehameha V, the reciprocity treaty. I had that,” Kapu said.

Lahaina was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

It was also once flourishing with water.

“When that day came, there was not one drop of water in this town to actually help. I mean, if I had water in this ditch, this Pahu Manamana ditch, I got two water pumps over there that could actually make a difference for us if we had to drop one pump in the water to fight the fire. That would have been a possibility,” said Kapu.

Today, that Pahu Manamana ditch is now flowing with water once again.

“The fish came back. A lot of the crustaceans came back. The waterways are viable. You can see all the way to the bottom,” Kapu said. “I’m looking at life in here once again. Although we’re dealing with all this devastation all around … this automatically tells us that our town has hope now that the waters have returned.”

Kapu said he and his team are committed to restoring Lahaina.

“We have an opportunity to reset the button in this town,” he said. “Looking at this, at the same time looking at that, this gives me hope that that can thrive and live again.”

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