 be joining with you as we are taking your health back. Today we are coming to you live from the studios of Think Tech Hawaii which is located in downtown Honolulu and from my home office in Makiki Hawaii. I'd like to introduce to you Melushka Fraje from Paella Tahiti and come on my Melushka. Aloha Wendy and like we say in Tahiti yawarana to everybody else watching. All right so with that beautiful greeting so tell us you're coming to a slide from Paella Tahiti please share a little bit about your home country. Well Tahiti is part of the French Polynesia Island so we have like a hundred and eight islands forming French Polynesia and our first language is French so English is not my first language okay so bear with me today and I'm from the west coast of Tahiti so from the city of Paella. Wow so now in a day-to-day setting are you speaking French or what are you speaking every day? We mostly speak French yes but we do speak Tahitians too. So in school are you taught French as your dominant language or Tahitian? No we are we are speaking French mostly in school yeah everything is taught in French. And so how is the the language of Tahiti is it is it practiced a lot or like here in Hawaii the language was a dying language and then they revived it and more and more are speaking all of the Hawaiian so now it's come to life again how is it like in Tahiti with your language? Well in Tahiti we speak Tahitian at home like with with grandparents mostly and I would say it's it's kind of difficult today for Tahiti itself but when you go in the other island Tahitian is mostly used like first language. Yeah but in Tahiti itself it's it's more French that we're speaking. Do you feel that your language is going to be like a going less and less with the younger generation and kind of fading out as it was here in Hawaii? Kind of but then the government is doing things to like promote Tahitian language a little bit more so it's starting to be taught at school like for for the young ones yeah as well as English so you know like for the keiki yes they they starting Tahitian in the the little school the little ones for the yeah the great school the preschools preschool yeah so I think that's what was happening to us here in Hawaii is that the language was a dying language and so they recognize the problem as you guys are recognizing it as well and now you're trying to promote before it becomes a dying language you need to resurrect it and start getting it into the younger generation as a second language if anything but even up to the point where it's more used daily and yes beautiful language I'm sure oh yeah just like Hawaiian but then like I was telling you in the other island it's not a problem at all everybody speaks the language wow and then you know we have like Tahiti we speak Tahitian then we have several other islands that have different dialects yes so like in the Marquesas it's the different dialects yeah so we have different dialects and everybody speaks it in their island wow how exciting I mean and for you guys I mean like here in Hawaii we have English and then we have English and then we have English and then Hawaiian but for you all you have French and then you have English and then you have Tahitian at school you mean well yes every day yes yes yeah so you have three languages that you all have to master and that's that's incredible yeah well actually it's going to be a French Tahitian and then English oh okay wow very good so let's get started I know you have um like myself you have two lovely daughters so share with us a little bit about your ohana your pride and your joy yeah well um I was blessed with two beautiful and intelligent daughters yes and funny thing both of them have Hawaiian names I saw that so my eldest name is Kahia Lani yes and she's 26 and um my youngest one is Kavihi wow Kavihi Onalani actually and she's she's gonna turn 21 this year wow yeah how did you come by giving them Hawaiian names um I went to school in Hawaii oh you did it oh yes I did so I went where did you go to school actually I went to uh private school um at that time it was Canon's business college oh yes yes yes in um uh close to um downtown downtown yeah and my I had Hawaiian friends and they named my daughters yeah my two daughters beautiful beautiful wow and so where are your daughters now the youngest one uh my youngest one is studying in Seoul in Korea so that's what I wanted you to share with everyone does she speak Korean she speaks Korean a little bit yeah she's still learning but she's doing well so yeah she speaks the she speaks French a little bit of Tahitian she speaks good English and she speaks Korean I mean when you told me that I was like whoa and then I see her popping up all the time on TikTok and boy what a beautiful young woman she is and you know um she actually could pass for a Korean she does yeah she's good because she's so fair and she has a little bit of a slant on her eye a little bit but the fair the skin is fair and her just her mannerisms I guess because she's living there but wow how exciting for you to be able to go up and visit Martha