Week 13th in Tonga: 1.12.-7.12.2014

Week 13 in Tonga; 1.12.-7.12.2014

Monday 1^st of December

I woke up knowing that my children would arrive to Auckland this morning. I did some work waiting for the time to move. They arrived at 9:50 and I could see after that the phones were switched on. I exchange few message with my niece, Nia who was waiting for them at the airport. She informed me when they came out and I called Nia’s phone and talked to all of them.

I stopped by at the office and got the songs from Mona and Leni, was very happy about it. I went to the bank to get a new account in case I still went through that madness and fix my parents’ house in Eua. After that I went to Tau’olunga Komipiuta to get the Tongan notation software from the owner. He was a very nice Dutch man. He gave me the programme for free and I appreciated it very much. I asked when he shall visit home? “I am home”, he said.  

I called NZ and talked to Ipu and Mafua. Mafua was sleeping and Fifi and Tahine were out with Silia and the girls. Mafu said that they went for ice cream. He sounded tired and Ipu thought that he could be home sick…

Tuesday 2^nd of December

I woke up early and went to town. I had few things to be done before the kids arrived. I went to the bank to open an account. I had to go home and get my Tongan driving license. I needed 2 Tongan identity cards in order to open an account at WesPec bank. I had my Finnish passport and driving license with me but they were not qualified. From the market, I went to the market to get some leis for the kids tomorrow. I stopped by at QSC office to get my magazines. Toni and I left home at 12:30, the flight from Auckland arrived after 1:00 pm.

I got in to a closer space in which I could see them coming out of the plane. I had my camera hanging on my neck and the guy with security vest just waved me in. I am not sure whether he did it because I looked harmless or he mistook me for an official photographer… I saw Mafu, Fifi and Tahine came out off the plane. I took some pictures and they saw me straight away and I was so happy to see them.

We waited for a while before they came out. We went straight for sightseeing. We stopped at one of the food sellers and got some fresh coconuts. We went to the Ha’amonga and from there we drove through villages around the sea front. One of the beaches we stopped and the kids went for a swim. They were very surprised to find out how salty the sea water in Tonga. It was sad to see the amount to rubbish dumbed on the beaches. There were plastics, bottles, irons and so on. We used to through rubbish

We got to QSC and soon after Vika and the rest of the gang showed up to welcome Mafua, Fiona and Tahine to Tonga. As in any function in Tonga, food is always part of it. We had another feast. The kids seemed to enjoy the evening. The children often called out “palangi, palangi”… I was so happy to have them after 3 months.

Wednesday 3^rd of December

We woke up, had breakfast and got ready to our trip to Eua. Toni came to take us to the habour. We stopped by at the market and the shops to buy few things for the trip. At the habour, we bought our tickets and waited for the departure at 11:00. It was a bit overcast and it was windy a bit but still not bed. The kids seemed not to worry about the weather. There was a women basketball team from Ma’ufanga going to Eua also and there were laughing, children crying and noises all over the place. At Eua, Neta came to pick us up from the habour. Neta introduced me to some of the travelers who came at the same boat, were relatives.

We drove to Petani and took a short rest and waited to Saia to come with the van. We headed to ‘Ohonua for a swim. Saia drove past the habour then to Ufilei, a lovely dandy beach just past the Faua habour. Mafu, Fiona and Tahine were surprised that the sea water was so salty. In Finland the sea water is so sweet compared to water from some of the wells in Tonga. I also went in for a swim and it felt so good. The water was so warm and you can swim for hours without a touch of the cold. We decided to go to “Hafu” for a swim. Eua has the only surface running water in Tonga and perhaps the best water resource in the whole of Tonga. Hafu is part of the stream and it has a small pool of water with few meters deep. It is in the forest and it is quite cool and refreshing.   

In the evening, Ti Lavemaau and his wife, Anna came to visit and to meet Mafu, Fifi and Tahine. It was really nice to see Ti after he won the parliament election. We talked for a while then they left. He invited Mafua for a kava party, but Mafua was tired and decided to stay put.

We prepared to cerebrate Whitney’s 12^th birthday with a cake her sister, Melekoula sent from Tongatapu. A pastor and two of his sheeps showed up for a chat and Manase asked them to give Whitney a blessing. It was supposed to be non-formal occasion just us sharing the cake but it turned out a semi-formal event with Whitney dressed up. She looked very beautiful. The pastor delivered a sermon and the blessing was a bit long but the cake was good. We sang the Happy Birthday both in English and in Finnish. The evening was great.

Thursday 4^th of December

Today was a sightseeing day. After breakfast, we drove to Houma to see one of the lookout places in Eua. In ‘Ohonua, Manase drove through Eua High School. Eua High had the graduation ceremony in the school hall. It was full and there were people outside also. We beeped in from the back door and Ti was the guest of honour with all the leis and flowers on him. I told Fiona, look at Ti sitting at the front. “Who is Ti”? The parliamentarian who came last night to see you guys…, wave to him”. I said. “Of course not”, she answered. We laughed and I took few pictures then we left.

