Kemoeatu brothers

[U-Ute]

A story in the USA Today about Ma'ake donating a kidney to Chris.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/09/baltimore-ravens-maake-kemoeatu-gives-kidney-pittsburgh-steelers-chris-kemoeatu

[Dwight Schr-Ute]

A story in the USA Today about Ma'ake donating a kidney to Chris.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/09/baltimore-ravens-maake-kemoeatu-gives-kidney-pittsburgh-steelers-chris-kemoeatu

What a great story. I love going to the little restaurants in Laie, Hawaii and seeing all of the Memoeatu memorabilia on the walls. Great family.

[Ma'ake]

Not at all surprising, knowing the Kemoeatu family. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if he had done that for a complete stranger.

In the Tongan culture, your social status is often tied to how generous you are with others. My "cousins" in Rose Park still regularly take in homeless people and let them live in their basement. Of course, my cousin has nothing worth stealing, and nobody would mess with him, anyway, but that level of generosity is stunning to see.

I know of several young mixed couples where the husband is Tongan, the wife is Anglo, and they have relationship problems because the husband will take out loans so he can have a decent "showing" at some social event, by donating the loaned money to whomever in the gathering needed it most.

I know when Ma'ake Kemoeatu first got into the NFL, he got his first paycheck for something like $32,000, and called back to Gary Anderson (his position coach at the U) to ask what he should do with it. He just didn't know.

Polynesians are getting wise to how things work in the larger society, they're becoming most westernized, but when you see the core Poly generosity and love for other people in action, it really makes you think about things.