Aloha and Wow! What a great weekend of carving and meeting wonderful people that are doing some remarkable work to help others. A group of students and staff from 'Converse College' in South Carolina visited my Tiki Carving Demonstration here on Maui. The Group is volunteering for 'Habitat for Humanity'. They are building much needed housing for our Island. Most People don't realize thet living and working on Maui can be anything but paradise. Our Prices are 25% higher than mainland U.S. and our wages are 30% lower. This means poorer living conditions for many local residents. So meeting these great kids and learning there knowledge of Maui and it's people was truly an uplifting experience. Mahalo Nui Loa! (Thank You Very Much) for your contribution of assistance to our less fortunate population.
What An amazing family visited my Tiki carving demo over the weekend. The two Children ages about 8 an 11 were vacationing here and searching for local artisans. They were determined to locate artisans and items locally made that are part of the Hawaiian culture. This is becoming harder to find as most of our cultural items are being copied and imported from other parts of the world. Their Mother had always instilled in them the importance of supporting local cultures and bringing home authentic items made in the places they visited. What an amazing Parent. Many visitors to the Islands do not understand the disappearance of artisans practicing our ancient arts. It isn't easy to compete with imported machine made products costing one quarter the price. However Tiki carving is my heritage and I will continue to practice the art my grandfather and father gave to me.
Mahalo for all the support and memories of the beautiful people I had the honor of meeting this weekend. There will be more stories of my experiences later in the week, there were so many I want to share.
Aloha Nui Loa,
Tau
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