MALAMA HONUA

It was a cold morning down on Pt England beach when all the Manaiakalani schools showed up one by one. I had a special role to play in the event. I got the opportunity to film the event that happened. I actually got to partner up with Lucy as part of the Pt England Videographer crew. You must be wondering what was the event well it was that the Hokule’a and Hikianalia were coming to Pt England's very beach. We were told to stand either on the ramp or on the sand standing next to the ramp. As soon as we got down there the ramp was full of adults so we had no choice but to set up on the sand.

It finally started and the Hokule'a was sitting on the surface of the water probably about 12 metres away and it began to come in. As soon as that happened we all began to shout our ‘E Oho’ chant and after that was finished we sang ‘He Honore’. We did that twice.

The Hokule’a got closer and closer but it didn’t come in to close as it might have gotten stuck. Following up after it was Hikianalia and there were actually 2 Pt England students on the waka with a teacher and their names are Mrs Lagitupu, Paige and Collin. As I gazed at them coming back I saw that they all got their shoes wet because they came back on a boat that didn’t come in enough and they jumped out of the boat knowing that there was water below.

Initially the Hokule’a crew came out and greeted us with each of their names and then they all sang a song from their culture Hawaiian of course. About 5 minutes later everybody stood up and as they did that the whole Hokule’a crew got into a line and the schools got to shake their hands.

It was a privilege for the Waka’s to come to Pt England's very beach they didn’t have to come to Pt England but they did and this is a once in a lifetime event. I am so grateful to be a Pt England Extension Student because the special things we do we will always be apart of it.