KekonaArt

Richard and Susan Dancil are the creators of Island Time products. Richard Waiwaiole Dancil is native Hawaiian born on the slopes of Haleakala Crater on Maui. He remembers the days when he knew just about everyone that passed through his small hometown of Keokea. Richard grew up in what is known as the plantation days. Many immigrant workers lived in communities known as camps. They were often grouped by their nationality such as Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Portugese, etc., to make them feel more at home with their language and customs. Since the Hawaiian people were harshly discouraged from using their native language, there was need for all the cultures to communicate and blend in with each other. To some degree, this is how the pidgin dialect came to be. Another way that helped bind all these races together was the comraderie they shared through music, food and a sharing of their cultural celebrations. Richard's father was a Filipino immigrant that arrived in Hawaii as a young boy in 1917 and was raised by a Hawaiian family. His mother is Kanaka Maoli (full Hawaiian bloodline) born in Hana, Maui. Richard did not grow up in a camp as his parents were not plantation workers. Both were life long nurses at Kula San, which was a tuberculosis sanitarium for many years. Richard is also an accomplished musician of traditional Hawaiian music. He plays the ukulele, slack key guitar and Hawaiian nose flute.