in Korea yeah you must love it I love it and then we come through Hawaii to go to Korea so yeah so you got to go more often so we can see you back in Hawaii so I know that you have a soulmate that inspires you daily please share with us a little bit about him well um his name is Jean Paul and we've been together for 28 years so we're not married but I guess I guess we can say he's my soulmate because 28 years together yes Jean Paul is an entrepreneur yeah a real self-main man but then well I think I helped keep the man you know what I mean I'm sure you both play and work off of each other because you guys um I mean you've been together 28 years and you have a great relationship and I know you guys communicate well you laugh at each other's jokes and I can just see the spark in your eyes when I first met you both so wow congratulations to JP and to yourself for having so many um acquaintance and and forever so and because he's an entrepreneur he kind of pushes me you know doing business and uh yeah but he started as a firefighter oh yeah so he was yeah he he he was a firefighter to start with and then um I think it's mostly my dad's influence uh kind of pushing him to to have his own business so at that time he was like 24 hours at the firefighter department yes and 48 hours off so for for those 48 hours he was like starting doing business with uh my dad behind him pushing him oh wow yeah so yeah so he started with constructions and um and then he went into food industry owning a restaurant yeah and uh yeah he did a lot of things good and you know he does look like a fireman in fact maybe I saw him on one of those calendars for firemen I'm not sure but don't tell him that don't tell him that he'll go straight to his head but so I I know and I also see him on Facebook a lot I see on Facebook that JP is always promoting some delicious looking pastries when did he start this bakery this company oh his um bakery company is over 10 years now wow what's it over 10 years JP's bakery he started yeah he started his bakery uh the name was JP Donets and then he just changed his name this year just after yeah just after COVID so he decided to change the name to JP's bakery because he's more more thing than just donuts so he was like making donuts um cookies um muffin you know well mostly American bakery style oh I was gonna ask you I was gonna ask you if if you took after the french patisserie's or is it more western style no it's more American style you know like Polynesian especially Tahitian they love everything that comes from the U.S. oh wow so at the time we saw people coming back from a vacation in the U.S. they were bringing donuts for their whole family that's not his business so he was like okay there's something to do there because everybody's was just bringing back donuts brilliant and you know I I I do remember because when I first started seeing it I thought it was JP Donets and then it's now JP Bakery and you know it's amazing that the name JP Bakery would be still available to to use and to register because I would think John Paul or JP would be a a common acronym for a business but it was available after all these years yes it was wow so can you just share with us how was it in how did he survive in the last two years was it tough was it easy how was it for you I think I think it was tough for most businesses you know in Tahiti we had a lockdown and like for one month nobody could go out of their house except for some shopping and then they just have to come home so he his his bakery is delivering about 41 grocery stores around the islands wow but then yeah but then during COVID they changed the rules everything had to be packed differently and because people couldn't go out that much to buy food like it's not every day that they were authorized to go out right so he had to be creative you know so he he started delivering from door to door so brilliant yeah he was delivering to to their their own house so he was allowed he was considered essential that he could be on the road to deliver yes yes well he had to to register and have like paperwork done so for him to be able to deliver but yeah that's how that's how we we survived the crisis wow so you still have people coming to the shop to bake and pack and then you had delivered people to go out yes and so these orders were taken by text by website or how did you get the orders mostly by social media yeah and some by phone so the whole family was helping out with all the orders coming in because we had to you know answer okay we well noted and okay it's gonna be delivered between these hours and these hours you know right yeah well how exciting that you guys were being creative enough to survive the last two years and was business even better or did it get less for you do you think uh during COVID it was um not better but we managed to you know stay to survive yeah to survive but then afterwards uh like right now uh it's it's coming back so yeah well and it's I think it's even getting better nowadays because he had to hire two more people wow congratulations to you and so um that whoever could