By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007

This e-mail was sent to me in response to a story about Saint Louis senior scholar-athlete Solomona Aigamaua. The story ran in Sunday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and this e-mail, sent by 'Sina Solomona, his aunt, arrived on Monday.

This e-mail message is published with 'Sina's permission.

Your story on my nephew Solomona Andrew Aigamaua truly touched my heart and makes me appreciative of people like yourself who recognizes the natural talents and raw stamina of our Pacific island children. I live and work in Washington, DC and have followed everything about "my kids" praying that their lives will be blessed and be a testimony to other Samoans and Pacific island youth, that despite all the hardships they face, the sky's the limit.

I am even more grateful for the mention of my late sister's name, 'Mona's mom, Elisapeta Kunimaipa Solomona-Aigamaua. She died of breast cancer at age 38, in the Tripler Army Medical Center, August 10, 1996. 'Mona was only 7. Her children were very special to her, when required to spend a lengthy period of treatment and recovery in Honolulu, she had the choice of bringing her elder son Benny (a.k.a. "Kiko") with her as he was a disciplined kid who would readily help her with chores and the usual things children do for their parents especially in Samoan circles, fetch this, fetch that.

Yet, Peta knowing what it was to be a middle child opted to bring Solomona with her instead. He attended Kalihi Intermediate School with many of his cousins living in Kam IV with their patriarch grandparents, the Rev. Toiloto and his wife Lula Tuisamatatele. Peta didn't want Solomona to feel like she couldn't count on him or that he was unreliable. His Auntie Iva Tiave (one of Peta's bestfriends from their years at UH), assistant coach/counselor at Farrington High, knows all about it --- she's seen this kid grow into the individual he is today, 11-years after his Mom's passing. Reliable, responsible and full of promise just as his Mom would've wanted.

Thank you also for mentioning Mona's Dad. Benjamin Andrew Aigamaua has done a great job raising these children on his own with the help of his parents and family, and his late wife's family as well. He has single-handedly kept a grip on their lives, sometimes difficult and with questionable consequences, but with all the love of only a father would know in his still-longing affection for his wife's memory. They are all he has and what he lives for! Only daughter Fuarosa Wilhelmina is 14 and lives with her Dad in American Samoa. They adopted a little boy, Pesamino Christian, shortly before my sister's death and was returned to be raised by his natural mother and whom Ben and the children still keep in touch.

My fervent hope is for Solomona to attend school and play for University of Southern Cal (USC). Scholastically it would give him the best opportunity in all the schools in the West closer to home and one his Mom would've definitely went after. She had applied to USC after graduating from Samoana High School in 1976 but was accepted at UH instead, she graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor's in Biology and Masters in Education, 1982. She was a die-hard Rainbow football fan with season tickets always through Iva, the gridiron standouts then were Semeri Ulufale, Itai Sataua and a young Freshmen whose parents served with our parents in Papua, New Guinea in the '50s as LMS church missionaries, Anesi "Jesse" Sapolu. Solomona's academic prowess according to my sister was instilled from the time he started school in Kalihi and they really should be credited for that incredible start of a young Samoan boy's intellectual success. It's indicative of our local public education and the results of dedicated teachers and administration.

I'd love for him to come out to the East coast, his elder brother "Kiko" is at Lambuth University in TN. Whether it's football or basketaball, playing for schools like Penn State, Nebraska, even Florida would be wonderful too. In any event, I wanted to share all this with you as it makes me very proud to know that our Hawaiian counterparts are just as supportive and encouraging of our Samoan children as their very own locally.

Mahalo & aloha pumehana.

'sina solomona
former Samoan intern in the Office of Senator Daniel K. Inouye, 1997
and the rest as they say, is history

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