trouble in the fale alea

Over the last few weeks the group of democracy protesters that congregate in pangai si’I, a park opposite parliament house, had grown and become more vocal. I had planned to write about how their number and volume had increased enough that their singing was disrupting parliament. However, on Thursday 16 some of the protesters escalated matters still further and, as you have read, Nuku’alofa was disrupted stopped by riots and fires that destroyed much of the centre of town.

The group gathering in pangai si’I were, or are, protesting about the manner in which Tonga is transitioning from being an autocracy to a democracy. The outcome has seemed inevitable for some time, but the pace and manner of change has troubled many. The singing and, regrettably, rioting have been over the failure of parliament to come to any agreement about the various proposals for reforming itself, particularly how members of parliament should be selected.

The Tongan parliament is an interesting body. While Tonga was credited with a high degree of political stability, there is nothing stable about the manner in which parliamentarians are elected. Filling the Fale Alea (parliament house) certainly is a complicated process.

At the last election, the process started with the people electing nine members and the thirty-three hereditary nobles electing nine of themselves as members. The King then appointed a Cabinet, which is added to the already elected members. However, since the King’s appointments included some of the 18 already elected members, this required by-elections to find replacements – as it seems you can’t be a member of cabinet and an ordinary elected member of parliament.

Following the election, the Prime Minister appointed by the King resigned and was replaced by a popularly elected member of Parliament. His seat then became the subject of another by-election. The new Prime Minister has since appointed his own cabinet with three new members and later expanded the size of cabinet to include two more new portfolios.

Tonga now has a large, for its population, parliament of 33 members. That is approximately one member of parliament for every 3500 people.
And it doesn’t look like the process of filling it will become any more stable in the near future as there are a number of opinions about how this should occur and enough passion. The following is my understanding of the various positions.

The National Committee for Political Reform recently completed nation-wide, and diaspora-wide, consultations and proposed a “roadmap” to achieve political reform including all members of parliament being elected. After the people elect all members of parliament, the King would then appoint a Prime Minister from the elected members, and the Prime Minister would appoint his Cabinet Ministers from the elected members of the House.

Cabinet, prior to the protests, was proposing that that there be nine noble representatives and 14 people's representatives. The Prime Minister, chosen by parliament rather than the King, and the King would have still chosen the 12-14 members of Cabinet with the only limitations being that at least two-thirds be already elected members of parliament and at least two-thirds be the choice of the Prime Minster. The King would still be allowed to appoint a third of Cabinet at his discretion and he and the Prime Minister may have collectively appointed 3 or 4 people of their choice.

It is easy to understand what the pro-democracy movement find the Prime Minister and King being able to appoint non-elected members to cabinet so objectionable. However, given the way government operates in Tonga, there are some good reasons for allowing. The most important is the need for Ministers to be well qualified as they are not provided with the extensive support by their departments that Ministers in Australia enjoy.

Consider the following scenario*:

George: Is there somebody you think would make a capable transport minister?

Fred: Well George, there is nobody elected to parliament with much experience in transport. They are mostly former teachers and lawyers. I could give one of them the job, but I am not sure they are up to it and transport is very important for Tonga.

George: Do you know anybody else who could do the job?

Fred: A friend of mine, Ralph, has worked in transport for several years. He ran a shipping company and has worked across the Pacific advising other governments on transport policy. I would like to give him the job.

George: OK.

Why is Ralph getting the job, because he is the friend of the Prime Minister or because he is the best person for the job? Would Tonga be better off with Ralph as transport minister or one of the teachers and lawyers that was democratically elected? This is why both sides of the debate about democratic reform in Tonga could be right, and why a solution to the current problems is unlikely to be decided upon in the very short-term. Hopefully, at least, we have seen the last of the violence.

* This scenario is fictitious. Any similarity to anybody living, dead or Tongan is entirely coincidental.

jess is here

In a great display of how invasive of your privacy signing up to all things Google is, “Jess is here” is what my computer says every time Jess logs into check her email. For twelve days recently, it was actually true. Jess was here in Tonga.

Having Jess here was a great time to see her, to visit parts of Tonga I hadn’t seen yet and to think about what next year will hold for us.

For Jess’s arrival I treated us to a stay at Fafa Island Resort and it was well worth the expense. Fafa is a great example of how good an island resort can be, it is a shame that more Tongan operators don’t learn from them. It was also a shame that we had to leave Fafa on the early boat to whisk Jess of to Vaiola Hospital.

