Nearly 300 miles. That’s how much ground Kumu Paul Neves recently covered on Hawaiʻi Island. And he did it all on foot. It was a 40-day walk coordinated to overlap with Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, or Sovereignty Restoration Day.
Kumu Paul hopes the journey will get others thinking about what caretaking means — what it means to care for each other and the land. He's hoping to build a retreat center on Hawaiʻi Island, designed for those who look after others and need a break themselves from the caretaking they do.
He used his walk around the island as an opportunity to raise funds for the effort. He spoke with The Conversation's DW Gibson late last week, just a couple of hours after he completed the journey.
Kumu Paul started long-distance walking in 2011, though he says on this journey, he was mostly shocked by seeing everyday things such as trash on the side of the roads and the hospitality of people.
“Sometimes one of the guys from either the [Royal] Order of Kamehameha — which I'm a member — or just friends, would say, ‘Can I walk with you?’,” Neves said.
“I was really glad when, one of the first guys, he said, ‘Hey, Uncle, I'll see you there Sunday morning at 6:30, I want to walk with you,’ I went, wow. … It made the miles go by. But your legs still are walking, and your heart and your legs are in coordination. But your mind is also in its coordination,” he said.
Neves's love for walking is deeply rooted in his connection to the land.
“I think I learned to appreciate both the land again ... and like our queen said, ‘Talk to the land, let the land talk to you,’” Neves said.
“Why would we want to live here? Because we do this kind of crap. We get crazy. Put on some shoes and walk around our island. And it's our island. It's nobody else's island. We have not ceded it. Let somebody else put their flag over it. It's still Hawaiʻi. Will always be Hawaiʻi. Hawaiʻi is eternal, forever,” Neves said.
This story aired on The Conversation on Aug. 5, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
