Malama Honua

On Wednesday 26th of March 2015 Glenbrae School went to Pt England Reserve to welcome the waka called Hokulea from Hawaii with other schools in the Manaiakalani Cluster.Pt England Reserve wasn’t that far so we walked but it was a very hot day so we brought our hats.

Once we reached our destination we sat on the grass and waited for all the schools.When all the schools were here we were told to stand up and sing.Our first song was E Oho but as we were sing that song we did a dance that went for it.

After that there was a lot speaking and more singing.The songs we sang were Nga Waka,He Honore and more of E oho.While we were singing the songs we had to stand and sit down a lot but it was fine plus as we were standing we could see the waka Hokulea better and the people from the waka talking to us.

When the welcoming was coming to an end all the schools got to go meet and high five the people from Hawaii and kids from other schools that helped out.As we were high fiving them some of them said Aloha instead of hi which was different.

The problem was though that when we were saying hi and stuff it took a long time because there were a lot of schools that the Hawaiians were saying hi to but at least everyone got a turn to meet them.

It was now finished and we had to go back to school but I didn’t go because I was one of the people that were chosen to stay behind and learn something about Hawaii.So we stayed behind but came late to our learning session because we were confused about where to go.We went to Pt England Reserve then to Pt England School and just kept walking back and forth.But we did get there and found out it was at Pt England Reserve.

While we were there we ate a Hangi and listened to what they were telling us at the same time.When I was listening I learnt that our ancestors used the stars and sky to navigate them and a bit of Hawaiian words.

The trip to Pt England Reserve was fun and interesting since we got to meet the Hawaiians and learn a bit about all of our ancestors.