‘Chegamos’: New play explores story of Portuguese immigrants in Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – In the late 1870s, the Portuguese arrived in the Kingdom of Hawaii after months at sea. For the next 30 or so years, it’s believed 24 ships brought nearly 16,000 immigrants from Portugal.

Read more Public school students return to class under new statewide cell phone policy

Now, a new play on Hawaii Island, titled “Chegamos: We Arrived,” takes a look at what these newcomers experienced as they began their lives in Hawaii.

“We’re thrilled to be able to bring the story of our ancestors, first of all,” said playwright Jackie Pualani Johnson. “But the most important thing is that the script was developed through the words of people who actually lived through this experience and their descendants.”

Like other living history pieces she has done in the past, Johnson says this performance captures the struggles and hardships of the Portuguese, and the triumphs they achieved at their new home in the islands.

“There were living history interviews. There were sources that come from those who sought a new life in Hawaii, who realized, like if we went to the moon now, they were leaving their homeland and searching for a new place to exist and thrive … never return to their homeland again,” Johnson said.

View more Stories of Hawaii

“Chegamos” primarily focuses on one ship that left Madeira with more than 1,400 immigrants. Johnson worked with Kāhealani Martins Curammeng of Portuguese Family History Collections of Hawaii to bring the play to life.

“I think what I learned in my research is that a lot of Portuguese really are not familiar with their heritage, because there was so much assimilation when the Portuguese came here,” said Curammeng.

Read more Demolition begins at former Dee Lite Bakery site for affordable housing project

Curammeng believes these productions are important because they open a path for those who may have lost that connection with the past.

“When I was in college, I had an assignment to do a family tree, and I was like, oh, my parents are like Adam and Eve, because I don’t know who their parents are,” she said. “So then I started doing the research, and that’s how I got interested in it, in the history, and also the immigration and the Portuguese that came here, and why they came here.”

“Chegamos: We Arrived” will be performed at Lyman Museum in Hilo on Monday, Aug. 10, at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m.

Additional performances will be held at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Kahuku Unit on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 11 a.m.

A final performance scheduled at the Ko Education Center in Honokaa on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 3 p.m.

Read more Manoa Stream cleanup begins months after severe flooding