Through the village of Houma, Manase explained that the church was built when my parents were working there. We drove to end of Eua. The lookout was a small platform in which you could stand and watch the see from a cliff of few hundred meters height. The note on the board said that you could watch the sun rise and moon rise from here. It is 40 km away from the Tongan trench which is the second deepest part of the ocean in the world, second only to the Marian Deep. It is very beautiful to look out from that height into the see but at the same quite scary…

On our way back, I saw a papaya with a ripe papaya. We stopped and I called Tahine to go and fetch the pawpaw while I took pictures. Tahine walked up to the tree then she suddenly stopped, screamed, turned and ran back to the van. The others were laughing… One of the pawpaw was on the ground partly opened, you could see the black seeds and few fruit flies on it… She did not want to go back even after I tried to convince her it was nothing…J.         

Manase droved back in another road. We went through XXX. We got to Petani around noon and the sun was hot. We stopped for lunch and for a short break then we continued in the afternoon. We went to the other end of Eua, to Lakufa’anga which was at the Southern end of Eua. It was the similar lookout as in Houma. There was the "Rock Garden" and Manase has wild horses there on the ground running free. We visited the “Huolanga ‘o Maui” also before we headed to Ha’aluma beach for the kids to swim.  

Friday 5^th of December

Moala

-          Flight to Tonga

-          Oholei

-           

Saturday 6^th of December

-         

      We went to the market, tshirts

-          We went to the fair

-          Vika, Ahi and family came around

-          Flight to NZ

Sunday 7^th of December

-          Lotu kids vala fk tonga

-          Eva

-           

Week 12 in Tonga: 24.11.-30.11.2014

Week 12 in Tonga; 24.11.-30.11.2014

Sandalwood plant!

Monday 24^th of November

y  Today was the Malanga taha, the last church service for the whole of QSC. The Rev. Dr. Tevita Havea delivered the sermon. He emphasized the important of an individual person/child and the need for teachers and parents to make an effort to support and help every child on the way. We often concentrate on the group and forgot to give support to the needs of the individuals.... 

    

  

     Last week we supposed to have the social event for the staff and their families. The event was planned to be held in one of the beach resorts. It cost $30.00 pa'anga to participate and it was cancelled due to lack of eager participants. I wondered why we did not collect fewer pa'anga and have it at school... For a discount price, we had it this evening at the school. We supposed to start at 7:00 pm but we only started around 9:00 pm. Twenty-one years pasted and the Tongan time is very much alive... “Time is MONEY”. The Tongans often bragged about their Tongan time, if only they knew how much they missed and lost due to “slow moving”.

     

    We were invited to a kava party at Toloa ex-student’s office at "Maamaloa" as fund raising to give as a prize for QSC band during the graduation ceremony on Wednesday. Few of our teachers went after the dinner and I tagged along. It was the first time for me to be at the place. It was in a balcony with opened wall but somehow warm and had better lighting than in Kai’angakai… J

 Tuesday 25^th of November

This morning, we had the final assembly of the 2014. The principal, Asinate Samate and the Form 7 led the devotion; there was a drama, music and speeches. After the devotion there was a preparation for the price giving ceremony for tomorrow. The choir sang the anthem, the band performed its item and information concerning tomorrow event was given.

I got some lyrics for the Tongan Hymn Book this morning. I was so happy and I went to the Tau’olunga Komipiuta to put the songs into the program. I was kicked out at 5 since the placed closed at 5:00 pm. On my way back, I saw the floats of some of the candidates for parliamentary election on Thursday. There were so many people, cars, vans, trucks and tractors were on the road with people climbing around. I was amazed with people lack of concerns for their own safety. Some people even sat on the roofs of the cars. A little bump and you could fall off the chariots. I guessed, I got so soft... Music was blasted from the vehicles and few loud speakers, people shouting, singing and horns were hooting. It was a scene.   

I went to water our plants. I have been watering the plants that we planted at "ako'alu". The temperature has been around 29 everyday and has not been rained for many weeks. The plants would not have a change without water. 

Wednesday 26^th of November

Today was the final day of the 4^th and the last term of 2014. We hosted the graduation ceremonies for all three high schools of the Free Wesleyan Church in Tongatapu; QSC, Tupou College and Tupou High School. When I woke up, I went and helped out with building tents for the parents and guests coming for the graduation.  There were more than 2500 students today. QSC had around 1000 students, Tupou College and more than 800 and Tupou High had more than 700 students. Position in all levels was given and prices handed out to the winners. Proud parents and villagers were very noisy sometimes. All three schools had both brass bands and choirs. They each had one song from the choir and one form the band. They were really good. Of course the hymns were sang together and I heard and felt the spirit through those thousands voices. 

