A Slice of American Pie: Part 9
A Red, White and Blue Kiwi

“The American Consulate in Auckland asked each of us kids why we wanted to go to America and we all said: ‘To see Disney Land.’ We had no idea what it was about.”

Moana Burgess reflected on the move with her family from Hamilton, New Zealand to Los Angeles at the age of thirteen. This morning her own teen age daughters are wrapped in towels as they prepare for their summer job of life guarding and swim instructors. She is a Kiwi living at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Alpine, Utah, just outside of Salt Lake City.

Her father, Ra Puriri, appeared in her spacious home with her wee niece and together they traveled the years and distance through a story that spoke of family, commitment and love. Little Brytin’s blue eyes reflect the Swiss blood in her grandmother. One grandfather was half Samoan and half Chinese. “We were like chop suey” with so many nationalities. “The grandparents are always amazed at how the heritage comes out through the babies. The first question is always ‘what colour are they?’ I’ve got 2 chocolate and 3 vanilla kids.”

Moana describes her five children. Ra’s New Zealand accent was firmly in tact, where Moana’s had given way to an American one. “My own kids made fun of me until I had to change!” she laughed. But her deep love and devotion to New Zealand was vivid, kept alive by her parents and extended family.

Thirty-one years ago it was American students making fun of how she and her four siblings spoke. “It was a great culture shock to walk into the classroom in Los Angeles. Back home, we were wearing uniforms and teachers were still using the cane. I never knew who the rich kids were in New Zealand, but here you knew distinctly who was rich and poor. They thought we were Hispanic and then from Boston because of our accents.

Many of the teachers didn’t even know where New Zealand was. My brother got put in an ESOL (English as a Second Language) class because he didn’t say his “r’s”. They spoke Spanish to him because they couldn’t understand his accent.” Ra told of how he sent a son back to school with the message to the teacher: “We speak the Queen’s English. What do you speak?”

We jumped back farther in time to 1963 when Ra toured with the Maori Culture group in 1963 to the opening of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. The group of 147 men and women also toured parts of the mainland. Ra liked what he saw and never forgot America. Ten years later, with five children aged two to fourteen, Ra and his wife, Margie, made the decision to join other family members living in America. Three months later they were pledging allegiance to the flag at the American Consulate in Auckland. “My sister-in-law had filed all the papers from L.A. and sponsored us. My father-in-law had jobs lined up for me. I was a plumber. Margie carried a Samoan passport. We had sold our house and business and sent the money over. Dad put it down on a house in Los Angeles and we were there, having picked up our Green Cards in Hawaii.” The house was big enough for his in-laws to move in with them.

Back in 1973, this was a huge, bold move. The differences and distances were much greater 30 years ago. “We found the dishwasher after two years of living there,” Moana remembered. “Grandma would wash all the dishes, snatching them from us as we finished. She was from the old school. We’d never seen a dishwasher before. Finally my brother said one day, ‘Sit down. I’m starting the dish washer.’”

But the story line goes back even farther to when Ra himself was 17 and serving a building mission with the Church of Latter Day Saints. American contractors came over and taught 300 young men different trades and they then helped build the Temple in Hamilton. “We had a profession and experience at this point.” Ra helped install the central heating in the temple. Upon completion, the school kept him on for maintenance and plumbing. “No one else had this experience at that time, and I helped put air conditioning and heating into all the temples around New Zealand.” Brother Evans, the American contractor who taught Ra his trade, became like a father to him. The connections grew as American teachers came to the school for four to five year stints, teaching at the Church College of New Zealand in Hamilton. “We were friends with their kids,” added Moana “and grew up with them. They became our family. You should see my mother’s Christmas card list. Her walls are full at Christmas time.” And so, there was a huge extended family waiting to welcome them to America. “We go to their family reunions, we’re so close.”

They had found a new home, and yet New Zealand is still very much home as well and the affection for both appears to be equal. Now living in Utah, it was seven years before Ra and Margie first went back to New Zealand. “They asked us, ‘Are you ready to move back?’ but I said no.” He paused. “New Zealand will always be home. They treat me like a king when we go back and I leave 20 pounds heavier. I try to lose weight before I go. My sisters absolutely spoil me. We eat mussels, fish and chips, oysters, seafood galore. I had an uncle with a fish and chip shop. We would go for breakfast and he used to say, ‘Have anything you want.’ My wife visits her sister in Auckland these days because she can’t watch me eat so much. We get back every two to three years.”

