KAILUA-KONA — The theft of award-winning musician Diana Aki’s beloved ukulele was devastating and sickening. But with the community’s help, its recovery undamaged brought her tears of joy.
“I’m so grateful,” Aki said. “People in Hawaii are beautiful.”
On Wednesday, Ola Jenkins posted about the theft in the Facebook group Big Island Thieves. The next day, she posted an update about the ukulele’s safe return to Aki after the owner of Rogers Guitars in Keaau learned he bought the stolen instrument from two men last week.
“It definitely made me happy to get it back into her hands,” said Devon Rogers, the guitar shop’s owner. “I’d do it over and over again to restore it to the rightful owner.”
Aki said the ordeal started when a family member came to stay with her at her Hilo home last week. He was with her about four days until he was set to leave to catch a bus to Kona.
She later learned he took money from her purse, an iPad and other items.
“I got so sick and so heartbroken,” Aki said. “My blood pressure went up and I went into the hospital.”
Aki said she was hospitalized for seven days. During that time, the same family member returned to her home on different days, taking things such as a pot of rice and poke or uncooked rice. It was on one of those nights, Aki said, he returned and stole her beloved ukulele.
After the loss of her ukulele, the other items no longer mattered. All she wanted was the instrument back.
“My ukulele is old — nothing special. But we’ve been through a lot together,” Aki said.
Aki, a Na Hoku Hanohano award winner, has been singing and playing music for more than 40 years. That ukulele has been with her the entire time.
It was her first real ukulele. For Aki, it represents not just her love of music but her livelihood.
“I had the opportunity to be part of everyone’s life through music,” Aki said.
It was the community that helped reunite Aki with her instrument.
On July 28, the stolen ukulele fell into the hands of Rogers. He said he bought it from two men for $160.
Rogers said he recognized the builder of the instrument as David Gomes, “a top-notch builder.”
While the men’s story was fishy, Rogers figured it was legitimately passing hands.
“Either way, I figured it was a good idea to acquire it,” he said.
Rogers said he showed the ukulele to a couple of customers. After speaking with them, one suggested he go to the Big Island Thieves Facebook page.
“I did a search for the word ‘ukulele’ on Facebook and the post on Big Island Thieves came up,” Rogers said.
When he saw the post, he immediately requested to be a part of the group and sent a message to the original poster.
Aki came to the shop to check and see if the ukulele was hers.
“I was more than happy to give it back to her and not accept payment,” Rogers said. “To see Aunty Di cry tears of joy was a pretty intense moment.”
Rogers said there has been a massive social media response about what he did for Aki.
“It’s just what any decent business owner should do in the first place,” he said.
Rogers added if “you treat people with respect and aloha here it will come back to you.”
Hawaii police confirmed they took a report of a burglary at Aki’s home. No arrests have been made.
Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.
