LAIE, HAWAII
In the early 1960s, Kalo Mataele Soukop of Tonga traveled the Hawaiian island of Oahu with other dancers to promote a new project — the Polynesian Cultural Center.
The concept of the center was simple: Students from across the Pacific attending nearby Brigham Young University-Hawaii would work their way through college by sharing their island heritage with tourists.
But many were skeptical about the plan. "You people are crazy," she was told over and over again. "What makes you think the tourists will come to Laie?"
Sister Soukop's response was indicative of the faith and tenacity of early PCC founders. "We have leaders," she told the critics. "We know we will be successful one day. We won't give up."
Today as a member of the PCC board of directors, she has seen first hand the fruits of those early efforts.
To date, the center has attracted "not thousands or tens of thousands, but millions of people," said Von Orgill, Polynesian Cultural Center president, noting that the overall visitor count hit 35 million this year.
That, he added, was hardly conceivable when the center opened on Oct. 12, 1963 — a time when fewer than 1 million people visited all of Hawaii each year.
In addition to preserving the Pacific island cultures, the center has helped provide educational opportunities to student employees. More than 17,000 students have financed their studies at BYU-Hawaii by working at the PCC and the center has provided more than $175 million in financial support to BYU-Hawaii and its students, said Brother Orgill.
The cultural center "is a place of miracles," he said.
The PCC features pre-created villages that highlight customs of Samoa, Aotearoa (Maori New Zealand), Fiji, Hawaii, Marquesas, Tahiti, Tonga and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Visitors can also experience island food and participate in crafts and games.
The center "touches people with the spirit of aloha — which we know to be the spirit of the Lord," said Brother Orgill.
Many of the visitors also take advantage of the opportunity to visit the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors Center. In fact, about 80 percent of those who tour the temple grounds and visitors center come from the PCC, said Brother Orgill. It is one way the center helps the Church "build bridges of friendship," he added.
In addition, he said, many students who work at the center and attend BYU-Hawaii get an education and return to their home nations as leaders.
"It is a touching thing to witness and an amazing thing to see day in and day out," said Brother Orgill. "Laie is a small community, on a small island in the middle of a big ocean. Yet the influence of this place is truly profound."
Cultural center has rich history
Following is a brief history of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii
(Source: Polynesia Cultural Center, www.polynesia.com/early-history.html).
