Brian McCafferty – a Hero in Maui’s Journey for its Kids and the Future
Jason Schwartz visits with BRIAN McCAFFERTY. Brian has been a teacher and advocate for kids, troubled kids and all. He established a teen club off the beach in Paia. He established a farm and all kinds of programs for Maui’s troubled youth way before it was a popular subject for the public to notice. Great journey here. 6-16-1996
Summary & Transcript
The video presents an insightful tour and discussion of a sustainable agricultural and community development project located in a beautiful valley on Maui, Hawaii. The project is led by Brian, who has been working with youth and recovering adults for about three years through a program called Teens On Call Jobs, in collaboration with the Salvation Army. The valley, leased at a minimal cost, offers abundant natural resources including artesian springs, rich soil, and a diverse tropical environment conducive to commercial farming and ecological activities.
Brian showcases the valley’s natural beauty and potential, highlighting its water sources, fertile land, and existing crops such as taro, noni, papaya, and avocado. The project aims to grow market vegetables like cherry tomatoes, string beans, and snow peas, utilizing the expertise of field instructors and equipment provided by a local plantation. A key component of this initiative is vocational training for youth and recovering adults, offering paid work opportunities that build agricultural skills, work ethics, and self-esteem, while promoting community reintegration.
The video also features the Paia Youth and Culture Center near the beach, where the program’s headquarters and recreational activities, like a skateboard park and canoe club, are based. This center supports intergenerational community engagement and provides a safe, supportive space for local youth. The project’s long-term vision includes developing infrastructure on leased lands and expanding the program’s reach to help more people in the community.
Throughout the video, Brian emphasizes the importance of partnership with local agencies, corporate donors, and volunteers. The initiative not only addresses agricultural development but also serves as a therapeutic and educational platform for youth and adults recovering from addiction or other life challenges. The overall message is one of hope, empowerment, and sustainable growth rooted in community collaboration and respect for the natural environment.
Highlights
- [01:27] Introduction to Maui’s valley ecosystem, highlighting the rural farms and pristine natural environment.
- [06:20] Discovery of artesian springs and underground water sources essential for sustainable agriculture.
- [09:26] Identification of medicinal plants such as noni trees and diverse tropical fruit trees in the valley.
- [16:06] Vocational training program for youth and recovering adults using plantation equipment and expert instructors.
- [23:45] Collaboration with the Salvation Army to support youth in need through structured work programs.
- [27:11] Description of Paia Youth and Culture Center and nearby beach facilities as a hub for community activities.
- [34:35] Program impact on participants’ self-esteem, drug prevention, school retention, and community involvement.
Key Insights
- [01:27] Ecological richness of Maui’s valleys provides a unique opportunity for sustainable agriculture: The valley’s fertile soil, abundant water, and favorable climate create ideal conditions for diverse crop production, highlighting the importance of preserving and utilizing natural landscapes for food security and ecological balance. This natural bounty supports commercial farming while maintaining ecological integrity.
- [09:26] Incorporating native medicinal plants like noni enriches the project’s cultural and health dimensions: Growing traditional Hawaiian plants not only preserves indigenous knowledge but also provides economic opportunities through herbal products, fostering a holistic approach that blends agriculture with wellness and cultural heritage.
- [16:06] Vocational training creates a dual benefit of workforce development and social rehabilitation: Engaging youth and recovering adults in agricultural work offers practical skills, discipline, and a sense of purpose, addressing social issues such as unemployment, addiction, and juvenile delinquency through constructive activity and community integration.
- [27:11] Multipurpose community centers serve as vital hubs for youth engagement and cultural activities: Facilities like the Paia Youth and Culture Center provide safe spaces for recreation, education, and socialization, helping to nurture healthy lifestyles and intergenerational connections, which are essential for holistic community development.
- [34:35] Work experience programs significantly boost self-esteem and reduce risky behaviors among participants: By offering paid, supervised work and skill-building opportunities, the project empowers individuals, improves their life prospects, and fosters a positive identity, which can lead to reductions in substance abuse and increased school retention rates, demonstrating the transformative power of community-based interventions.
