A few comments on the videos, and then some final thoughts about this trip: In the video of the island dance practice, you see a dance class. Students of all ages learn traditional Maori dances. Most start as very young children, but there are certainly older students as well. Our group was invited to participate here, and one of the dancers is a member of our team. The man in the white shirt with his back to the camera is actually the Minister of Culture. He is a really good dancer. The little boy lying in the front is his son. Boys wear their hair long until the family has a hair-cutting ceremony.

The kids singing at the school: I had to film that secretly from the back, while hiding behind those two rather large ladies in front of me, because the teacher who was leading the song is quite fierce and I was scared to death of her! I was afraid that if she saw me filming or taking pictures, she would have me "stripped off and flayed".  (I heard her make that threat to the kids for some infraction, so I was trying not to call attention to myself. I'm sure she meant it in jest...)

The video of the opening of the Pacific Leader's Forum was about 4 hours of what you see in the short clip. Singing, dancing, drumming, all sorts of celebration. Each leader was carried in on a pa'ata, which is a sort of platform, carried by very strong island men. The leader of Samoa was a bit more challenging than New Zealand Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is a rather small woman. Henry Puna is the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands and quite handsome. He sings, and the ladies at the library referred to him as "Elvis" Puna.

All in all, it was the most amazing trip. Am I glad to be home? Absolutely. Would I go back again? Absolutely. In fact, the ladies at the library already have a project lined up for me, on my next visit! I appreciated how quickly we were welcomed into the community. Tourism is their number one industry, so they know how to do it right, but I felt that our volunteering really helped us to get to know people, too. The people of the Cook Islands were warm and hospitable and it was a bit sad to leave them. A few of our volunteer team are still there working, as they opted for the three-week program, and it was a bit hard to leave them behind as well. It's wonderful that you can start out as complete strangers and end up as friends in such a short time.