
Varna, Bulgaria, February 28, 2025 – on my way to Hawai’i.
ALOHA,
my personal story about the HŌKŪLE’A began in June 2016, when I first became aware of the canoe and its history, in virtual space.
By the end of 2014, I had already immersed myself deeper into Hawaiian culture, as various events in my life over the previous 25 years had formed a growing bond that brought me into visible connection with the islands, even though I have never visited them. Once I had summarized them on paper, I became more and more curious about what else I would discover and find out. What did all this have to do with me personally? Had my ancestors ever been to Hawaii or did the answer lie in my future? Finally, I also saw the meaning of ALOHA as in LOVE, which I had begun to consciously explore in practical application since 2013 and made my personal life an experiment of living love in everyday life. Now another piece of the puzzle had been added to this map of my life and fueled my curiosity to the highest degree.
After all, my heart was immediately touched by the story of the HŌKŪLE’A, because the people around the canoe also wanted to make a significant difference in the world. My personal sense of adventure was overflowing, because of how exciting it seemed to me to circumnavigate the world in this way. At that time, I initially published the following lines in a column in virtual space to share my enthusiasm and the story of this Worldwide Voyage with other people:
“This is how I became aware of the Worldwide Voyage of the HŌKŪLE’A, a Hawaiian canoe that has been underway since 2013 and reached New York a few days ago. The canoe was built in 1975 in the old Polynesian seafaring tradition and is now sailing the world’s oceans with a crew of 12, using only the observations of nature and the stars for navigation, to send out a message. The message is “Malama Honua” – take care of the earth – and refers to climate change, which is already causing people to ask themselves “Where are we going?”. This is what happened on the Pacific island of Kiribati, for example, which is halfway between Hawaii and Samoa and is doomed as a result of climate change. When the HŌKŪLE’A returns to her home port in Hawaii in 2017, she will have traveled 60,000 nautical miles, visited 27 countries and docked at 100 international ports – and she will have made countless connections with people all over the world to spread her message.“
But that wasn’t enough for me. I wrote to the editors of a large German daily newspaper to get them interested in the HŌKŪLE’A. My efforts came to nothing and after I found out that the current travel route left out Europe as the only continent, an idea developed to fill “Malama Honua” with life and support from here as well. “Bridge to Hawaii” was born and was intended to close the gap between Europe and Hawaii that I felt had arisen. Initially in the sense of a family reunion of a brother and sister I known with Polynesian roots, who had never set foot on the islands and thus had never seen their relatives, and the environmentally friendly behavior that should promote both the benevolent interaction of people with each other and with the earth in all its facets.
More than eight years have passed since then and the memories of the numerous events and encounters of the last few years surrounding “Bridge to Hawaii” would fill an entire book, which I have actually planned to write for the near future and which I would very much like to write in Hawaii. However, so that this does not go beyond the scope of the book, I have decided to summarize an excerpt of the events in a chronological order.
They are based on 970 posts on the specially created “Bridge to Hawaii” Instagram page, which also features many things about the HŌKŪLE’A and Hawaiian culture. In addition, over the years, numerous signs have lined my path through life that have shown a connection to the islands or served as signposts and have also been shared with joy via the virtual space. Above all, this gave me the opportunity to get in touch with people from as far away as the island chain in the Pacific and to exchange ideas about Hawaii. An enrichment in many ways that left its mark and gradually gave more meaning to the bridge that symbolized this project from the beginning.
