2nd ‘Great Malunggay Festival’ set in Waipahu, Hawaii
HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE PHOTO
SAN FRANCISCO — The “Great Malunggay Festival and Parade 2016,” is scheduled for Saturday, April 2 at August Ahrens Elementary School in Waipahu, Oahu, Hawaii from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to Al Simbahon, a longtime resident of Waipahu, community leader and youth ministry director at St. Joseph Church, the “Malunggay Festival 2.0” promises to be even bigger and better than last year’s event.
“We’re looking forward to the second version of this exciting community celebration,” Simbahon told Hawaii Filipino Chronicle reporter Dennis Galolo. “We will experience wonderful Filipino and other delicious ethnic foods, a variety of vendor products, a parade, excellent entertainment and of course, malunggay.”
Volunteers from the St. Joseph and the Waipahu Community Association (WCA) are helping organize the event.
Also involved is Hawaii’s Plantation Village in historic Waipahu town. The Village is a living outdoor history museum that tells the story of life during Hawaii’s sugar plantation era. The Village includes restored buildings and replicas of plantation structures such as houses of various ethnic groups and community buildings.
The Village will host a reunion for former employees of the now defunct Oahu Sugar, Ewa, Waipahu and Waialua sugar plantations. A wall will be on display filled with memorabilia and old family photos featuring the beloved sakadas.
Simbahon initially envisioned a small parade commemorating tFilipino culture with the malunggay tree as the unifying symbol.
“In venturing to Hawaii from the Philippines in search of a new life, the sakadas brought with them their precious malunggay seeds, not knowing the medicinal and health benefits that scientists today now recognize,” writes Galolo.
“Once thought of as a ‘poor man’s vegetable,’ malunggay is prized for its nutritional and medicinal value. A study reported by the Los Angeles Times showed that ounce-for-ounce, malunggay has the calcium of four glasses of milk, the Vitamin C of seven oranges and the potassium of three bananas. Malunggay also has properties that can protect against harmful microorganisms, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent damage to the liver, and help people with bronchial asthma.”
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