Of all the things we saw and did in Hawaii, the most memorable was probably the Polynesian Cultural Center. It is a large area organized such that each nation of the Polynesian Islands is represented. We learned how to dance and watched many natives do a much better job!

We learned how to swing poi (not the food made from taro but the little balls on strings, kind of like the clacking balls that were popular with kids in the 80's) and play a game with sticks where you pound them and throw them back and forth. We paddled and outrigger canoe and we stuffed ourselves at a luau. We learned how to greet in Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, Fiji, and New Zealand. But don't ask me because I have already forgotten most of them. I remember Malo e lele because I visited my parents in Tonga when they served their mission there. I also remember Mahalo (thank you) because it was on every trash can. I remember Aloha because doesn't everybody know that?
The bottom picture in this post is our tour guide who is from Thailand and his name is Stop. The guides call everyone cousins or brother or sister and since we were in Stop's group, we were Stop's "family". It's all very warm and friendly. Stop, like 75% of the employees here, is a student at BYU Hawaii. He works at the center 19 hours a week when school is in session and during the brief break between semesters he can work up to 40 hours a week.

What's really neat about this whole place? There are at least 4 reasons I am impressed with it.
1-It was founded about 50 years ago- longer than you might think. A prophet (David O. McKay) visited the islands and loved the collection of different cultures and people and recognized a need for availability of higher education and employment. BYU Hawaii was begun as a place to receive a college degree. A temple was built for Latter Day Saints to attend. And the Polynesian Cultural Center was built. Whether, as a prophet, he knew how hugely successful it would be, I don't know.
2-The Cultural Center not only teaches visitors about the island cultures, it also maintains and promotes the history and culture of all of the various Polynesian groups for the natives growing up in an ever-widening world. As for all kids, the pull of the western culture is strong but not always beneficial.
3- The Cultural Center provides an opportunity for island youth to pay for an advanced education they would not normally be able to afford. BYU Hawaii condenses a 4-year program into 3 years with the opportunity to show skills many of these kids have learned at home to visitors, provide them with experience that teaches confidence, and minimizes their time away from their native home and family. Travel among the islands is pretty expensive so most of them cannot afford to go home to visit. However....
4-The scholarship students are expected to return home after they complete their degree work. For each year they return to live at home, they "pay off" a quarter of their education expenses. Otherwise, if they choose to leave the islands, they must pay back their expenses. When they return home, they can use any and all of what they learned to help build their native island economy.
Stop was from Thailand, obviously not a Polynesian island. However, he gets the same deal. His education, something a poor young man from Thailand could not have afforded, is paid for as long as he returns home for a time. If not, the education is probably the best quality for the best price he could get anywhere in the world. It's a really good thing!