The chronology
2016
- June – Discovery of HŌKŪLE’A in virtual space on the Mālama Honua Worlwide Voyage & source of inspiration for everything that follows
- June 15 – Publication of the column “Die Welt ist in Bewegung“ (The world is on the move)
- June 30 – Contact & exchange with Mana Maoli about the idea of building a symbolic bridge to Hawaii
- July 05 – first e-mail contact & exchange with PVS
- September 03-17 – two weeks in New York, visit to the UN for Peace Week – three months after HŌKŪLE’A was there for World Ocean Day
- Foundation of the Bridge to Hawaii project
2017
- March – Mana Maoli publishes my column “Out of Control” on her facebook page
- April – first public reading and presentation of “Bridge to Hawaii” in a café in Düsseldorf, Germany
- Over the course of a few months – publication of events relating to HŌKŪLE’A & “Bridge to Hawaii” in various columns of “Liebesbriefe von Alice“ (Love Letters from Alice)
- July 13 – Publication of the project description of “Bridge to Hawaii” based on an interview
- July 17 – HŌKŪLE’A Homecoming Ceremony – life stream with contact to Hawaii
- October 03 – first contact with Shawn Kana’iaupuni
- October 13 – first crew meeting around “Bridge to Hawaii” with interested people
- October 23 – new facebook & instagram channel “Bridge to Hawaii”
- November 13 – the project in one sentence: “Connecting people, leaving ecological traces. Always in contact with ALOHA.”
- November 30 – Publication of the project logo
- December – Start of crew interviews with Nina, Anne & Alice and first contact, ideas for a crowdfunding campaign to realize and finance the trip to Hawaii → Plan: 13 crew members plus film team for the documentary (filmmaker Douglas Wolfsperger shows interest)
2018
- Until April – preparations for Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign
- January – first sponsor for the trip with donations in kind: Hydrophil Hamburg, eco-friendly bathroom utensils
- January 21 & 27 – Reading in a café with signs → Kona Coffee Hawaii poster and opening of a restaurant with reference to Poke
- February – Spread ALOHA: the crew members send photographic ALOHA impressions from Lisbon, Munich & Düsseldorf, which are further shared in the virtual space
- February 26 – the first ALOHA MONDAY MESSAGE, to get the week off to a good start with a loving look at the days ahead, is launched and published → to date, a total of 364 messages have been sent out every week over the past 7 years
- March – a new crew member joins the team: Christian, a young filmmaker
- a former colleague opens an ALOHA Poke store near the B2H (Bridge to Hawaii) headquarters
- Letters in preparation for the crowdfunding campaign are mailed to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Flagstaff Arizona, New York & Hawaii
- April – Janine & Steven with Polynesian roots are officially appointed crew members without duties
- Shooting of the pitch film for the crowdfunding campaign
- April 16 – Creation of the e-mail address office@bridge2hawaii.com
- April 23 – Launch of the BRIDGE TO HAWAII crowdfunding campaign
- April 26 – second sponsor for the trip with donations: RAW ELEMENTS USA, eco-friendly sunscreen
- April 23 to June 14 – various activities related to the crowdfunding campaign, which was not successfully completed → DO NOT GIVE UP!
- August – ALOHA campaign with chalk left on a harbor bridge in Düsseldorf
- Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, follow and publish the journey of Hikianalia in virtual space
- August 30 – third sponsor for the trip with donations: i+m Berlin, more bathing utensils
- September 15 – World Cleanup Day, action with Blockblocks Rhein Cleanup, the founder was inspired to found the association follewing her experiences in Hawaii
- November 18 – Start of support for the film screening of MOANANUIAKEA, first contacts with cinema operators in Düsseldorf
- November 29 – Publication of the 4th book “Liebesbriefe von Alice & Bridge to Hawaii”(Love Letters from Alice & Bridge to Hawaii)
2019
- February 2019 to February 2020 – Contact and exchange with Na’alehu Anthony, producer of MOANANUIAKEA, about the possibilities of screening the film in Germany with contact to Filmstiftung NRW and various film distributors → without success
- July 01, 2019 – two “Bridge to Hawaii” stickers made it to Hawaii thanks to a friend and are put up in Honolulu and on Waikiki Beach
- August 30 – Participation in JAM4MAUNAKEA (via Mana Maoli) – “Bridge to Hawaii” in cooperation with hula teacher Juhana Bowe and Heike & Roger from ALOHA SUP Duisburg, Germany and many others
- September 02 – open letter to David Y. Ige in support of Mauna Kea
2020
- January – Release of the music video JAM4MAUNAKEA
- February 17 – Noseflute gift from Kaua’i from Julia & Phil for the unconditional support to their request
- Pandemic Break – the weekly ALOHA MONDAY message & other signs around Hawaii plus news about HŌKŪLE’A continue to be sent out and the fifth book is written, a guidebook on environmental friendliness
2021
After another six months, the guidebook will be published in June, which will include the following lines;
“I want everyone to behave lovingly, honestly and openly and I am willing to invest patience and trust in developing in this direction. Because on this basis, I am not worried about the future of people and the earth. And then there’s another plan in my drawer with a vision that has to do with a journey without a time limit and my environmental project Bridge to Hawaii, which is based on research into environmentally friendly travel. Because new stories want to be experienced and documented.”
the weekly ALOHA MONDAY message & other signs & news about Hawaii & the HŌKŪLE’A will be sent out again this year
2022
Signs with references to Hawaii continue to line my path through life, filling the moment with joy and the odd ALOHA MONDAY message. Sometimes I even manage to make brief contact with Shawn from the HŌKŪLE’A crew, which always makes me very happy. At the end of the year, I tell a B2H crew member for the first time that I feel like I’m going to Hawaii on my own first.
2023
The references to Hawaii never stop and make my belief in miracles grow. In the meantime, life has responded to my feeling about traveling to Hawaii under the B2H roof and decided that I have to leave the apartment. Despite the fact that I don’t have sufficient financial means, I decide to go ahead with the trip and make preparations. Almost all of my material possessions are liquidated, while one ALOHA MONDAY message follows the next.
2024
At the beginning of the year, the desire to reach Hawaii by the end of the year comes to light. On April 6, I start my journey with a suitcase and two bags on behalf of BRIDGE TO HAWAII with no time limit and little travel funds. I want to fill the connections to the islands & in Hawaii with life and make the vision, the dream, the wish that I brought to life in 2016 come true. Over the course of the first few weeks, my luggage is reduced again and I switch to a travel backpack with the aforementioned bags, one of which had already found its way to me from Maui. By the end of the year, I have 9 travel stops behind me with numerous, sometimes adventurous stories & helpful encounters, during which I also pluck up the courage to take my first step abroad at the beginning of December. Since 2022, there have also been indications of this around Italy and so I was led to Sicily, where loving connections with people become visible, which are decisive for my further path. A fact that is still unknown for everyone at this point.
A constant companion this year too: the weekly ALOHA Monday message & Hawaiian signs along the way. Many encounters with new people also offer the opportunity to talk about the journey and its source of inspiration, the HŌKŪLE’A, and even to report on it in a newspaper article at the end of October.
2025
In the first two months of the year, I lived with a small family in 9 different places in three different countries (Italy, Greece & Bulgaria) and traveled a little over 2000 kilometers by car & boat. In the meantime, I witnessed the birth of twins, faced death and practiced KAPU ALOHA to help solve a judicial scandal. And despite the fact that I was unpredictably moving east instead of west, to the Black Sea, the signs around Hawaii continued. I encountered the ALOHA in Sofia and saw a WAIKIKI on the way to Varna, which amazed more than just me.
All of this eventually led to the family offering me their support so that I would actually reach the islands in the Pacific as the next step. When I heard about the celebrations to mark 50 years of HŌKŪLE’A on March 8 at the beginning of the year, it was obvious that I wanted to be there at that time. After all, the horizontal eight also serves as a symbol of infinite love and in my mind’s eye I have seen myself standing in front of the canoe several times, which has brought so much meaning into my life over the years. However, the events in the here and now over the last few weeks have brought other things to the forefront that have taken up my time and have left my emotions a mess to solve. They also raised questions that I still need to answer.
Which travel route will I actually choose? Who will welcome me in Hawaii? And will there be a place on one of the islands where I can work on the book as an artist-in-residence and be artistically active?
Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote “to love the questions themselves” in his poem about patience, and so I will continue to practice and be patient until one day in the not so distant future I live into the answers… because I have already experienced it many times.
Aloha,
Alice Zumbé
PS. E ALOHA KEKAHI I KEKAHI (love one another)
Link List:
Hawaii – what do the islands mean to me?, from March 26, 2015