Ra spoke of how he misses “the mountains here and my kids and grandchildren” when he returns to New Zealand. Moana chides “You have mountains there.” “But these are our mountains,” he counters. “We live in a very beautiful piece of America. But it’s all about family.”

Moana mirrors his devotion to family and New Zealand and yet she has only returned once for two weeks. “I was always too pregnant to travel. I didn’t want to have a baby over the Pacific.” She met her husband, James, at a youth activity. “I think God plunked me here in front of him, or we would never have met.” Her eyes sparkle as she describes this shy man, a native of Alpine, who had never dated anyone more than once. “He instigated this one”. They were married in 1983 and now have five children of the own. “I’m very happy.

He’s been a good husband, father and son-in-law.” A new middle school that one of her children attends is built on some of his family land. His roots go keep into these Rocky Mountains.

Her appreciation of New Zealand is evident and she has successfully passed this respect onto her children, even though none of them have seen her homeland. This illustrates the importance of family in her life. “My parents have made me proud of my heritage. They gave me a love for New Zealand and I want my children to have the same. Values are passed on by example. My children have heard enough stories and have had so many visitors that they have a good sense of the country. People are always coming over to stay. They feel they would be comfortable there.” One of her daughters wants to get a Masters Degree or PhD from the University of Auckland in Marine Biology, and marry a sheep farmer with a dog and cat and horses and swim with the dolphins. “When we watched Whale Rider Dad was crying.”

Ra spoke up in agreement. “Even though we live in America, there are enough Maori that we get together. There’s a Maori culture group here and we go around performing. I’m like the kaumatua (elder) of the group.” They are in the process of building a marae in nearby Lehi “on a river where there is more wilderness.” Again life moves in cycles as it is returned Mormon missionaries to New Zealand who have donated land, time and materials out of their love for the New Zealand people. There is a large Polynesian community in the area and Moana’s brothers and sisters are all close by. “You raised us to be good kids,” she offers Ra. “We get together as a family a lot. You find reasons to celebrate.”

She has no regrets for having raised her own family here and yet “I want them to know New Zealand. New Zealand people are so beautiful and genuine. You see people for their true colours. Here many people are ‘wannabes.’ We still do the hugging and kissing. Americans are more guarded. As a wife, I have had to teach my husband to be affectionate. There’s something missing in American culture that I hope I’ve taught my kids to pass onto their own children.” She wipes tears at this point, so deep is her conviction and hopes for her family.

Ra takes up the chorus. “It’s not unusual in my culture for men to embrace. Men hug men. They don’t know the true meaning of ‘gay’ here. My American friends can’t believe the affection. We were expected to greet our grandparents that way. Still America’s a great place.” The mood lightens.

Both Moana’s daughters are attending Brigham Young University on scholarship, which is a remarkable record. “I know the educational advantages for my kids because I’m involved.

I’m thrilled they have so much available here and anything is possible.” She teaches her own children by example, having been president of the Parent Teachers Association for 10 years and very active in the community and schools. “They know I value education. The principal gave me a job in the school office because I volunteered so much.”

“ A lot of the Polynesians get bad raps. I have tried to put myself out there to prove the image wrong. It’s nice to make a difference because I’m a wife and mother and citizen. I want my kids to get the message that they need to be, too. You try to make a difference for good. If I don’t, who will?” Ra again is in agreement. “Parents need to get involved.

Kids need somebody that they can to go and relate to. Parents need to have a sense of what’s going on.” Moana is grateful that they learned to speak English. Many of the Tongan and Polynesian parents in the area couldn’t speak English and didn’t finish school back home. They weren’t able to help their kids with homework and many of the kids got into trouble. “But I’d love to be bilingual. We’re taking Maori over the internet.”

And after all these years, where is home? “Home is wherever you are at the time,” says Ra thoughtfully. “But what really matters is how you’ve lived your life.” Through the interview, 4 year old Brytin hadn’t said a word and yet in her own language she was saying the same thing as she connected with her Grampa, never more than an arm’s length away. She rolled, cuddled, pulled his nose, hung upside down quietly and softly, secure in the arms of her family. She is living proof that Ra’s and Moana’s dreams of a strong family legacy are coming true in the Rocky Mountains of Utah.