The contrast between the two locations couldn’t be more stark. Vaiola Hospital is not a place you would like to spend one night, let alone several. Fortunately, with thanks to the Australian volunteer Doctor, Jess’s ailment was quickly diagnosed as bacterial tonsillitis and we were out of there in less than half an hour. Finding the prescribed penicillin was a little more taxing, involving trips to two pharmacies before a return to the hospital where we were finally able to acquire some. Good thing we didn’t need any fancy type of drug.

With the penicillin working wonders, Jess and I were able to enjoy a week Vava’u sandwiched between two packed weekends in Nuku’alofa. Jess and I also had a fantastic time getting dressed up for a toga party, a 1920s themed housewarming (think The Great Gatsby in the tropics) and Melbourne Cup.

Unfortunately we arrived in Vava’a too late for the whale-watching season. While there were still whales about, there were too few watchers to fill a boat to go out and see them. Jess and I had to content ourselves with being the only guests at the resort we were staying at and some great snorkelling – including spotting a large, and thankfully sleeping, shark.

The two weekends allowed me to show the best of my life in Tonga. I was obviously a wonderful host, showing Jess the best that Nuku’alofa has to offer, as I was constantly being asked “what have you been complaining about?”. Nuku’alofa is certainly an easier city then Apia to live in. It is much smaller geographically, better provided for in terms of restaurants and the market, and supermarkets, carry a much greater range of produce. It probably helps that Jess enjoyed working showers, running toilets and reliable electricity while here, all of which have been a bit hit-and-miss in Samoa of late.

Jess's visit coincided with good news on the job hunting front, I was offered one position and made progress with another couple of applications. It does concern me, though, when employees at a number of major Australian government departments ask me what time it is in Tonga when they call me. Given the surprise that it isn’t the middle of the night, I think they may have thought Tonga was in Africa.

The upshot of all the interviews is that I have now have a new job to return to and can settle on a return date, probably the end of January. With our trip to New Zealand over Christmas, I have less than two months left in Tonga and a lot else besides to look forward towards. Like working out where I am going to live - Canberra or Melbourne.

the end of black

Yesterday, marked the end of the official mourning period. This morning, for the first time in over a month, I chose an outfit to wear to work that wasn't black. It is a nice change, but the simplicity of black did make life easy. It also suited the dustiness of Nuku'alofa.

The last two weekends have been quite good. Last week, the Fitzroy Reds visited Tonga and took on the national team in a game of Australian Rules. This week, I attended the 21st birthday party of our landlord's niece, Etina.

I did my absolute best to avoid celebrating my 21st birthday party, so a Tongan family pulling out all stops was always going to impress me. The celebrations took place on Sunday, starting with church and then following on with a feast for the village and a few other guests.

As we left the church, the number of "bye"s my housemate and I were greeted with, made me think we might upstage the girl of the moment. This fear was further heightened when we were sat at the head table, as if we were guests of some note. Fortunately, the family of the moment emerged from the church dressed in white (everybody else was in black) wrapped in large tapa mats and equally impressive ta'ovala. They looked liked people-sized presents. Several teary speeches, took any remaining attention away from us.

Tongans serve far too much food at any event, and this was no exception. My housemate and I were squeezed on a bench between several Tongan women who kept trying to feed us more and more. At the end, we were forced to take even more food home with us. I now know why Tongans sleep so much on Sundays, after all that food it is all you can manage, or want, to do.

The aim of the AYAD Program to strengthen mutual understanding between Australia and the countries of the Asia Pacific and make a positive contribution to development in the areas of health, governance, infrastructure, education, etc. Arguably, a single game of Australian football has done more to achieve this aim then my entire year in Tonga. The prospect of playing for a national team was enough of a prize for a group of thirty or so Tongans to train hard three times a weeks for just over three months. They are certainly fitter and have a better understanding of this Australian sport. The Reds, who ran coaching clinics at the local schools in the week leading up to the match, certainly enjoyed one of the more eye opening end of season football trips taken this year or any other. With the spirit the match was played in, the enjoyment the Tongans gained from playing (even though they lost on the scoreboard and the haka and singing before and after the game, it will also go down as one of my highlights of the year.

comings and goings, still in black

A regular part of the volunteer experience are farewells and welcomes. The last fortnight alone has seen the departure of Intake 14, and the arrival of Intake 17, of the AYAD Program. So we have just gone through another round of farewells and another week of orientation. This is ignoring all the other palangi, volunteer or otherwise, whose time in Tonga has started or come to a close in the recent while. As a volunteer here, you get to meet a lot of people in a very short period of time, which is certainly a highlight of being here.