make it to the last through the last two years I just want to commend them for their creativity their perseverance and not giving up and so thank you thank you when I come to Tahiti I want to eat those donuts and those pastries okay oh yeah oh yeah and so Militia when I met you a few years ago I know that you were really concerned about health so please share a little about what brought you into this path uh well actually you know um Jean Paul is is a real um I would say he he's not only inspiring he also a real leader so he took me to a Tony Robbins seminar yes yeah and and there I learned a lot about health because they talk a lot about health and he thought that after that I would come out and go okay I'm gonna do my own business and quit my job and just do my own business but no I came out of that seminar I was like uh oh you know what I'm gonna be a vegetarian so um I I just registered for another seminar and I met uh another inspiring woman her name is Lauren Lauren Lajal and uh yeah she was in charge of the seminar and I've learned so much about you know health and and how um everything that we put into our mouth is so important um things that we're supposed to know it's it's common sense but we kind of forget yeah so it had a real impact on me and and I was like okay I'm gonna go back home and just change the word you know you know just talk to people about what we are doing wrong because everything it's our choice what we put into our mouth and and so health depends on what we put in our mouth so we need to I I I came out to that conclusion that we needed to eat more fruits and vegetables but you know um at that time I didn't know that um you cannot change the word if the word doesn't want to change for sure yeah I had to start by myself yes and try to be an example yeah you know the saying your mama is right you know so your mama always told you to eat your vegetables and your fruits we just didn't listen because it was mommy telling us right and she told us all these things but we just go in one year go out the other year yeah and then we live our lives on fast food convenience food and um who knows what happened to our bodies and so it was good that Jean-Paul took you to this Tony Robbins event and they spoke on health and good you came out a successful winner because um I'm sure that's it led you to this path that you're on now and um that you're eating healthy and yes you became more vegetarian like eating plant strong so what what else did you do to try to inspire people to take their health back um well after that seminar finally I had in mind that maybe I should open a business so I opened a health center a wealth center and um I was doing colon hydrotherapy you know to clean the calling yes so yeah and I guess it was too early and people were not ready for it at that time then in 2020 I had to to close the center but then um my my dad got sick in um 2016 he passed away from cancer and at that time I realized that if I knew before how important it was to eat more fruits and vegetables maybe I could have helped him more you know but it was too late for him yeah but then um I went to a boot camp in 2018 with uh Lauren again and um and I find out tower gardens over there you know it was uh exposed in the hall and they had a lottery to win that tower garden and I was so impressed about that that I was like okay I want that thing so I bought one ticket and I won the ticket I won the tower garden but then it was kind of too um complicated to bring it back to Tahiti at that time yes and um and uh so I gave it away for charity but it was always in my mind I went back to Tahiti and I was like I want that thing I I need to take that thing back to Tahiti why yes why why did you give it away because it's so easy to grow vegetables on it and I wanted for myself you know for for I was me first so uh I wanted to to have tower gardens for myself to grow more vegetables for us to eat in Tahiti and um me I was thinking that it would be another way to impact on people right right right and so what now that you know you got tower gardens to uh to Tahiti so what was the impact of your tower gardens in Tahiti so I started with three tower gardens like I said for myself so I had a lot of kale on one of my tower and um tomato was on another one and other vegetables on another tower and I was so proud of what I was harvesting that I was posting picture on uh social media so I had a lot of people commenting back being really interested and that's how I I found out that finally people were ready you know they they they start thinking about health first because a lot of people were like asking how they could get towers how interested they were to to harvest their own food you know uh as in Tahiti we depend a lot of import yes yes it's like mostly 80 person of food is imported and you know with COVID it has an impact too so everybody was like going back to doing their own garden yes and we had a solution for something uh easier uh yeah less work you know and can grow on your on your um lanai or you know so wow so I need to ask you what is the basic vegetable