UNIQUE ALOHA
Hawaiians Visit Baja AIDS and Drug Orphanages On Surf Trip

In between goodwill missions Kahana Kalama and Kanoa Chung found some time to get wet and score a few waves south of the border.

Like so many impoverished nations, Mexico has had to deal with an exploding drug crisis. Enter New Creation, an organization dedicated to rehabilitating orphaned children with drug and substance abuse addictions.

Arriving at New Creation the pair could hardly believe the assault on their senses. Their noses were overcome by the sour stench that hung in the hot Mexican air. Dirty, half-naked children wondered aimlessly amidst the grounds. There was no laughter and giggling to be heard here. Kanoa vividly recalls, “The place was GNARLY. It looked like a run-down portable home and the place smelled super sour. I couldn’t help but wonder how these kids got here.”

Kanoa came to learn that several of the kids had been involved in gangs and child prostitution and yet the oldest child at the orphanage was only 13 years old. The kids at New Creation struggle to recover from alcoholism and addictions to cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth. Many are permanently emotionally scarred from their lives of sexual and substance abuse.

Despite their grim circumstances, Kahana and Kanoa were determined to bring some joy to the forgotten orphans of Baja. Using longboards donated by Surftech just for this purpose, the two spent the next few days teaching the kids how to surf. “We took the groms from the orphanage down to the beach. We pitched a tent, loaded up on soda and pizza and tried to give the kids a change of scenery and a time to really enjoy themselves. The crazy thing is all the groms ripped! Everybody that tried to surf got to their feet. Over 20 kids ranging from 4 to 13 years old learned how to surf that day,” recalls Kahana with a smile.

After three weeks of traveling through the desolate countryside of Baja, Kanoa and Kahana had scored much more than good waves. They had spent many of their days caring for young kids infected with HIV and they had shared their love of surfing with orphaned and drug-addicted kids who have been abandoned by life. This was by no means your typical surf trip. Their quest for more than just perfect surf was taking form like an oncoming northwest swell at Pipe.

Kahana’s sentiments reflect the mentality of their unconventional surf trip. “On so many of my trips through Baja I felt like a selfish gringo——showing up in a lifted Tacoma with massive amounts of American food, a well-stocked cooler, a quiver of fresh boards, and a desire to self-indulge. This trip we wanted to spend a little time giving back, and hopefully make someone else’s day just a little bit better.” From all accounts “Aloha” translates pretty well…