Our, Intake 15's, orientation overlapped with the final week in Tonga for Intake 13. We had five hectic days that covered both the official orientation program as well as a multitude of opportunities to learn all about life in Tonga from the three guys about to depart. The latest batch of fresh AYADs were not so lucky, they have to rely on our mere six months of experience. Maybe they are lucky actually, as you probably get more out of your time if you learn things your own way.

The mourning period for the passing of the King is well into its fourth week now. Thirty days of wearing black and counting. The attitude towards the tapu period is certainly becoming more relaxed. Last night I rode our collection of tins and cans up to the recycling centre, forgetting that I had changed on arriving home. However, wearing a grey tshirt, I didn't look to out of place. Most of the people out and about were in colours other than black, with a strong showing of red. This probably has something to do with the late afternoon/early afternoon being the favourite time for Tongan teens to wander the streets passsing a football around. Many of "the youth", as they are incessantly referred to in Tonga, have been a bit slack about the tapu all along. Now they are just being joined in the lax attitude.

Part of the reason for a more relaxed attitude towards the tapu is that we have now passed ten days since the King's burial, marking the end of the funeral period. The Star Cinema has chosen this time to reopen and a good thing too as we seem to have entered the early stages of the rainy season. On Wednesday, a few of us went to watch atypical example of Star Cinema fare - Snakes on a Plane. This film would seem custom made for Tongan audiences. Or maybe Tongan audiences are custom made for this film. Anyway, as we learnt, a late session on a Wednesday is not the best time to enjoy the raucous, laugh-as-loud-as-you-can approach to moviegoing preferred by the Tongans.

That said, given you start with such low expectations, Snakes on a Plane is not the sort of film you walk away too disappointed from. I was actually impressed with how many cliches they managed to fit in the one film. Who would have known that a film about snakes on a plane could feature both a dirt bike scene and a girls-in-bikinis running down the beach scene. The producers sure were clever to have the snake infested plane and storyline take off from Hawaii. I guess I can't disagree with the reviewer who rated this the best movie about snakes on a plane they had every seen. Besides, it was not like there was something better on.

the king's funeral

Very early on the morning of Monday 11 September, I lay awake listening to the sound of bells chiming. At first I didn't think much of it. Bells chime early every morning in Tonga. But the bells kept ringing and I started to turn my mind to why they hadn't stopped after more than thirty minutes. The answer was obvious. The King was dead.

Over breakfast, the Radio Australia news failed to confirm my suspicions and I assumed that all the forewarnings about the King's poor health had made me jump to conclusions and went to work dressed as per normal. When I passed another AYAD wearing all black, my suspicions were raised again. At work, the news finally made it to me. The King had died the previous evening, the country was in mourning. Now to work out what that meant.

As AYADs, we have been receiving advice about what to expect following the King's passing since well before we arrived in Tonga. The scenarios have ranged from a tapu (taboo) period of a few months of mourning to a year, when we would be expected to wear black, act more conservatively than usual. Shops, bars, cinemas, hotels and airlines would close. Government shuttnig down for a significant part of the tapu had me excited, I could take another trip to Samoa.

As it turned out, and as the foreign press largely failed to report, the tapu will only be one month. I will be wearing black only until 17 October. The shops haven't closed, apart from the day of the funeral. The bars and hotels are still open, though not playing music. Life is going on as normal. This is the most remarkable part of the King's passing, the extent to which the new King has dispensed with tradition. There has been some sadness and I have been fortunate enough to attend parts of the elaborate funeral proceedings, but the part that most makes this an historical time to be in Tonga is the departure from tradition.

That aside, the ceremony of the King's funeral has been impressive. It is hard to describe, so I won't. Instead check out my photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerogetsamgow

Better still read what the Tongan's have to say. The Government site http://www.tonga-now.to has more about the funeral than I can describe and the online paper http://www.matangitonga.to is equally informative.

palangi wanadaras

A few years ago, I was chatting to a friend about the possibility of me playing cricket. They were fairly dismissive of the idea, suggesting that it was no fun to bat at number 11 and spend all day in the field without getting a bowl. Well they were wrong. Either they, completely misjudged my skill level, or, more likely, they never thought I would get the chance to play cricket in Tonga for the Palangi Wanadaras.

