The Legacy of Laʻa

Please note: This piece includes reflections on grief and the passing of a Waiw.ai Studios student last summer.

E lei kau, e lei hoʻoilo i ke aloha

Waiw.ai Studios is a hui of extraordinary young creatives and technologists who gather stories and build solutions. Iʻve had the privilege of being their kumu for over six years and counting. At the heart of this group is one of the goofiest, most profoundly creative, humble, hardworking, deeply caring, and truly magical souls we’ve ever known: Robert Laʻakea Carvalho. Look at any group photo and you will spot him immediately. He is the piko, the center who connects everyone.

On Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, our studio received news that none of us wanted to believe. Our dear friend Laʻa had passed away suddenly in a tragic hiking accident on Maui. He was just 18 years old.

Saturday, August 9, 2025

On a quiet, calm morning in the ʻāina wela, parents, aunties, uncles, and children gathered with heavy hearts at Ulu Aʻe Learning Center. Welcomed by Aunty Mikiʻala Lidstone, we were introduced to Kumu Makani Tabura, Kahu and Laʻau Lapaʻau practitioner, and Christine Ochimas, LMFT of Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive.

Through tears and shaky voices, we did our best to follow Kumu Makani’s lead.

Hoʻi e hoʻi lā, hoʻi e ka ʻohue…
We had to learn to release our friend in love.

i ka ua lehua; aʻoa kula manu e…
Guiding him upland to the home of the lehua, where the birds gather.

ʻOnaona i ke ala, au ʻo ke kupukupu,
kupu aʻe ke aloha…
To follow the fragrant path of the Kupukupu fern,

noho pono i ka niʻo,
ae, ae, ae…
and continue on until he reaches the ancestors. They are waiting for him there.

The last time we gathered in person with Laʻa was in May, at our spring hōʻike at DreamHouse Center. Laʻa was about to graduate from high school, and we were celebrating our years together. We arrived early to weave a Song of India lei as a surprise for him. Around the table, we talked story, the room filled with laughter and ease.

Laʻa shared his portfolio, tracing his journey from a middle schooler building ahupuaʻa in Minecraft to becoming a studio alakaʻi. Equal parts left brained and right brained, he had discovered a deep love for 3D development, finding the perfect balance of logic and creativity. He featured one of his favorite projects, a collaborative scene built in Unity and Blender simulating bioluminescent and biofluorescent marine life—his contribution being an algorithmically designed Brain Coral. Younger studio mentees and past kumu offered surprise testimonials, reflecting back his generosity, leadership, and quiet impact. He spoke about his plans for what was next.

It was bittersweet. I imagined future visits, Laʻa returning with stories of adventure, sharing what he had learned, offering his gifts back home.

It was Mother’s Day weekend. We ended the day gathered in a circle, singing Oli Mahalo dedicated to Laʻa and to the moms, fitting for someone whose care for others came so naturally.

Saturday, August 23, 2025

We gathered around Laʻa once again, this time in the Uluniu at UH West Oʻahu. Our circle stretched to nearly fifty people. At the center stood a newly planted ʻulu sapling.

We reflected on how fortunate we were that, for many of us, our final moments with Laʻa were during our hōʻike in May, filled with love and gratitude, even though we did not know they would be the last. Just as that day had closed, Aunty Manulani Aluli Meyer, our guide for the ceremony, led us once more in Oli Mahalo.

Thinking of our last moments with Laʻa, I couldnʻt help but reflect on our first moments together. What makes Waiw.ai Studios unique is that we span many different moku and ahupuaʻa. We initially formed online during the pandemic when Purple Maiʻa stood up a cloud-based school. When we could safely gather again, 12 youth were hand-selected from hundreds to come together in person to be a part of what we thought would be just a one-year cohort. It was beautiful—and also challenging—with kids stretching from Mākaha to Pālolo. 

Laʻa was unique in another way, too; he was our only alakaʻi from another island. Not only did he fly over to be with us—he always showed up with a box of Krispy Kremes.

Saturday, August 31, 2025

For the first time, we made the journey Laʻa had made for us so many times, this time to attend his Celebration of Life in his hometown of Makawao.

During the flight, I wondered if Laʻa knew just how much he was loved. I hoped so. And I hoped all of our other kids know how much they are loved. All of this effort was as much about honoring Laʻa as it was about caring for them and showing them how much they matter.

When we first met with Kumu Makani earlier that month, he spoke about the fine line between grief and trauma. Grief is part of life. Trauma does not have to be. We could not take away the grief, but we could learn to grieve well together. I hoped we were doing it right.

Landing in Maui, we headed upcountry and stopped in Kula. There, we came upon a mural of a lei that looked just like the one we carried to Maui for Laʻa. It read:

E lei kau, e lei hoʻoilo i ke aloha
Love is like a wreath worn in the summers and winters
ʻŌlelo Noʻeau #332

When we arrived in Makawao later that morning, we entered a venue filled with hundreds of Laʻa’s family and friends. I thought of the ʻōlelo noʻeau as I watched another studio alakaʻi, Kaliko, gently place the lei over his urn.

To be among the community that raised Laʻa was deeply special. We listened to the many stories shared and were comforted to learn that we all knew the same Laʻa, goofy, loving, and a notoriously off-key karaoke singer.

We shared some of our own stories with his Maui ʻohana. We remembered how Laʻa made us all laugh with his silly dance moves in our Zoom studios during the COVID pandemic. For his memorial tree, we chose a Fijian ʻUlu variety with especially sweet fruit that reminded us of donuts. We told them about how his fellow alakaʻi had found ways to channel their grief into sharing their gifts. His urn was lovingly handcrafted by Jacob and Jordan. Kēlia created a children’s book to help other kids understand loss. Kupu wrote and composed an original mele for Laʻa, and it was a happy song because Laʻa wouldn’t have wanted to be remembered by a sad one. She traveled with us to Makawao that day to perform her mele at the close of the Celebration of Life.

Each story a pua, representing pilina built over time, woven together into a lei of beloved community that stretches across the pae ʻāina.

Saturday, January 31, 2026

Exactly five months after his Celebration of Life, the month Laʻa would have turned nineteen, we returned to the Uluniu to mālama his tree. In the months since planting, Laʻa’s tree has been visited and cared for often. A KUPU volunteer built a hale to protect the sapling through the last stretch of dry season. Atop the hale lay layers of lei left by his ʻohana and friends. Our young tree had grown fuller and more vibrant, nearly outgrowing its shelter. 

Joined by Laʻa’s makuahine, Gillian, we had a new story to share with our Waiw.ai Studios ʻohana and the Uluniu community. The Carvalho ʻohana, with support from their dear friends Lori and Tim Sandage and in collaboration with Purple Maiʻa, had established the Laʻa Carvalho Scholarship Fund, dedicated to carrying forward his legacy of kindness and care by supporting fellow studio alakaʻi in their pursuits of postsecondary education.

Navigating the grief of losing Laʻa together has helped me realize what makes Waiw.ai Studios so special—not just what we do, but what we are a part of and who we are becoming in the process. We are gatherers of pua, weaving together lei of beloved community. This is our living story.

E lei kau, e lei hoʻoilo i ke aloha

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You can learn more about the Laʻa Carvalho Scholarship Fund and donate at Purplemaia.org/donate.