diet of the Tahitians um basic vegetable diet um um like for local food we will go with like taro stuff like that but then uh it's mostly gonna be lettuce you know lettuce and everything that is like um um cabbage cabbages Chinese cabbage yeah I see and so like you were saying they the people of Tahiti lean towards the western diet so if you bring in some great salads and salad greens that's what we eat in America so that's where they probably want to lean towards that correct um I think it's mostly because they starting um understanding that they need to eat more vegetables you know and and the easiest thing to grow is lettuce and and Chinese cabbage um but um even you know even lettuce not too long ago uh it was out of stock in stores in Tahiti and I had mine on my tower so I was so proud of course and you know you were saying that you did a high hydro what um hydro colon well colonics they call that yeah colonics you know that was the business you started and then you closed it but when you think of it the tower garden business is the same business between more vegetables you flush out you clean up so you're in the right direction you just change the vehicle to get the people healthier yeah it's a cleansing it's a process of cleansing and flushing with all the greens that you're going to grow plus there I'm sure you're growing growing non-gmo seeds you're using no pesticides they're consuming more it's fresh like minutes old and then they eat it so then when they consume more of this their bodies are healthier and flushing and just continuing to do exactly what you intended to do with that other business yes exactly yes so you're on track girl you're on track thank you yeah and so you're going to continue to grow more lettuces and Chinese cabbage and what do you guys do with the Chinese cabbage there uh well we saute them with garlic again yeah but um the vegetable I'm I'm more interested in is kale yes yes because I juice a lot so uh and kale is not really available in Tahiti it's imported for most of most of the time and it's really expensive so we were growing a lot of kale um and but it's not well known yet in Tahiti yep it's yeah so so we started like juicing and showing people on on social media our green juices yes so they were they will ask you ask us what's inside so we say kale yep and we show them yeah we show them that we have a kale presentation right and you know um here in Hawaii we do a lot of kalua pig or kalua pig cabbage yeah so we saute the cabbage I mean the kalua pig and then we add in the the head cabbage yeah that so what we've done now is we use kalua pink and we use kale oh right so it's a little bit better than just cabbages there's nothing not a whole lot of nutrients in the cabbage but when you're going to use kalua pig which is the naughty part but you know they need flavor so you use a little bit of kalua pig and a lot of kale and you stir fry delicious yeah and we just add kale to all our soups and it doesn't melt as fast as as fast as spinach does but kale is then the number one yeah the number one superfood and also you know your chinese cabbage if you can grow a lot of bok choy or chinese cabbage um you can make kimchi ooh right you use that for kimchi and then you're getting them to you you grow the cabbage so now it's organic or chemical free um bok choy one one buck one buck and you make kimchi so now it's a probiotic yeah right so that's exactly what we need in our everyday diet is more probiotics and a healthier version of it as well so you're good girl yeah it's another another reason to go to korea then and learn how to make that's right your daughter should really get hot on that because that is life-saving food is the bok the wong bok for kimchi probiotic yeah so tell me now how are you trying to promote vegetable growing with the tower gardens in tahiti what is your ultimate goal for growing um well actually we are we are trying to um have the the authority the government the mayor of each city to come and visit our farm and you know explaining the the how how it works and how easier it is and how simple it is and how we can save energy and and time and water with this system yes and have you know food that that it's ready to be eaten because chemicals right so even better for the health and uh yeah and then um we try to promote that for schools as well exactly so we're just going a little at a time one step at a time one step you're doing it without sometimes knowing what you're doing you're doing what you're supposed to be doing so blessings on you um melushka melushka we are running out of time for today but i would like to say mahalo to you and towards your heart that's taking tahiti's health back as you grow tahiti towards sustainability i'm wendy low we'll be back in two weeks and we'll see you all there mahalo melushka mahalo wendy aloha aloha thank you so much for watching think tech hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on youtube and the follow button on vimeo you can also follow us on facebook instagram twitter and linked in and donate to us at thinktec hawaii dot com mahalo