Here I have had the chance to bowl, even taking a wicket, and score some runs batting as high as number six. A fair bit of this is due to the generosity of the captain and opposition bowlers and the discombobulated nature of our team, with players arriving late, that is a reflection of the whole competition.

The competition consists of twelve teams. Eleven represent villages around Tongatapu, the twelfth is the Wanadaras made up of palangis and a few Tongans who like the idea of playing for this team for some reason. Other than the over representation of white people, the Wanadaras are fairly typical of a Tongan cricket team with about half the team made up of people who know what they are doing and the other half living out dreams from the backyard of their childhood and generally having some fun.

Possibly only in Tonga would a cricket competition be so adversely affected by mourning. The cricket season started three weeks ago, after being delayed due to the funeral of the Tui Pelehake. Our second match was a funeral forfeit as somebody in the village we were due to play had passed away. Not someone from the team mind you, just the village. Of course the season is now in recess until late October following the passing of the King.

At least this way I can keep my batting average in double figures until mid way through the season (thanks to two sixes in my first innings), but it does dash my hopes of taking five wickets (for the season). After going for 15 runs off my last over, the captain might have something to say about this last ambition as well.

waiting and working

With the news reports of the last few weeks, I was expecting to write a post about the passing of the king and the resulting funeral pomp and ceremony. It seems the news is greatly exaggerated, and short of regicide I have had to come up with other topics.

I haven’t written about work for a while. I wanted to keep the blog humorous and to give the impression that I was enjoying everything about Tonga.

I have certainly been enjoying Tonga, but it is only in the last week or so that I have really started to get something out of going to work at the planning department and to laugh at the if-you-don’t-laugh-it-will-make-you-cry humour of what that involves.

A couple of things happened around the time of my arrival that meant I was always going to have to wait for work to be good. The department had played the Australian volunteer lottery and won twice, with two volunteers for the one role. I arrived second, so was squeezed out of my intended role. Also, the government had agreed to a restructure of ministries – planning would become part of the finance ministry – and large scale voluntary redundancies – a quarter of public servants would be made redundant.

Understandably, working out what to do with me wasn’t a high priority. But they have tried. In June, the minister’s office requested I be moved there then. Planning agreed. In July, the company managing the AYAD program requested I be moved. Planning agreed. In August, AusAID requested I be moved to the minister’s office. Planning agreed. It is September next week. I wonder who will ask for me to be moved in that month.

Any day now, I will go somewhere.

In the meantime, and with the likelihood of me moving to a new role increasing, they are starting to invite me to meetings, ask me questions and, very occasionally, listen to me as if they want me to stay.

Tonga, its fun.

winter and whales

Winter is coming to an end here in Tonga and, in a move that will irk most people I know in Melbourne, I am regretting its passing.

When I arrived in Tonga, the weather that greeted me was hot and sticky to say the least. Winter brought some well-received respite. There are few ways to escape the heat during the week in Nuku’alofa. Unlike when I was studying in Bangkok, there isn’t a 7-eleven on every street corner whose air-conditioning and slushees do the trick well enough. I guess I can’t complain too much, the ocean is just there. Shame I have to go to work rather than swim every day.

The other reason to enjoy winter in Tonga, is that it is whale season. Normally, taking full advantage of this would require a trip to ‘Eua or Vava’u. This weekend just gone, we managed to get close to whales while on a snorkelling trip just off Tongatapu.

Grey skies dominated on Sunday morning, threatening to spoil a day out on the ocean. The clouds cleared even as I rode down to wharf and within half an hour the weather was good enough for us to rouse two extra paying customers out of bed to ensure that we got a nice long trip.

On the way out from Nuku’alofa to the first of our three dive/snorkelling sites we were happy to see a few whales splashing about in the distance. The focus of the day was still very much on the smaller creatures out there under the water, but the whales were an added bonus.

For our second lot of diving we anchored off a small deserted island. It was picture perfect and after swimming the hundred metres or so in to its shores and taking a stroll around the whole island we made plan to come back and camp there one weekend.

The only reason a picture of the island didn’t accompany this post, is that on the way back into Nuku’alofa we came across a much better photo opportunity. Three whales swimming across our path. The crew of the boat spotted them first and cut the engines. As we drifted the whales swam around the boat, coming as close as 50 metres at times (maybe closer). Spectacular.
Everybody was pretty happy with their day, to say the least. For 30 pa’anga (A$20) it was a cheap whale watching trip.

hingoa tonga

Your average baby names book would be useless to most Tongans. Very few of the hingoa (names) I have encountered here in Tonga would be included.

In Australia, unless you were calling somebody about repairing their toilet or car, are their grandmother or just have a penchant for the word you are unlikely to call somebody "Love". I am now of the above, but, in Tonga, I do this all the time. 'Ofa (Love) is a common name and, surprisingly, more common for guys it seems. So next time you feel the urge to call a guy over 180 cm tall and weighing in at more than a hundred kilograms "Love" without risk or serious injury, come to Tonga. You are sure to meet at least one 'Ofa who answers to that description and that name.

Another name that I recently encountered is Fale (House). Perhaps his parents wanted to raise a solid, dependable child and thought nominative determinism was the way to go. Either that or they were following the example of David and Victoria Beckham who named their first child, Brooklyn, after where he was conceived.

If you accept the nominative determinism explanation and his parents had been more pious, then they may have named him Lotu (church).

The parents of one of Jess’ colleagues obviously wanted her to be academically gifted and named her Sele Pesine (100 per cent). Either that, or they were ecstatic when they counted the full compliment of fingers and toes and discovered she was all there.

The most common names in Tonga are Tonganised versions of biblical names. "Tonganised?" I hear you ask. Those of you who have read the language lessons in earlier posts will know that all Tongan words end in a vowel. So my name, Sam, becomes Semi in Tongan (don't ask me why the "a" becomes an "e"). Also, the Tongan alphabet is only 17 letters long and excludes C, D, G, J, Q, W, X, Y and Z.

Displaying the same ingenuity that you can find on display in the birth notices of the Herald Sun/Daily Telegraph, Tongans have overcome this paucity of consonants and displayed real ingenuity to exhibit their faith.

For example, Isaac becomes Aisake – this is the name of the Secretary of Finance. Joshua becomes Siosiua – the name of the Minister for Finance. John is Sione, Peter is Pita, Moses is Mosese, Gabriel is Kelepi and so on.

samoa: the funny bits

I took the weekend to get over my writer's block. I figured I would leave the holiday promotion stuff to Lavinia Nixon and her Getaway program. Instead I have decided to provide snapshots of the funnier bits of Samoa

My flight into Apia also carried weighlifters from New Zealand, China and Italy. At first I thought they were rugby players, I was going to Samoa after all, but no these guys were on their way to the Pacific Rim, Commonwealth, Oceania and South Pacific Weightlifting Championships. The very strong Chinese contingent probably should have been a give away that they weren't rugby players.

As I mentioned last week, Apia isn't full of tourist attractions so it was that I found myself attending an afternoon and evening of the weightlifting. I haven't been to a weightlifting event before and the highlight of weightlifting on TV is Darrel Eastlake's commentary so I wasn't expecting too much. A good thing as well, the weightlifting wasn't overly entertaining. At least the organisers had paired locals villages up to different countries and their vocal support, especially the village supporting the lone Italian, was entertaining as was the tension as the "local" hero, Nauruian Peter Yukio, narrowly missed out on gold.

The highlight of the Championships were the medal ceremonies. The two categories I watched had 8 and 10 competitors respectively. It seems all 18 received at least one medal. Some received five or six medals, and the number of medals was in no way a reflection of performance. Invariably the Chinese guy won, but before he received his gold medal for the Pacific Rim section of the tournament the medals for the Junior and Senior Commonwealth, Oceania and South Pacific Championships had to be awarded. So the kid from Tuvalu who finished last in the afternoon stepped up to the podium for silver in the Junior South Pacific, bronze in the Senior South Pacific, bronze in the Junior Oceania and bronze in the Junior Commonwealth sections. He was a very happy boy. Even the Italian guy got a medal just for showing up. Obviously, it was all about participation.

To fill another day, Jess volunteered me to wait at the house for the plumber to come and fix a running tap. I am not sure whether I should say plumber or plumbers, for 15 minutes after the arranged time (very prompt for Samoa/Tonga) a ute pulled up bearing about six people.
The first to the door was obviously the boss. He drove the ute, introduced his team, found out what the problem was and gave instructions. Didn’t touch the tap.