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maui they’ll put some segments together and send you some evidence of things going on with the work that we’ve been doing that i’ve been doing you got me encouraged you know he said it’s okay to be a hero sometimes the world needs heroes well the kids are leading me into this the young people so uh jason here is running the camera this is taisho people-bodied assistant we’re gonna move on and get a shot of the valley and then we’re going to splice some some segments all together into a little home
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video to show you and a couple of other friends perhaps that are interested in sharing some of this grandeur over here that’s right yeah so thank you you’re welcome wow what a beautiful spot you chose to stop brian i think so well maui is the valley isle and here’s another typical valley on maui and the way it’s developing nice rural small farms in this coastal valley leading to the ocean and uh haleakala is in the center and the valleys go all the way down all the way to the ocean and this is uh
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one such valley there are probably a couple of hundred valleys like this on maui it’s truly uh garden of eden alternate energy wind power solar power off the grid this is a beautiful spot you’ve chosen isn’t it nice or it has chosen us that’s right here we are and we uh we had the good fortune of uh recently obtaining a lease a long-term lease on a small valley much like this let’s stop for just a moment let me plug in a microphone like you’ve developed a rainbow special for this ah this is a
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rainbow special yes oh boy maui has a cloud there just passing down the clouds move very quickly here down the mountain and this valley comes down from haleakala comes down all the way to the ocean there’s a rainstorm going on up the mountain there we’re standing uh we’re about a half a mile as the crow oh one sec hang on this is a little shakier than i thought okay so hang on you could sit on the on the uh i could stand but now i know i have to i just got to feel my way i’m ready okay
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catch this view on on the right okay okay here we go let me know when you’re rolling i’m rolling so here we come we’re coming into our little valley here which uh has been graciously leased to us on a learn a long-term lease and you’ll see that house up there on the hill this haiku hill there’s a large subdivision and our valley forms one wall or one side of that hill the houses don’t come down very low so we have high valley walls without any houses on them these houses
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are all on the top and i i’m inside the cab of the truck driving down slowly jason is outside with the camera so he’s probably getting some good shots up there it’s a magnificent little valley oh dear and it has a spring that originates in the valley it’s actually an underground river comes from deep inside the mountain the water is very pure there’s an abundance of it and i am told by the experts that if we simply clean this out the flow will increase dramatically we believe there may be an underground a
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large underground pool which i will point to when we get down to the bottom the road we’re going down it’s the only road in to our little valley and it’s uh pretty good it’s pretty darn good little road it’s uh standard vehicles uh passenger cars can do it if it’s dry if it’s wet you need four-wheel drive there are a lot of birds down here a lot of birds beautiful banyan trees this is like riding a bucking bronco oh this isn’t a bronco though a bucking isuzu a buckingham
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what a great place now if jason shoots off right there to the uh little bit to the right under those banana trees all right hang on a second why don’t you stop for a second that way we’ll get a still shot right there pan this area right here oh yeah this is a little grotto and we’ll get a little closer to the water but you’ll see that right up underneath that tree there’s there’s a rock face there are rock faces and the rock faces have faces in them and uh from underneath those rock faces
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bubbles artesian perched spring it runs right out up underneath the rocks and it runs all the way from where you’re where you’re shooting right there it runs down about 200 feet or 300 feet it just it’s just coming out of the hillside wow uh and at first we thought it was maybe percolating down or something but what it is it appears is there could be a large underground pool because down here a little further it bubbles up out of the ground out of the bottom of the valley so it’s running out of the sides up
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there at an elevation of about 14 or 15 feet above the stream bed right and down a little further it’s bubbling right up out of the bottom of the stream so there’s a vein a large vein of artesian spring water that’s coming out and this is the stream begins right here and it’s uh it’s uh quite a miracle to be able to use this water this valley has about eight or nine acres of bottom land with no stones all rich top soil that has washed down off the sides of the valley over the years
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and so we have all the water we need to do commercial all sorts of commercial farming ventures here and uh beautiful place yeah wow this is all part of the property yeah yes it is it’s all part of the property now if you if you if you take a shot right right there off the right side of the truck down at the ground yeah there’s more spring water just bubbling right out of the ground right right there almost by your right hand just down on the ground where those plants are those are taro plants i see
