Throughout this project, I’ve often times found myself in situations, thinking, “How did I get here??” The following story is one of those times. But first, let me explain how it came to be.

Back on May 2, 2019, I met Matt Oliveira, a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines. As we wrapped up our meeting, he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey man, wherever Southwest flies, you have my buddy pass. Just let me know where you want to go and I’ll make it happen.”

Knowing immediately that I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, I asked Matt a few weeks later if he could help me fly to Hawaii, a state I wanted to visit while I was living on the west coast. He guided me through the standby process and, despite my anxiety that the flights would be full, I made it to Maui for free!

When I decided to travel to that specific island, I searched “Maui” on Instagram and DM’ed a bunch of Maui-based accounts to see if they would meet with me during my time there. One of the accounts I messaged, @mauivacationadventures (Candice), got back to me because she’s originally from Philly and recommended some friends of hers to meet.

She recommended I message her friend George Kahumoku, a local 5-time Grammy award winning musician whose lineage goes back several generations on the island, so I DM’ed him the day I arrived. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the message, but Candice checked in on me during my trip and gave me his cell # so I shot him a text explaining my project and asking him to meet.

George, having never known I existed before, responded, “Yes, working in my garden til 2 pm. Then I got a gig in Pukalani from 3-5 pm. Birthday for an Elder Portuguese couple, wanna come?” So of course I said I’d be there!

He texted me again – “Here’s party from 3-5pm in Pukalani. Bring your shorts, change of clothes & towel. Got swimming pool.” So I Uber’ed back to my hostel, put on a nice Hawaiian shirt, kept my swimsuit on and made my way to the party.

I arrived at 3:20pm, expecting it to be a big celebration, walked into a small family gathering of about 25 locals (I was the only one in a swimsuit), and quickly found out that I had beat George to the party.

I told the first person whom I interacted with that George invited me, only to learn that George’s performing at the party was a surprise for the birthday girl, Aunty Faith. They welcomed me with open arms, though, introduced me to the family, gave me a beer and set me up with a plate of homemade Ahi Poke (my favorite meal of the trip).

As the news spread of my being at the party, everyone thought that I was there to perform with George, a local music legend!

I explained that I was just invited by him and had never actually met him, but they treated me with hospitality all the same. Before dinner, we all gathered in a circle and held hands to bless the food, and then after 1.5 hours of being there on my own, George arrived.

The family made sure I got to meet him and he then sat down next to me at the table where we all ate together. After dinner, George then put on a concert for the entire family, singing and playing his 12 string guitar on the patio as the sun set into the mountains in the distance.

We all sang along to the songs that we knew, some of the grandchildren hopped up to show off their hula dancing skills, we held hands in a circle again as everyone sang a song I didn’t know and everyone just had a genuinely great time!

As George closed out his set, some of the family brought out birthday cakes and we all sang happy birthday to Aunty Faith, who was celebrating her 78th birthday.

Afterwards, George left to head back to his farm on the other side of the mountain and I stayed for another hour or so until 8:30pm, chatting with the family that welcomed me in as one of their own. We all laughed about the fact that I had never even met George before, I told everyone about my project, & at the close of the night, three of the guests drove me 30 mins back to my hostel!

The experience was one that I’ll not soon forget and reminded me of how welcoming people can be when you treat them with respect. A big big thank you to Candice for introducing me to George, George for inviting me to the party, and all of the family of Aunty Faith & Uncle Jim for treating me so well during my time with them! Hope you had an amazing birthday, Aunty Faith, and hope to see you all again in the future!