We have our first winner for the Molokai Is… contest: Ko’i’ula Davis! The 10-year-old Kualapu’u School student received the most online and call-in votes for her short and sweet essay about her home island. Congratulations to her, and to all the contestants; everyone submitted unique and motivating pieces.

This week we have four more entries, including mana’o from the kindergartners of Kaunakakai Elementary. Vote for your favorite by logging in to www.TheMolokaiDispatch.com, emailing to editor@TheMolokaiDispatch.com, or leaving a message at 552-2781. Voting ends on Friday, March 5, at midnight.

Remember, if you’d like to enter your own ‘Molokai Is…,’ submit poetry or other writing in 150 words or less, photography or another piece of art that defines this island for you. Include your full name, phone number, and a photo, and submit to editor@TheMolokaiDispatch.com, in person at our Kaunakakai office (Moore building suite 5 – we can take your photo), or by snail mail (PO Box 482219, Kaunakakai, HI 96748). Mmm, mmm – thanks Kualapu`u Cookhouse!

Barbara Larson, Wisconsin

In the east green lushness beckons,
In the west brown desert calls.
Sparking blue cocoons both colors
While the palms sway it all enthralls.

David Nanod

I don’t claim to be the author of these statements but I hold it to heart and have tailored it to apply to Molokai.
A visitor asked, ‘what kind of people live on Molokai?’
I replied, ‘what kind of people do you have where you come from?’
He replied, ‘where I come from the people are mean, prejudiced, and filled with hate.’
I told him, ‘that’s the kind of people you will find here on Molokai.’
Another visitor came and asked me the same question.
I asked him, ‘what kind of people you have where you come from?’
He replied, ‘the people there are kind, generous, and are so helpful that they would give you the shirts off their backs’
I told him, ‘that’s what you’ll find here on Molokai’
On Molokai, you will find what you seek. If you look for the ugliness and the bad things, then that’s what you’ll find here. If you look for the beauty, and the good things in life, then that’s what you will find.
This island is filled with both, yet I wouldn’t trade it for any place in the world…

The kindergarteners of Kaunakakai Elementary
When I am quiet on Moloka‘i…

I see my mom picking flowers.
        -Barbara Simon
I see Lychee trees and colorful flowers.
        - Sally Merkel
I hear my kitten on Moloka‘i.
        - Kristen Oswald
I taste juicy mangoes.
        - TJ Gomez
I hear splashing at the beach.
        - Isaiah Hanchett-Lopez
I feel the rain.
        - Zyden Satele-Tangonan
I smell salt water at the beach.
        - Akone Manaba
I smell roses sweet.
        - Jordyn McCutcheon
I smell warm waffle cones.
        - Owen Svetin
I hear fish splash in the water.
        - Haley Alfante
I feel squishy grass in the forest.
        - Sairus Tancayo
I hear everybody go to school.
        - Jonah Sahagun

Joseph Barno

If aloha was a place, it would be called Molokai. The beauty of the land and the beauty of its people is beyond compare. It is the smile on the faces you pass on the street, the hand waving as you pass on the road. It is the ‘talk story’ at the Friendly Market checkout line and no one gets impatient. We are all a big family, different races, different family combinations but still a family, a loving brotherhood of people. Thank God for Molokai!