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and so a branch of this little stream begins right there the rest of it comes out of the hillside where we filmed a little a few moments ago okay so the water is just oozing out of everywhere here at this area this part of the valley i feel like in the cowboy movies where they knocked the guys off the top of the uh stagecoach because they didn’t see a branch coming so if there’s anything coming you’ll oh okay i’ll yeah i’ll tell you jason yeah you’d like to shoot right there
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you see the plant with the shiny leaves the big bush on the left with the shiny leaves yeah okay that is the hawaiian none the uh the none tree the one right there and there’s one just to the right of it a big one and uh that’s a very powerful medicinal uh healing plant you’ll notice if you do a zoom on the fruit on that the leaves there where do you see oh i see him right there that’s noni took a class with lions i’m aware yeah oh yeah so the fruit on there the none fruit is a very powerful uh herb they ferment
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it and then you take it five times a week small amounts and it’s good for whatever ails you so there are there are actually five none trees in this valley and there’s papayas and chili peppers and they’ve got squash there’s squash in here already mountain apples and breadfruit how’s your light on this thing light’s fine at the moment okay i’m running okay so um what we could do so we don’t run out of film we have plenty we have plenty film good okay let’s take a little walk
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just a brief walk right here okay um action so let’s take a little short walk up here in the trees this valley actually the the open space if you want to do a slow pan here you’ll see that this will all be cleared over here we’re going to be doing cherry tomatoes we’ve got some of our networkers are telling us that market vegetables we can grow cherry tomatoes in here and string beans and snow peas this whole area and there’s about actually about three acres of land here where we can on this end of the
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valley where we can grow these crops we have some neat banyan trees there’s a banyan tree and uh i’m just going to take you just a few a little ways up the valley to show you one of the banyan trees we can get a nice shot of it but there are some beautiful banyan trees on the sides of this valley and we’re going we’re anticipating putting a little tree house in one of them i’d like to show you that one it’s very phenomenal phenomenal banyan tree very uh our valley has various little uh
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areas that have their own personality and this is one of the such areas and let’s check out this tree this banyan tree and those roots coming down are our tree trunks unto themselves there are some large ones so that tree is uh very strongly supported it’s a it’s an incredible tree uh people here before they raised they raised and fought roosters in this area they had rooster fights in this area years ago uh i’d really like to lash make a platform and lash it up there don’t put any nails in the tree
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but make a nice uh little tree house it’s a wonderful place for a treehouse what do you think so uh but this is one area where we can have uh camping little nature uh little nature uh camping trips a little uh eco tours if uh if you will now further up the valley we have two waterfalls which we’re not going to be going to today uh time doesn’t permit but there are two waterfalls further up this is a great valley you have the whole valley all the way down the entire valley wow yes it’s a pretty amazing it’s a
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very secure only one road in the sides are steep it’s very secure place so we can do a lot of things here growing commercial crops having campsites whatever we want and we’re not going to have easy access for people coming in stealing or doing anything you know anti-social behavior right easy place to control so so anyway i just wanted to share some of this with the viewer and uh and my uncle edward okay i’m good we’re just mainly for you this film oh so we’ll do this thing okay here we go we’re gonna emerge from
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here out and back into the open space oh what do we have here avocado avocado avocado trees here how do you like that let’s take a couple avocados with us here good plan there we go a couple avocados for us well this this land is plentiful with nothing planted it’s true it’s such a lovely place it’s about it’s narrow as you can see it’s narrow uh you’re looking down way down there it’s about uh beyond that it widens out again like here it’s wider than it narrows down then it
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widens out again and the spring is at the halfway point and the fact that the spring is higher a little higher up on the hill part of it being a perch spring we can run some of the water back to this part here because it’s elevated the spring of perch spring is up on the hot side of the hill part of it’s perched so it’ll run backwards to this land that’s great the hydrologist showed us this it’s really exciting a number of a number of cooperating agencies are going to supply us with young people
