Agriculture Show 2014

Another week, another major event in Vava’u. It has been a surprisingly busy “winter,” in our normally quiet little island, and the King must be a bit worn out from all of his frequent trips to Vava’u over the past few months. The most recent blowout to occur in Vava’u was the Agriculture Show, which as some of you may remember, is Tonga’s version of a county fair.

First, I must start as all fairs should – with the animals. The Chinese government runs a piggery in Vava’u in conjunction with the Tongan Ministry of Agriculture, and their pigs are absolutely massive as they are fed with real pig feed rather than the random assortment of coconut husks and trash most pigs eat here. One of the pigs on display was the largest piece of pork I have ever seen in my life. It was practically a pony it was so large, and the little kids were absolutely terrified of it, much to their parents laughter and delight.

Not to be outdone, the cows, both bull and heifer, were magnificent. The cows were not only succulently fat, but also lined with slabs of muscle. They were truly impressive beasts. As for the other animals, I saw ducks in Tonga for the first time (I have no idea if they are eaten as I’ve never seen duck served in a Tongan home or restaurant), and the chickens and sheep looked pretty standard.

For the layout of the show, almost every village had two stalls. One stall displayed their woven materials and Tongan made crafts, specifically mats, tapas, and hand woven placemats, coaster, and containers. The other tent was filled with the produce grown from the village, a few vegetables but the vast majority being the different kinds of root crops – yams, cassava, manioc, etc – found in Tonga. Every village took an enormous amount of pride in their stalls and they looked fantastic.

Some of the other highlights included my town officer, who runs a pearl (half pearls) farm off of a nearby-uninhabited island, which he crafted into jewelry and had on display. I also loved going to the booths of the outer islands as they displayed an incredible assortment of fish, clams, crabs, and other sea creatures. One of the cooler and smellier displays had sun-dried octopus hanging from outside the stall.

Along with some other volunteers, I wandered around the fair for a few hours until the King, the Queen, and the Queen mother arrived to officially open the show and begin the program. Speeches were made, prayers were read, high schools students danced, bands played, and prizes were given out for a variety of county fair like awards. It was a festive atmosphere and a great way to spend my Saturday.

Having observed the fair now for two straight years, it is really remarkable how the show, while still being distinctly Tongan, so closely mirrors the types of fairs we have in America. For all of our differences, there really are always so many similarities.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy the photos from the agriculture show.

A local women's group's vegetable stall

One of my villages displaying their root crops

Sun-dried (and smelly) sea creatures

The Pig

The outer islands showcasing an impressive array of marine life

Goodbye and Hello

Like Peace Corps Volunteers, Wesleyan Minister’s serve for a period of two years. This does not mean that they only work as ministers for two years then return to life as layperson, but rather that they remain in a village church for those years before moving on to another one. Our church’s minister, having arrived in July 2012, had fulfilled his two-year requirement several weeks ago and a new minister was coming to take his place.

One thing you can always count on in Tonga is a goodbye feast, especially for someone as important as the Wesleyan Minister. In one of the few Sundays I can recount where there was only 1 church service,  instead of the usual two or even three. This was to give the men and women of the village more time to cook the food and prepare the tables for the goodbye feast.

The service was like any other, and once the Lord’s Prayer was recited, we all left the church and walked to the hall into an overwhelming amount of food heaped on twenty or so tables. I was given a promising spot next to several of the more pious adult men and in absolutely prime real estate, right in front of one of the two roast pigs. We feasted while people took turns giving speeches and thanking the minister. There were many tears (a speech isn’t a speech in Tonga unless it coincides with plentiful amounts of crying, dramatically long pauses, and the theatrical blowing of one’s nose into a handkerchief) and the minister’s wife graciously thanked me for my service and reminded people that I was leaving soon as well.

It was a feast to end all feasts…that is except for the next two weeks when we had another round of copious amounts of eating to celebrate the arrival of the new minister. Once again there was lots of eating, crying, and speech making – though I believe this time these were “celebratory” tears rather than “sad” ones. I was just as fortunate in my seating arrangement in this feast, as I was honored to be invited to the main table with the minister, his family, and the village elders. Of course, proximity to the pig was again certainly an advantage, and no cause for complaints.

After not attending a feast in months, I very much enjoyed having three in as many weeks as I am trying to eat my full of roast pigs before returning to the states. As always, thanks for reading, and please enjoy the photos from my last camping trip.

Two our Tongan friends, Po'uli (left) and Ali (right), helping to build to fire

The view

Puaka Tunu (Roast Pig)

Feasting

COS

Two weeks ago Peace Corps Tonga Group 77, my group, came together for the last time on the main island of Tongatapu. We were 13 strong, but with us in spirit were two other volunteers who unfortunately had to finish their service a little early. While I will see many of the volunteers again in Tonga and in the years ahead, it was the final time we would all be together as volunteers in Tonga. It was understandably a bittersweet moment for us all. We were happy and proud of our shared completion of an experience that has meant so much to us, but sad that now the end has finally arrived.

The purpose of our conference was for Close of Service, a three-day training period where we discussed the forms we had to complete and medical exams we had to undergo before we could return to the United States. There were also sessions discussing our readjustment back to America, the myth or reality of reverse culture shock, and how to approach the job market. I won’t bore you all with the details, but it is suffice to say that many of our questions were answered over these days.

I won’t go into full nostalgic mode over the last two years now as I will save that for my final post, but receiving our completion of Peace Corps certificates, making the first of what will be many goodbyes, and receiving my return date to America had made the end feel very real (FYI I am leaving Vava’u on October 7 and returning to the US October 11^th).

It was a great final hurrah as a group. We ate many meals together, and stayed up late into the night once the sessions were over reminiscing over the profound, the silly, and the simply funny anecdotes that have occurred throughout our two years together. This post will be relatively short, as this blog entry is in many ways more about the photos below, then the words above. As hard as it is to believe, COS marks for me the beginning of the end of my time in Tonga, as in two short months I will no longer be a volunteer.

Thank you for reading and please enjoy the photos.

Group photo of Volunteers with their certificates and PC Tonga staff

We did it!

Admiring the sunset (Can you tell which one is me?)

Group 77 on arrival at training

Team Vava'u

Receiving my Completion of Service certificate

P.S. In the sunset photo, I am third from the left.

Too Low

The Tongan language has astonishingly few words. I do not know the exact statistics, but the number of Tongan words is comparatively low relative to the international average.  Since Tonga was a British protectorate from 1900 to the mid-70’s and has relatively few words to express numerous ideas, many Tongan words are simply the Tongan equivalent of our words in English (or as I like to say the words are “Tongified”).

This works in several ways. Certain words, like the days of the week, are separate words but are clearly based on their English equivalent. For example monite for Monday and tusite for Tuesday. Other words are the exact same as their English counterparts, but are pronounced differently. Party is still party but pronounced parttttiiii, with an emphasis on the final ti. The word “birthday” is also the exact same but sounds completely different when a Tongan says it in “Tongan.”

Other words are “Tongified.” Cancel becomes Kanseli and promise become polomosi. There are traditional Tongan words for these terms but they are used much less often. I could keep on going but I think you all get the point.

The reason for this long diatribe is that I have become interested in language acquisition since I started learning Tongan. I hear a lot of stories regarding how a word became a word, but the inspiration for this post is a story I heard last week from a Tongan friend of mine, Vava.

The word tulo means excuse me in Tongan. I never though much of the word because there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between the Tongan and English words. However, Vava told me last week that tulo does in fact come from an English phrase. He said that some time ago when the first American Mormon missionaries arrived in Tonga, a missionary walked into a Tongan house and said in English, “too low,” referring to how low the roof was in the house and indicating that he had to duck to enter.

Vava told me that this was how the word tulo became a part of the Tongan lexicon to mean excuse me. I have no idea if this story is true or not, and in all honesty it is probably not, but I like it anyway. Thanks for reading and enjoy some of the aerial photos of Tonga below.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has donated to Camp Glow and Grow so far. If you still wish to give something to the project it is not too late and the link is:

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=14-421-001

Port Maurelle in Vava'u

Tongatapu

Leaving Tongatapu

Camp Grow & Glow 2014

Last year I asked my friends and family to donate to a leadership camp for young Tongan men and women. I was completely blown away by everyone’s generosity as we raised all of the money we needed within a week. I was humbled by peoples’ decision to donate to a cause that I was running and was so passionate about, and I vowed to honor their generosity by ensuring that Camp Grow and Glow provided a transformative experience for our campers. I truly believe that the camp accomplished that goal last year and I hope to do so again this year. I posted what follows below last year and I would like the repost it now:

There is a link on the Peace Corps website where you can donate funds to the project and read a description about the what Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and GROW (Guys Reshaping Our World) is all about, but before I copy the link and rather than paste the description of the camps onto my blog I will instead explain our goals (I am working with three other volunteers and numerous Tongans) in my own words.

Camp GLOW is an internationally recognized program focusing on women’s empowerment and is run by Peace Corps Volunteers in countries throughout the world. The girls’ camp in Vava’u will cover important issues facing women in Tonga such as sexual health, the rights of women and children, and sexual harassment and domestic abuse. Camp GLOW was brought to Tonga in the past decade, and was successfully run in Vava’u the last few years.  With the main island deciding to cancel Camp GLOW the last two years and with only one female volunteer in charge of CAMP GLOW Vava’u, myself and and another male volunteer offered to help run the female camp.

After corroborating on the curriculum development of the girls camp, the other volunteers and I quickly saw the potential importance of what we were doing and lamented the absence of a boy’s camp. We did a little research to see if Camp GLOW had ever been successfully paired with a boys’ camp, and with the exception of a few small efforts, we were disappointed to see there were no such existing camps for young men. Thus, Camp GROW was born.

This year we are running Camp Glow and Grow from September 22 to the 26^th. The 2014 edition will last 5 days instead of 4 and will have twice as many campers, as we hope to spread more information to a greater number of students. The campers all come from the local high schools of Vava’u and have been selected, with help from their teachers, on the merits of their leadership skills and strong academic performance.

Finally, before I post the link to donate, I want to say one thing first. The decision of whether or not to donate to charity or of what charity to choose is an extremely personal one. The last thing I want to do is stand up on a soapbox, preaching to my readers to donate to my charity. Only you can decide if you wish to donate money. There are many charities and organizations in much greater need of funds and with more important aims than my project. There are places where money can be sent to save lives and cure diseases. In all honesty, Camp GLOW and GROW will not do that.

However, if you want to contribute a little money to a project that I am working on and running, would like to donate to Tonga, or wish to give your money knowing that 100% percent of your contribution will go to the project rather than to salaries or lost in bureaucracy, then I can promise GLOW and GROW will accomplish that. While we will not save lives or cure disease, I do strongly believe the project will do some good and have a profound affect upon the lives of these children. We are asking for $4,000 from the US (with the plan of raising the other $1,500 within Tonga) and I will be forever grateful to whoever decides to donate to this cause. Donations are completely anonymous, but if you do wish to let me know that you gave money, please email me so I can keep you updated on the project and know of your generosity.

If you wish to donate, the link to give money is as follows:

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=14-421-001

Thank you all so much for your support. I cannot truly express into words how much it means to me and how much I appreciate any contribution you may make.

Please enjoy the photos below of last years Camp Glow and Grow taken by the Glow director, Mandy Pederson.

Traditional Medicine

I have mentioned several times throughout this blog that the Tongan government provides universal healthcare for free to its citizens. The conditions of the hospitals and the access to particular medicines may differ from what we expect in the US, but Tongans are given vaccines, check ups, and routine medical procedures for free. The doctors and nurses are incredibly bright and well trained, having usually attended university and medical school in Fiji, New Zealand, or Australia. It still takes me a second to remember that Tongans go to the hospital for all medical issues, including minor illnesses like the common cold, as I immediately return to my American fear/anxiety of hospitals when I hear that one my students is missing school to go the hospital, before I eventually realize my mistake.

Of course, no system is perfect. There is only one MRI machine in Tonga on the main island. Dialysis and chemotherapy, while theoretically possible, are extremely rare, and Tongans suffering from cancer who can’t afford to get treatment overseas are left with few options. These are serious issues that leave room for traditional medicine to reassert itself.

I’m sure it surprises no one that traditional medicine stills exists in Tonga. When I first arrived in Tonga, I expected to see some form of traditional medicine, but for most of my two years here I haven’t observed anything. Once in a while a kid would come to school with a weird green paste on a cut, but these incidents were few and far between.

It was not until a few weeks ago that I was first exposed to the world of Tongan medicine. I was walking to town on a Friday when someone from my village offered to give me a ride as long as I first went with him and his wife to the nearby village of ‘Utui. In Tongan, he explained that his wife needed medical treatment in the village. I was confused, as I had never heard of someone traveling to another village to receive medical care, but I assumed that I must have misunderstood what he was saying and would see what happened.

In ‘Utui, the husband and I remained in the car, while the wife entered a house and stayed inside for thirty minutes. Once she returned, we drove into town and went our separate ways. My interest was peaked however. I had no idea what happened inside the house, but I was curious and wanted to learn more. After pestering a few people with my questions, I discovered that there was a whole world of “underground” traditional medicine throughout Tonga that I was completely unaware of. Almost every village has a healer that specializes in a particular kind of medicine. In fact, I learned that a woman I knew quite well from my village is considered very talented at treating stomach issues using traditional Tongan medicine.

I could only laugh. After two years of living in my village, and thinking that I was beginning to understand all of its mysteries, I realized that in many I ways still don’t have a clue. After all this time Tonga continues to surprise me.

Thank you for reading. Please enjoy some more photos of the King’s birthday celebration taken by another volunteer.

The flag of the King

His Majesty's seating area

Presents for the King

One of the Ministry of Education officials all dressed up for the festivities

Showing some birthday love for the King

Journey to the New World

First, I need to give credit where credit is due, and thank my grandpa, Papa, for the title and name of this post. My last few posts have focused on my American visitors, and as Papa confided to me on the phone, it seems only fair that I similarly recount some of my trip back to the United States. Second, this week’s post will be a bit on the shorter side, but I promise to make it up with an abundance of photos taken by other Peace Corps volunteers of the King’s birthday and the Wesleyan Conference.

I have spent the last three weeks in San Francisco, spending time with Katherine, Bennett, and my parents, plus a host of college friends who I didn’t even know lived in the Bay Area but that I happily ran into on my short travels. I walked around for miles throughout SF, a city I had never visited before, went to a Giants game with my dad, drank wine in Napa on two separate trips, walked through the beautiful Muir Woods, and for good measure spent the 4^th of July in Lake Tahoe. The trip was an absolute whirlwind, offering me my first taste of America in over 6 months, and helping me mentally prepare for the completion of my Peace Corps service and my final return to the US in a few short months. I can hardly believe it’s been almost 2 years since I left.

Back in Tonga, I am ready to make the most of my last few months. The past few days have been terrific, as I have made the rounds in the village, caught up on all the recent gossip, and passed out hordes of candy to all the kids... and a lot of the parents for that matter. Due to last minute changes in the school calendar, I have a full week to slowly work my way back into my Tongan life, as school does not start again until next Wednesday. Further, I am working with the Peace Corps office on the main island and in D.C. to get my funding for Camp Grow/Glow approved, and I will hopefully have more information concerning my project in a few weeks.

Last but not least, below is a short list of some of the things that I was asked and did bring back to Tonga:

•   Advil and Fish Oil for my host grandmother
• 7 pounds of candy and pencil sharpeners for my school
• Burgundy hair coloring for my host family's neighbor (I actually went above and beyond here as I brought two shades - dark and normal - of burgundy
• Tequila for my host brother
• 
  

As always thanks for reading, and please enjoy the incredible photos below taken by volunteers Mandy Pederson (the first three) and Abby Kloberdanz (the last three).

A baby all dressed up for the baby competition - contestants were judged on cuteness, weight, and health among other criteria 

The students of Vava'u High School dancing the traditional tau'olunga for the King's birthday

More dancing

A sign welcoming the King to Vava'u

The King's seating during his birthday celebration

Beautifully carved watermelons

The King's Birthday