 

After the ceremony, reports were handed out. The school magazines were also sold for $10 pa’anga. The magazine was printed in NZ and it looked good. Some of the pictures that I took were printed. I was happy about it and was also a member of the magazine committee, hallelujah!

The Form 7, which 2014 was their last year at QSC planned a Heilala tree at the front garden to mark their last year at school. The band was there also to provide the music for the even. It was an emotional occasion, the pastor, Samuela Tai said a prayer and few speeches from both the teachers and students followed by planting the tree and music. The girls lost few tears and it was a heart felt occasion. 

The school ended and suddenly the school felt silence. Not exactly, the Form 7 students hang around to clean and to finish up some unfinished businesses but still very quite. Of course, we had to mark the end of the term and the whole year work with a kavaparty at "Kai'angakai". 

Thursday 27^th of November

Today is the parliamentary election in Tonga. Unfortunately, by the time I got my Tongan citizenship back and my passport, the registration for voting was already finished. Actually, I never vote in Tonga. In the 80s when I could vote, voting was nothing to do with policy as such but more about who do you want to go in and had a lion share of our limited resources in the parliament. Today, Tonga has come a long way and it still have a long way to go but definitely better than the good old time.

 There were few trees left in "akonofo" to plant. Unfortunately the head tutor was sick and she was in the hospital, and the plants still not planted yet. I decided to plant them myself. Perhaps one or two of these plants could make it. Both the students and the teachers would take holiday during the next 2 months and the plants could possibly die due to lack of water.  

Friday 28^th of November

I woke up, worked on my computer files, trying to copy all my pictures to my hard drive since would leave the computer to my nephew Toni. I have been working on them for a while. Before, I just downed loaded the pictures without a clear ways of storing them. Now, I realised how difficult to find a particular photos without and clear references to work with. I decided to use the dates as references for sorting the pictures, there were thousands of them.

I went to see Asinate for my final evaluation. Somehow, I already got some of her feedback through conversations we had but I need it on writing. I  Wsent the form by email for her to go through it first. When I went there, she did it already and we went through it together. I was so happy that the official papers were done and that part of my placement was over. I could do what is left by myself.

I am very satisfied with the results of my placement. It was both an educational and  a social visit for me. An opportunity to visit Tonga, reconnected with the culture and experienced first hand what has happened in the last 21 years. I am very impressed with changes but also shocked to see something has not changed at all. 

I went down to the Environment department to take my report of our Community work on Environment project to Meli. He was happy that I brought also some photos from the events. I was glad to rid of that report too. Somehow, there were  lots of things to be done at last moment :). I headed to the market to get few Tongan stuff to take with me to Finland...

Of course, there was nothing to do in the evening but to gather in Kai'angakai for a kava. 

Saturday 29^th November

Saturday is the fair day in Tonga. I took my bike and cycled to the habour. I stopped over first at my cousins at the seafront, then to aunt Ahi. I stopped over for a short chat then looked around. I bought some coconuts kava cups to take home. Instead of kava, I could drink "red wine" from it, or perhaps for "ice cream". I ran into few other relatives and friends at the fair/flea market. 

I started to do some work but I started to fall asleep. It was really warm and I decide to take a nap. When I woke up I decided to cycled to Ahi's place in Ma'ufanga. It was late afternoon and was a bit cooler. I spent almost 2 hours talking with Ahi, Peni, Sita and the kids. The conversation was mostly about the grandchildren education.  

Sunday 30^th November

I decided to go to Kapeta church since it was my last Sunday in Tonga. I also wanted to give the pictures and videos that I took from their church. I saw Kasanita, the choir master and asked her to copy the files to the church laptop. Unfortunately, we could not open and get access to my hard drive. I locked it and I did not know how to open it. It unlocked itself automatically on my laptop but had to do it manually in other computers. Good I found out that now and I have to unlock it before leaving since I will leave my laptop here in Tonga. We had to do it later with my computer...

Vika and the rest of the gang came for a family lunch today. They brought the food and we all shared it at my place. There were lots of food and it always amazed me how Tongans love their food. Perhaps more than 80% of their incomes goes to food. There was a roasted suckling pig, the favourite dish of the Tongans among other things. It was our last Sunday together and I wanted us to have lunch together. There were  Vika's children and their families, so many and there are more on the way. Amazing! It was a lovely time to have everyone around, shared some of our stories and enjoyed each others' company.  

My kids, Mafua, Fiona and Tahine left Finland today which is Saturday 29th of Nov. They flew first to London then to Hong Kong and to Auckland arriving tomorrow, Monday 1st of December. I left 3 months ago and I am looking forward to seeing them.  

My week 12th in Tonga came to an end, see you next week!