KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With pain in her voice, 87-year-old Dorinda Makanaonalani Nicholson said watching the city of Lahaina, Hawaii, burn felt like a loss of history.
“And there is nothing I can do,” Nicholson said. “There is this ache for that and wishing somehow it could be different.”
Nicholson has lived in Kansas City since meeting her husband in college, but she remembers constantly returning to her true home.
“I want to be there, and I want to be there as a native that can talk Pidgin English and can talk the history,” Nicholson said about feeling called back to the islands. “I love the way everyone is responding, especially those in the other towns in Maui that are opening their homes, and the Aloha Spirit, not just in Maui.”
The fires in Lahaina mark the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, killing at least 93 people as of Sunday morning.
Sadly, Nicholson is no stranger to loss — she was 6 years old when the attacks on Pearl Harbor took place.
The experience led Nicholson to write a book about her childhood, and she dedicated her life to educating young students with her first-hand accounts.
But even in tragedy, Nicholson said people from Hawaii believe the land and nature have spirits.
“That is the spirit that I am praying for and know will come back because of all of us joining together,” she said. “There will be many prayers, there will be many chants. The year 2023 will never be forgotten now, and it will have a new history and we will see what that will be.”
Nicholson and other native Hawaiians will be at the Ethnic Enrichment Festival in Swope Park next weekend, August 18-20. They plan to collect donations to help victims of the wildfires at their booth.
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