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and recovering adults like adults recovering from alcohol abuse or whatever who are really seriously want to work and learn learn a little bit about vocational agriculture tropical agriculture we have a number of field instructors who have degrees in tropical agriculture each of whom will work part-time they’ll work four-hour or six-hour shifts with groups and next week the plantation the plantation is allowing us to use all of their equipment all of their tractors and cultivators and wow they’re supplying us with an
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operator nathan kekahuna he’s going to be cultivating all this so we can begin planning very soon that’s wonderful and our youth workforce and our recovering adult workforce will be maintaining and harvesting crops we’ve raised the grant money to pay them to pay the field instructors so praise the lord okay now we’ll take the fork in the road here in the valley and go see the lower part of the growing area all along here on the left is where uh there’s always been a growing area there
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where we have uh small taro patches there’s a stream that runs all along the small stream that begins with the spring there runs all along beneath the banana trees running down here you can see where the stream is probably yeah jason and uh where you see all the tarot there are tarot growing in the stream bed and those tarot we’re going to be using as our starts for our new patches which nathan will be engineering very shortly he’ll be re-engineering the tarot patches along along in here we can plant uh luau
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leaf and um sweet potatoes and bluefield bananas these fantastic gourmet bananas that bring good price ah beautiful aren’t they yeah okay and then as you as you swing that way down you’ll see this is the area where historically they grew taro on the left all along here is mud bank terrell patches overgrown with grass right now but they’re fed by the stream which runs along the left the left perimeter the left border so nathan will come in here and in two days they’ll have this all
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all ready to plant well not quite ready to plant but it’ll be all uh re-engineered and we’re gonna weed whack the grass out of here this coming week so he can come and do this but these little square areas here these square patches these are all former mud bank tarot patches with uh walkways in between and the sunken areas are the mud that you grow the taro in so nathan will be re-engineering these into three larger taro patches so this is the bottom of the something it’s a funny ride huh it’s a bumpy ride
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here right there well i’m just going to show you you can hear it there’s a water intake here just to show you how much stream flow begins right here in this valley with the water bubbling out of the ground and running out of the hillside you’ll see how much stream flow that there is here that we can capture and that we can use and in the driest of weather it’s still flowing like this this is all artesian from way inside the mountain this this here jason is the stream flows underneath this
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brush here that that’s all taro all of these leaves yeah okay this is all taro here and it goes all the way up that’s the stream it runs underneath all this you’ve got a pretty good stream flow step over here here’s here’s a an example of the stream flow that comes down that began just up there running out of the hill and bubbling out of the ground so it’s on the surface now but below this there’s still that underground vein this underground river wow rushing for the ocean
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this is a great spot this is just bubbling this is just what bubbles over what bubbles out isn’t that lilacore right there too that’s there’s lilikoi in here yeah yeah this whole hillside it looks like nothing but those are tall trees and there’s trails there’s trails on this hillside it’s the whole world you get inside your camera wouldn’t have enough light but it’s a it’s a high it’s this valley is a hiker’s wonderland and there are a lot of old stone terraces and remnants of earlier
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civilization here this is a very this has been inhabited for a long time this valley probably up to up to 2000 years as long as that i mean if one is to go by the pre the the ancient pre-elite history of this place of hawaii so anyway that’s about it jason uh well i think that this is a wonderful find this area well it’s a blessing to see how much tremendous potential to even make it more incredible and to be able to offer opportunity to heal people that are coming back from a challenge in their life
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really sets a great tone yeah it’s good for the self-esteem and we like i mentioned before we’ve raised funds from participating agencies to pay people to who want to work seriously paid vocational training as it were uh in a number of groups junior rotc the homeless shelter uh this state family court juvenile community service sentencing program for juveniles and we feed them and pay them a basic wage and they learn they learn how to use their hands and acquire skills and basic work ethics this is in addition to
