Theresa Gouveia Cabral (1908-2011) was 91 years old and a resident of Kaimuki, O‘ahu in 1999, when she wrote her reminiscences of Kaua‘i.
She was born in Honolulu, the daughter of Anna and Francisco Gouveia, who’d immigrated to Hawai‘i from Madeira, Portugal in 1907 with their children Manuel, Mary and Caroline.
When she was still a little girl, the Gouveias moved to Kaua‘i, where her father found work at Lihu‘e Plantation as an ox-driver.
“One day, Dad almost got crushed with the oxen. He was in the middle and the oxen were tightening in a circle and there was no way out. So, he played dead. That was how he was saved.
“We had a few milking cows. Dad, Manuel, Mary and Caroline had to milk the cows at 3 a.m. and after school. Each one of us would fill our bags with milk bottles and deliver them to the plantation camps. I can still remember, as we came to the camps, the children would call to their mothers, ‘Here comes the milk maidens,’ in their own language, ‘Aqui via a mussa do late.’
“After a hard day’s work, Dad would work in his large garden. We had all kinds of vegetables. The neighbors would come by to buy some for just a few pennies. A Chinese man would also come by to buy chickens, eggs and avocados.
“Ma used to make guava jam in a 5-gallon square can in the yard. Instead of coal, we used logs. She would dump guava, seeds and all, and a 10-pound bag of sugar — no measuring.
“Mom also helped bring in extra money by sewing and embroidering for the plantation managers and schoolteachers.
“And, she would bake bread in an outdoor oven, which everyone in the camp had to share.
“We used to follow the train tracks and pick up cane that fell off the cars and peel them with our teeth and chew on them. It’s a wonder we still had teeth.”
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To be continued in Part 2.
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Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com
Look forward to reading more of this!
Oi Theresa, eu sei que voce nao pode ler minhas palavras, mas muito obrigando pra falando da sua familia. Eu lembro Manuel, o seu irmão, eu penso que ele trabalhaou por Senhor Senator Billy Fernandes.
Manuel morou perto de mim em Kapa’a. A minha familia tudo gosta de ele, e ele falou das historias do lado oeste de Kauai.
Nos temos so’ amor pra ele, ele foi nossa vizinho, e nosso amigo.
Tambem, eu esperei que conheceria o seu pae.
Eu espero que poderia falar Portuguese melhor, mas agora nesta ilha, nao muitos gentes podem falar. Eu penso que muitos de eles ja’ esquecem a lingua. O livro de telefone tem muitos nomes Portuguesa.
Mas muitos surfistas do Brasil estam aqui, ambos homens e mulheres.
E porque tao muito de eles moram aqui agora, estaria uma boa ideia que alguns de eles encinaria português pra os meninos das famílias Portuguesa nos tudo lados da ilha
A lingua portuguesa do Portugal e Brasil, e muitos paises em ambos lados de Africa, e nas costas dos Mares de Atlantica e Indio, e algumas das ilhas de Indonesia, Portuguese e’ a lingua sempre desde os Marinheiros de Portugal foram navegando aquele, encinando um das línguas grandes do mundo.
Sim, estaria muito boa que os jovens dos portuguesa estudaria e compreendaria esta lingua bonita.
E quando falado como as mulheres falando Havaiana, a lingua Portuguesa e’ muita linda, e e’ como musica pra suas orelhas.
Muito obrigado pra os Goveias.
E pra saber, foi Capitan Cabral que descobrido Brasil, (America do Sul) ante sempre Columbus descobrido America Norte.