Coconut Girl

Occasionally, people will ask Dave about his ethnicity. When he tells them he is Hawaiian, there's usually a whole other list of questions that follows (at the top of the list is usually what in the world would bring you to live in WI when Hawaii is your home?) But there are other questions and sometimes misunderstandings that he has encountered as well. One of the more common things he gets is that some people equate being Hawaiian, with being Samoan. He doesn't mind explaining, but it is a totally different chain of islands, and a totally different culture. Which makes this next series of pics a little funny.

We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center one day last week. I hope to do an entire post about our visit there, it's a wonderful place for anyone who would like to learn more about the different cultures of the Polynesian islands to go! But this post is about Emma, our resident coconut girl.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is set up a little bit like Epcot, where you can visit different nations, see presentations and experience a bit of their culture. During this coconut tree climbing demonstration, I watched the man climbing the tree and my first thought was that I have seen Emma use these same Samoan climbing techniques ~ often{!} ~ the child cannot keep her feet on the ground!! I looked over at Emma to see her reaction and I could tell she wanted to climb the tree.


Shortly after the presentation we left Samoa to visit New Zealand, and she would have to wait all day long until we returned to Samoa, but she did finally get her chance to give it a try:

She was so eager to climb and she started out quickly, surprising the guy who put her harness on.



As she approached the middle of the tree he was shocked and wondered out loud if this little girl was really going to make it to the top.



It was about when she got to this spot here that she started to lose her grip a little, and run out of places to put her hands and feet.



Then she changed her technique slightly which gave her all the boost she needed. I knew once she got past the half way point that there was no way she would give up without a fight.



Kahiwa made it all the way to the top and was so excited! The guy helping her said she was the only one to make it all week. So while she's not Samoan, she can climb a coconut tree like a little Samoan boy. It is customary in Samoa that the men do all the work, which among other things includes cooking, cleaning, hunting and coconut retrieving. So being a girl, it's very unlikely that she would ever be sent up the coconut tree if she were actually Samoan.



And this little one is crazy about coconuts! Rebekah had no desire to climb the tree, but she picks up the coconuts wherever we go, and wants very much to drink the juice on the inside...we'll see.