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our regular odd jobs program people we see from the odd jobs program that have a good attitude and who are and who are developing we can if they’re interested we can assign them to this project so that’s uh how this came to be really so you’ve been doing this for about three years yeah about three years ago we started in paella just working with uh neglected teenagers of which there are many and uh just by observing them and paying attention to them supplying their needs we find that
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you know we find directions they show they show me directions i’m the director i’m the one that started the program just by observing them and communicating with them and giving them what they need so it’s growing now to serve other people in the community teenagers recovering adults just people who are interested and who need to learn basic work skills or relearn basic work ethics and values and this project is an offshoot of that the fixed agricultural component if you will of our teens on-call jobs program now
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it’s teens on call jobs program for teens and recovering adults and we work it through the salvation army because that’s a very appropriate agency to work with they’re really uh it’s very sympathical and they share the vision of of what this is doing for the people so am i correct you also have a house on the beach in paella that’s where this whole work thing started actually this work program started at that beach house which will probably make a stop there on the way yeah the youth center is the pai
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youth and culture center now and it has a life of its own its own non-profit status and the downstairs is youth center and then we have the upstairs we’ve just acquired the lease on the upstairs for our this work program for the offices for the work program and have a canoe club next door absolutely really terrific just really made such great progress with the kids i am very happy to be here with you on this brian thank you jason oh you’re welcome thank you okay well let’s let’s move
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let’s do this foreign without so what are you planning on building here okay this is uh this is going to be the skate the skateboard park this the skateboard ramps that are up at the paella gym right now are going to be moved down here by the youth center so um so the county has appropriated that we have a 40 000 budget to move the skateboard park from paella gym yes this is susan executive director of the youth center and uh we all work together here harmoniously at the beach for the sake of the young kids and they
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and the old kids which is us intergenerational recreational activities 70 by 50. yeah yeah that’s that’s that’s a good size yeah yeah this is the old maneria estate it used to be a private residence for many years built 1928 and we ended up with it being the paella youth and culture center right here at beautiful beach paella bay let’s take a little walk up to the beach here jason this uh baby park ripa this little park next to the youth center is uh called baby park and this is a very popular boogie boarding
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beach and the kids come here and they take showers underneath that yellow pipe right where it says baby park repo there’s a shower right there and that after they’re in the water they come and stand there so baby park ripa that means somebody who rips the waves at baby park and here’s baby and here’s baby beach here’s uh paella bay coming up this is known as lele cove the old hawaiian name is lelekov l-e-l-e which means a place of this is a place to take off lele is to fly so this is a place to
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take off in the wind if you have a sailing canoe or anything like that or a sailboat you take off you go out there and catch the wind and you can go all the way to molokai there’s molokai in the far distance on the on the right you’ll see the shadow of molokai rising from the ocean yeah that’s uh probably uh 25 miles away from where we stand you can put a sailing canoe in the water and just zip right over there or any kind of filling vessel what a great spot for the kids isn’t this wonderful they have so much fun
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here and uh this these grounds are filming now uh just for our paella canoe club uh this this whole area we have we have a lease on from the plantation uh that was under baldwin parent company and they’ve been very very generous with the community that’s wonderful to hear yeah yeah great great corporate community uh partners here’s the back side of the youth center yeah i see you’re you’re swinging around doing a 360. the downstairs is youth center and uh we let the kids pretty much express
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themselves in this place that’s why it’s not really fancy they come off the beach we have double doors in the back there and they go right into double doors and there’s television cable tv pool table and art classes there’s an art room and bicycle club and the county just bought us a van so we can take them on excursions the young folks on excursions we take them camping and we have other groups come here and join with us at the beach so this is truly a great sunday we’ll do a partnership and
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we’ll do uh miles six to eight on the hana highway yeah take care of that area yeah yeah beautiful here yeah isn’t this beautiful you’ve done a great job brian well all of us together it’s been it’s been a group effort and uh and you’re the spiritual leader for these kids well thank you jason i i sure love them that’s they uh they they bring out the best in me to be done as you can see from the valley and from this place uh you know we have long-term leases for almost no money the valley
