A Moana blessing for us all

This little girl is River

And this is her daddy

Back in September I received a Facebook message from her mom. It became quite the conversation. I’d like to share it with you:

MOM

My young daughter wants to be Moana for Halloween and wants her daddy to be Maui. She has epilepsy and has suffered through so much. Now we are having trouble making her dream of daddy being Maui come true because of controversy. Please advise.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Mahalo for reaching out. We hope your beautiful daughter's wish can come true! What controversy are you facing? We do not market any Disney costumes, so cannot help you there, but if you have any questions regarding Polynesia and the legend of Maui, we would be most happy to assist you.

MOM

People are pulling the Maui costumes saying its cultural appropriation and offensive.

Her dad can't find a costume because of this. Is this truly offensive to Polynesians? We love Maui.

Polynesian Cultural Center

I was afraid you were going to say this. It is not to most Polynesians here on the island. They also love Maui. But the Polynesian community is very proud, and very reverent towards their Gods, and Maui has always been one of their favorites. You can understand that the cartoonization of Maui puts some Polynesians on edge. They work hard to be taken seriously. 

In our little town of Laie, where The Polynesian Cultural Center stands, most of our little children and their parents have been absolutely thrilled with the movie and the characters, but we have also faced some concern by some of our citizens. I hope that explains the situation.

I then pointed her to a long sleeved shirt on Amazon that actually had some Polynesian patterns on it

MOM

Thank you for sharing with me. We love the movie and are going make a point of learning more about Polynesia and all of your wonderful culture and beautiful people. I will look at this shirt right away. Thank you ♡♡♡

And then she promised to send pictures afterwards….

In the meantime, I learned a little more about River.

River, her mom and her brother live in Colorado. Her daddy lives in California, but he flies out every month to be with the children. Life has been very difficult for River and her family. As mentioned earlier, River has epilepsy. She has been plagued with seizures for the past two years and only recently has been getting better. She had lost the ability to walk and was in a wheelchair. Luckily now she can walk and even run.

Childhood disabilities can be extremely difficult on a marriage. In fact the divorce rate of parents of disabled children more than double, which means at least 75%.

But this family is working hard to make sure that their children receive the attention and care they need. You can tell that they are really trying hard to be the best parents possible.

Mom moved the children to Denver so that River could receive treatment, and it literally saved her life.

Everyone is so happy and excited that River is getting better. They really wanted to make Halloween special – and to River, it’s all about Moana!

Today Mom wrote back and sent some pictures.

MOM
This was the happiest day she’s had in a long time. Her daddy made her dream come true, THANK YOU ♡♡♡

MOM

Her service dog was Pua and I was Hay Hay ♡

(Oh my gosh, I didn't even NOTICE! How cute is THAT? Also, special shout out to Ninja brother who is also portraying one of his favorite characters)

Polynesian Cultural Center

Stop! You're making me a blubbery mess here! Lol

MOM
Aw ....her dad and I cried too 

I then asked if I could share her story with our staff at PCC and beyond. She responded:

MOM

Share, share, share.....epilepsy desperately needs awareness and also (we all) need to understand a respectful way to dress up for Halloween when there are controversial issues. We have nothing but respect for Polynesia ♡ We are so thankful to you!

Our Mission statement says:

The Polynesian Cultural Center is a unique treasure created to share with the world the cultures, diversity, and spirit of the nations of Polynesia.

How blessed are we that in sharing and being open to the simplest of questions, we also get to be a part some amazing experiences by people we may never get to meet, but still look to us for help, information and a little bit of pixie dust!

President Thomas S. Monson has counseled:

“The needs of others are ever present, and each of us can do something to help someone.

“… Unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives”