Termites, Christmas, Feasts, and Planning

Judging from the randomness of the title of this blog post, my readers may be asking themselves what any of these subjects can possibly have in common. The answer, without any facetiousness on my part, is nothing.

Since no singular event occurred in my life in the past week, and I have no great theme which I would like to introduce at this time I have decided to briefly relate small anecdotes on each of the subjects alluded to above.

Termites

Frequent readers will notice that the tone of this blog is fairly positive. That is because, with few exceptions, my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga has been overwhelmingly positive. One of these exceptions, however, is rather miniscule yet has become quite a nuisance.

For the past two months I have been waging a silent war – silent in the fact that I had not previously mentioned the subject in this blog but quite loud within the confines of my home – against termites. To be fair they might not be termites, but carpenter ants or some other nameless sub-species. I am by no means an expert concerning insects, but since these ants leave wood fillings around my house I have taken to calling them termites.

My methods of extermination and co-habitation have been numerous. I have filled up the holes in my house, as a way of preventing the continuous onslaught of these invaders by such measures as silly putty, duct tape, scotch tape, and strips of cardboard from the packages I have received. I have sprayed an overwhelming amount of mortein – the bug spray used in Tonga – that is undoubtedly bad for my health but necessary of my very survival. I have even resorted to the Tongan remedy, as related to me by the town officer of my village Havea, of placing kerosene in the cracks of my house to discourage the alien intruders.

So far I have met with mixed results. Due to my constant vigilance, the termites have temporarily retreated, but since I believe this retreat was purely tactical and thus temporary, I am planning on splitting the cost of an expensive (for Tonga and my stipend) termite jell with another volunteer who shares my problems.

For those of you back home, please don’t be grossed out or feel bad for me as I consider myself very lucky. Other volunteers have major issues with rats and cockroaches – problems far greater than my own – and I am quite content that I only have to battle these pesky insects that somewhat helpfully fill up my free time.

Christmas

As Tonga is a very religious and Christian country, Christmas is very important here. Christmas in Tonga has a very different feeling from America, however, as there is much less of an emphasis on gift giving, and more of a focus on church and community.

Christmas Eve is exclusively a youth event in Tonga, or at least in my village. All of the youth performed songs and dances in front of the village elders and some of the parents. After these performances the little kids were given a few presents while the teenagers and older kids were given bags of candy. Wanting to take part in the gift giving, I gave some of the kids glow in the dark glow sticks (thank you Mary Sue!) I had received in a package and must have seemed like magic to the kids. In return I was rewarded with bags of every candy I have seen in Tonga (no where near as much as in America, but substantial in its own right) that I have been thankfully munching on the past few days.

The next days, Christmas, was very much like any Sunday in Tonga. Church starts at the same time – 10 a.m. – and lasts until 11:30 a.m. as always. The difference however is that after church the entire village ate a massive feast in the hall next door. I was given the honor of sitting in the front with the village elders and church ministers, where we were allotted the best food and greatest portions of meet.

Over the next two hours, everyone feasted and the adults took turns standing up and issuing fakamalo, which literally translate to the saying of thanks. Though I could not understand much of what was said, I was mentioned frequently and was continuously humbled by how thankful they all were for my being there even though I have yet to start teaching.

It was a very nice and Tongan affair, and like all Tongan feasts, I was gifted with as many left over’s as I could carry and that happily sustained me for several days after.

Feasts

On the subjects of feasts, my theory is that Tongans just look for any and every excuse to hold a feast. Events, no matter how big or how small, are not truly honored without a kaipola, or feast.

In the past month alone, I have attended a feast for the annual fundraiser, the youth group (of which I am considered a part of and consists of everyone in the village from the ages of roughly 3 to anyone who is not yet married), a wedding, and of course Christmas. I love the feasts, as it is the only time, besides church, when the entire community comes together and are always very festive occasions.

Planning

Last but not least, to assure all of my readers that I am not just sitting around my house all day doing nothing and feasting – that consists of only half my day – I have been busy planning this past week for the upcoming term. I still have a long way to go, but my goal is to plan out the entire first term (ten weeks) for all of my English classes for Classes 6, 5, 4, and 3.

I have no clue what I am doing and all of this may be a waste of time as I sadly learned that my principle Sione has been reassigned and that I will have a new principle when school starts and whom might change my schedule. That being said, I am trying to make the most of my time and I hope this planning will make my entry to the classroom much smoother.

To conclude, I apologize for the absence of photos in the past few posts. I, unfortunately, have no new photos of myself as there is no one to take them and the café where I usually post these updates is temporarily closed and the Internet of the current establishment I am in does not have good enough Internet for me to upload photos. I promise, however, to remedy this soon.

Happy New Year!

Something New

They were many reasons why I decided to join the Peace Corps, but many of those reasons fall under the umbrella concept of “something new.” I wanted a new experience. I looked forward to integrating into a new culture. I was excited to meet new people from all over the world. I joined to embark on a new adventure.

Before I get to the main point of this post, please allow me to digress for a moment. I have always been interested in learning about different religions. Though I am not particularly religious, I was always fascinated to learn about the religions of the world that I knew nothing about. During my freshman year of college, I wanted to learn more about Jewish identity in Europe over the past 1,000 years, so I took a class on the subject. Sophomore year when I felt my knowledge of the Islam as a religion and history was lacking, I took a class on Islamic Civilization that focused on the religion and some of the great Islamic Empires of our times. When many of my best friends and roommates in college were Hindu and Jain, I wanted to learn more about the religion and took a class on Hindu Traditions (unfortunately I could not find a class on Jainism). I sill regret that I was unable to take a class on Buddhism during my collegiate career.

I believe that I was attracted to the unknown; the idea of learning something new that I knew nothing about yet was so important to, in some cases, a billion people. This desire to experience something new has lead to me to learn more about other religions, join the Peace Corps, and, now, get to the main point of this blog post, the Baha’i Faith.

I had heard of the Baha’i Faith once when I was in college, but I did not know any Baha’is or know anything about the religion so I never thought of it. When I arrived in Tonga I learned that though Tonga is 99.9% Christian, there is small Baha’i community (Vava’u with a population somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 has only about 200 Baha’is). My interest was peaked, yet I still did not think about the religion as I had more pressing matters to attend to in terms of training and learning about the something new right in front of my face, Tonga.

When I arrived at my village and my school, I learned that my counterpart, Paea, was Baha’i and after talking to him about his faith I wanted to learn more. The next week I was in town I looked up the Baha’i faith on the trusted news source, Wikipedia, and mentioned offhandedly to the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (Sean) who has been living in Tonga for the past two years that I was interested in learning more about the Baha’i Faith. In a small world scenario, he ran into an American Baha’i couple who has lived in Tonga for 34 years!, and a few days later they invited both Sean and I too dinner last Saturday at their house in Neiafu.

Before jumping into what happened next, I think it is important to explain the basic principles of the Baha’i faith, as I assume that many of my readers are as unaware about the religion as I was. I do want to preface this, however, by saying that I am by no means an expert and all of this information I have derived from wikipedia, talking with the couple, and reading the pamphlet on the Faith they gave me. I believe, for the most part, that the information below is accurate.

The Baha’i Faith was founded in 1844 by the Persian nobleman, Baha’u’llah. Baha’is believe there is only one G-d and that he has revealed his teachings to humanity through a series of divine Messengers who have each founded a great religion. The Messengers include, among others, Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad. These Messengers have “cultivated the spiritual, intellectual, and moral capacities of the human race,” as was needed at the time of their arrival, and the knowledge that humanity needs for the modern age was revealed by Baha’u’llah who is the latest of these divine Messengers.

Baha’u’llah taught that all of the world’s religions represent one changeless, eternal faith, and because of this teaching Baha’is are extremely tolerant of other religions. They believe in the spiritual unity of mankind, and view the world’s great holy books, such as the Torah, Qur’an, the Gospel, the Hindu Vedas, and the Buddhist and Zoroastrian scriptures as “humanity’s record of God’s revealed Word,” and thus consider them holy as well.

Baha’u’llah also taught that humanity is one race, destined to live in peace and harmony. This incredibly tolerance, denouncement of prejudice of all kind, and desire for equality among the sexes has lead the Baha’i faith to become the second most widespread independent world religion, after Christianity, with 5 million Baha’is living in 218 countries in every continent in the world.

The essential social principles of the Baha’i Faith include the elimination of all forms of prejudice, the establishment of full equality between the sexes, recognition of the essential oneness of the world’s great religions, elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth, provision of universal education, recognition of the harmony of science and religion, the pursuit of a sustainable balance between nature and technology, and the establishment of a world federal system based on collective security.

Some interesting facts include:

1.     There is no clergy in the Baha’i Faith. Member gets together to discuss the teachings of Baha’u’llah in “study circles,” and honor G-d as they see fit.

2.     Proselytizing and missionary work is forbidden. However, due to their view of humanity’s oneness, Baha’is are encouraged to live in other countries. While they cannot act as missionaries, they have a responsibility to help people of all religions, and do so through such diverse programs as clean water projects and children’s education. This commitment to development has lead to Baha’is crossing paths with pcvs all over the world.

3.     Baha’is are extremely supportive of the UN, and they view the UN as helping humanity fulfill its destiny of living as one race, in peace and harmony. The Baha’i faith has attended many UN conventions and is affiliated with many of the agencies of the UN.

4.     There is no tension between science and religion. Baha’is believe that “religion offers answers to those questions of morals, human purpose, and our relationship to G-d that science cannot approach…[but] any religion that ignores the modern scientific truths runs the risk of descending into fanaticism.” Thus Baha’is believe that human society can only move forward by recognizing the “harmonious and complementary nature” of religion and science.

5.     There are no sects; there is only one Baha’i Faith.

6.     Their headquarters and holy sites are located in Haifa, Israel.

7.     Founded in Iran, Baha’is in Iran have been persecuted by the Muslim orthodoxy of the country to this day.

I apologize for this post being so long. Unfortunately it can be quite wordy when explaining the basic principles of a religion, but I promise the finish line is near.

As I mentioned before, Sean and I attended dinner at the home of the American Baha’i couple, who have lived in Tonga for 34 years. They are incredible people, who cannot be nicer. They regaled us with tales of their 5-month trip around the world – through New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Israel, and the United States – while serving us delicious enchiladas, rice, coleslaw, and home made brownies for desert. They genuinely wanted to know more about myself and my story, and explained to me the basic principles of the Baha’i Faith and how they came to be Baha’is after being born Christians.

The next day they invited me to attend their “study circle,” which is what they call their prayer groups, on Sunday night. I was happy to say yes and it was an interesting experience. At the study circle, was myself, the couple, two Tongans, a Samoan whom I know as he works at the café where I am current uploading this post, and the beautiful 8 months old daughter of the Samoan man and his Tongan wife. In the circle, each person is handed a worksheet and pen. On the pieces of paper are the teachings of Baha’u’llah, with questions and comments that the circle is meant to discuss and explore their thoughts and feelings. Everyone is a teacher and a student. One person helps facilitate the discussion, but no one, including myself, is allowed to be silent and all views are respected and explored. It felt more like attending class than going to Temple or Church, but it was a truly fascinating learning experience that I hope to enjoy again.

Again, I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to give the Baha’i Faith the justice it deserves. Like many religions, it is a beautiful religion that is unique in its acknowledgement of how similar (one as Baha’is would call it) all of the world’s religions truly are. What is written above is only a brief summary of the principles and history of the Baha’i Faith. Some of these principles I agree with and some I disagree with, but it is a fascinating religion that I am glad to learn about, and only hope to explore more in the future.

As the title of this posts suggest, learning something new is never boring and always valuable. Happy holidays!

The Kaipola

Following a great birthday on Thursday, I experienced one of my more interesting weekends that following Saturday.

The week before I had been invited to attend the Wesleyan Church in Houma’s annual fundraiser and the kaipola (feast) that would occur afterwards. Though I live in the village of Ha’akio, the two villages of Houma and Mangia compose part of my school district so I am trying to integrate into all three villages and I attended church in Houma the week before.

I was not expecting anything extraordinary as, by this point, I am well versed in the Wesleyan services. The family I lived with in Ha’asini was Wesleyan, and most of the people in the three villages I live in in Vava’u are Wesleyan, so I have more or less been to a Wesleyan church every Sunday since I have been in Tonga. I knew more money would be given than usual – a practice that I disagree with, but more on this later - but I did not foresee the ridiculousness that would soon ensue.

Though I knew the feast would not start until 3 pm, out of respect I went to church at 1 pm for the beginning of the service. It was a very unusual service. With the exception of two speakers in the first ten minutes, nothing else happened. Everyone sat down in the pews and a man and a woman came around with the collection boxes. Each Tongan would give between one and 5 pa’anga every time a collector came by. The collectors walked down the aisles maybe fifty times over the course of the next two hours, and every time the villagers would put a few pa’anga in the box. I would assume the church collected a few thousand pa’anga this way – a large sum but not ridiculous.

What I did not know, at least not yet, as I sat in the back of the church letting my mind wander for two hours, was that each family also brought envelopes stuffed with cash to donate to the church. The Wesleyan Church of Houma, with maybe 100 congregates including children, raised 41,000 pa’anga ($25,000 US dollars). No family gave less than 1,000 pa’anga with some families giving 5,000 or more.

I was shocked. This is a ridiculous amount of money in Tonga. Each family gave a large percentage of their total income to the church in one day, compromising their ability to provide for themselves and their children for the other 364 days of the year.

With the help of my friend Pila, who has lived in Australia for 30 years and speaks flawless English, I tried to understand how this was possible. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I don’t really understand how they were able to raise this much money. Does every family pay?

Pila: Yes, every family. The ones who can afford it pay more, but no family pays less than 1,000 pa’anga.

Me: Can they afford to pay this sum? I didn’t think they receive that much money from working in the bush. Is it all from overseas?

Pila: Pretty much. All of the families receive money from relatives overseas and they use this money to give to the Church. It is too much money. When they work in the bush, the families might sell some of the crops for money but they mostly use the crops to feed themselves. This is overseas money. My mom donated 5,000 pa’anga, all money my brothers and sisters sent back from working in Australia.

Me: Ok…what does the church do with the money?

Pila: Church is a big business in Tonga. Half of the money goes to the headquarters in Nuku’alofa and the rest might go to repairs for the church and other things. I don’t really know exactly.

End of the conversation.

Everyone might feel differently about this issue. I am not personally very religious, but I have discussed how much money Tongans give to the church with some of the other pcvs (all of whom are Christian and some are much more religious than myself) and they are also uncomfortable with this practice.

The issue is not the money in and of itself. A person has the right to do what they wish with their money. The problem is that the money given to the church is not only money that was received from the hard work of relatives overseas who wanted to help provide for their families, but also it is a large percentage of each family’s yearly income and directly compromises their ability to provide for themselves and their families. It sadly reminds me of the indulgences that occurred in the Catholic Church in Europe prior to the Reformation, and while I respect how important religion, along with family and community, are to Tongans, I sincerely hope in the future that Tongans will only give as much to the church so as they can still meet their basic needs. Seeing my students at school go hungry from not having eaten lunch and knowing that the money that could have fed them was given to the church is a difficult thing to observe.

To end on a happier note, and indeed while I struggled with the amount of money being donated this was a joyous occasion for the village, the fundraiser was followed with the largest feast I have ever seen. Every type of food that is available in Tonga was there and in spectacular quantities. Dozens of roast pigs. Lobster. Crab. Asian Noodles. Fried chicken, grilled chicken, spicy chicken. Roast Lamb. Beef. Grilled and Fried fish. Lasagna. Crab salad. Coke, Sprite, and Fanta everywhere. Pineapples and Watermelon. Cake. Goody bags in front of every person filled with chips, cookies, apples, oranges, lollipops, and other sweets.

It was overwhelming. There was so much food that for leftovers I was given a bowl of Asian noodles, a bottle of coke, a large goody bag of sweets and fruit, and a third of a roast pig. I was offered much more food, but I had to say no as I could no longer carry anything else.

As an honored guest – which is crazy that at the age of 23, palangi, and a teacher I am considered one of the more important people in the village – I sat at the front table with very important faiefekaus (Church ministers). The feast was delicious and I left with a stomach about to burst.

Tongans are a very generous people. Sometimes their generosity is difficult for me to observe, as with the giving of so much money to the church, but in other situations, like the communal sharing of food, it is fantastic to behold. I do not know if my feelings regarding this issue will change in the next two years, nor do I know how you my faithful readers will regard this level of generosity, whether you agree or disagree with my analysis and perception, I just wanted to give my two cents and explore a difficult but interesting aspect of life in Tonga.

12 hours into my 24 hour ferry ride last month in the island group of Ha'apai

Even Vava'u is not without its tourist traps

My view on Thanksgiving