A Teacher's First Steps Back

Malia Kahananui has taught fifth grade at King Kamehameha III Elementary for eleven years. She knows every family on her roster by name. She knows which kids need extra time on fractions, which ones light up during read-aloud, and which ones are carrying something heavy from home.

On August 8, 2023, she lost her classroom. By morning, she had lost her house too.

"The first few weeks, I didn't know what to do with myself," she says. "I was staying with my sister in Kahului. I had no routine, no classroom to go back to, no place to call home. I felt completely untethered."

She started walking because she didn't know what else to do. Early mornings, before the heat set in, she'd lace up her shoes and head out — no destination, no distance goal, just movement. "It was the only thing that felt real," she says.

When she heard about Steps for Lahaina through a colleague, something clicked. Her walks had purpose now. Sponsors pledged per mile. Her students — scattered across temporary classrooms and family homes across Maui — started following her progress online.

"One of my students, Keanu, texted me after I logged my first fifty miles. He said, 'Ms. K, I'm walking too.' That was the moment I knew this was bigger than me."

Malia has since logged over 340 miles. She's raised more than $2,800 for the Steps for Lahaina fund — money that goes directly toward rebuilding grants and housing assistance for Lahaina educators like herself.

She's back in a classroom now — a temporary one, in a repurposed community center. The desks don't match. The whiteboard is too small. But her students are there, and she is there, and every morning she walks to school the same way she always has: one step at a time.