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the entire valley is 100 a year wow you know and it’s a long-term lease so but now we have to raise capital to develop outside of grant monies we’ve raised good grant monies for certain parts of the program but but now i need some i need some discretionary funds that i can i can utilize the services of tradesmen and contractors for pennies on the dollar if i can slip them hundred dollars here hundred dollars there 500 here we get great production value and and we must we must develop these
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places now to be you know to be the facilities that they can that they can become uh the the canoe club needs you know this is grandfather claws building right here if we tear this down it can never be rebuilt close to the beach so the framework is solid it has plumbing uh we can take this and restore it and it’s a it’s a very valuable property on the beach we can have a food concession in here we can have a workshop we can do whatever we want here but we must move in a timely in a timely
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manner sure the upstairs of this youth center here is uh there are two large rooms and a small room and a full bath we have that for our program for our work program offices and for a conference room for people from all the agencies that are involved with us this is a place where they can if they want to at any time come and meet have meetings or so forth by the beach you know you know have a luncheon meeting by the beach or whatever what lives over there that’s private housing huh that’s a private home over there that’s
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uh that home is owned by the rasmussen’s they built that there has a swimming pool right there by the right there in the yard so you have oceanside oceanside swimming they they they lease it out actually they don’t live there now they live up to baldwin avenue they have an estate up there that they bought let’s see yeah but uh it’s calm here right now but the waves uh the surf here is really good much of the time all winter long is good surf and good boogie boarding and uh it’s not uncommon to see 200 boogie
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boarders out there at one time wow just having the time of their lives well it’s beautiful that you’re doing things that the kids are appreciating there’s an incredible number of wonderful kids who just don’t get a chance to really show themselves and well what we do helps the parents we you know we’re here to support the parents we’re here to support the parents to lead young people into work opportunities help them to help them to gain some practical work experience learn work work ethics
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how to sweat how to persevere how to use their hands with tools and work together working together in work crews and so forth so we’ve been having good luck yard work and painting and land clearing and parking and security at concerts and all sorts of things food booths uh we we go out and pick pick the tarot leaves and make lao laos and have hawaiian plates at food booths and make make you know make good money and they make money and and they experience entrepreneurial skills you know so like i said before that there they
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show me what they need and i do my best with our network to provide them with what they really need so we’re seeing it work here we’ve established a model and now we can expand upon it we’ve got the land we’ve got the facilities just no end to what we can do we have the people the human resources so we’ve had an interesting tour today we we saw a beautiful valley with tremendous potential for growth to be able to have our young people and our challenged older people come along in a work
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experience that can really enrich their lives and give them a groundwork a framework for you know what we say growing with our society here on maui being real valuable part of the fabric they become they feel valued within the community very good jason they feel valued within the community young people recovering adults when they can work and be paid for their work and we feed them we spoil them a little bit make them feel valuable as people and it really encourages them their self-esteem picks right up and
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you can reach them on other subjects you can reach them on drugs you can reach them on staying in school you know really many levels helps them so how do people get in touch with you if they want to they can reach us through the salvation army we have an office there i have an office 872 8301 uh is my pager and i have a radio phone in the truck i answer the pages quickly uh stephanie at the office that’s 871-6270 that’s the salvation army so if you have job opportunities anyone four young
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people are recovering adults we have supervised work crews if you are young people are recovering adults they want to become part of the program you may call the office and ask for stephanie and sign up or call me on my pager well thank you very much thank you for being here with us today i know that arielle and myself we’re happy to be part of something that’s valuable to the community and you’re valuable to the community i we salute you you’re valuable to the community too jason i salute you thank you very much
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aloha aloha that’s very nice