The second, third and fourth guys were young and obviously the lackeys. On the boss’ instructions they scurried around outside turning off taps, unblocking drains, etc. Didn’t touch the tap.

Next came an old guy with a sack of tools, the plumber. He proceeded to take apart the tap and put it back together with the random assortment of tools he had in his sack and using bits from the spare tap Jess’s step dad had brought over.

It was more like a military operation, but still the tap was broken again before I left two weeks later.

It was nice to be able to settle down each morning with a cup of coffee and the newspaper whilst I was in Samoa. I could do that in Tonga, but reading the headlines alone would take me all day, there are no English language papers here. The Samoan papers use English as their main language, but that isn't to say they are in English. There were some highlights though. Most notable during my weeks in Samoa was the debate about the legality of homosexual relationships. Sex with somebody of the same sex is probably already illegal in Samoa, but that didn't prevent a substantial amount of debate and name calling in the letters to the editor section with some people particularly concerned that homosexuality was spreading like wildfire" and in a manner that was in direct contravention of the Constitution. Samoa is founded on God after all. After a few reads it also became obvious that the people featured in the vox pops where also those in other stories. A great piece of lazy journalism.

Driving on the wrong side of the road, as they do in Samoa, took some practice. Amazingly our one crash in Samoa didn't involve either Jess or I driving. The bus did it all on its own, but that didn't mean there weren't any dramas whilst we were at wheel. A number of times I smashed my hand into the door looking for reverse, which of course was on my right and not my left. Similarly corners and rain caused similar antics as I never quite got the hang of which side was my indicator and which my windscreen wiper. This normally wasn't particularly unfortunate, but one night while we were driving home Jess was admiring a small gecko on the windscreen when it came time for us to turn a corner. To screams of "Sam!" I realised too late what I had done, the poor gecko was whisked from the windscreen by the wiper I had mistakenly cued to indicate that we were turning left.

samoa

Early Thursday morning I returned from a fortnight or so spent in Samoa. To sum up my trip, anybody with plans to visit me here in Tonga should change them and start planning to go to Samoa instead. Samoa is far more beautiful and at the same time tourist friendly. Admittedly, Jess' presence in Samoa may mean I left with a more favourable impression than any ordinary tourist, but the small slice of Polynesia I currently call home pales in comparison.

My time in Samoa was broken up roughly into four lots.

For the first few days, while Jess was still working, I spent my days exploring the capital Apia. I watched Jess' dance performance (I would share the photos, but I value our relationship too much), snorkelled at the Palolo Deep Marine Conservation reserve (so many fish), visited the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, the Museum of Samoa and generally made my way to almost every tourist attraction in town. Compared to Nuku'alofa, Apia is big. Well bigger, at least. However, it doesn't really contain enough to occupy four full days. Fortunately, friends and relatives hanging out in the workplace is entirely acceptable in Samao (and Tonga) so I was able to spend a few hours each day at Ministry of Women and Community Development, chatting to Jess, reading the paper, checking emails, etc. This was really good, as I wouldn’t have seen enough of Jess otherwise.

With the first week over and Jess on leave for the second, we were able to hop in our shiny, red hyundai getz hire-car and explore Upolu and Savaii the two main islands of Samoa. We started by heading out of Apia, on Upolu, catching the ferry across to Savaii and enjoying three days of sun and relaxation as we circumnavigated the island staying at various beach fales on our way. On the fourth day, we allowed ourselves plenty of time to catch the ferry back to Upolu. Just as well. When we parked at Saleolonga Wharf to confirm that we were on the ferry, a bus backed over our hire car. Read Jess’s blog for a good account of the accident and drama that followed, I am trying to keep this entry to a manageable size.

After a day off at home to catch up on domestic chores and get over the drama on Savaii, we set off to spend a few more relaxing days on Upolu. After enjoying a nice lunch at The Curry House overlooking Apia from high up on the Cross Island road we journeyed down to Samoana Resort, photo above. Samoana is a surf resort so we went with some trepidation that we would be surrounded by 20 guys only interested in the waves breaking out the front. In the end, the place was fairly empty and the other guests included only one small group of surfers. For the most part, we felt we had the place to ourselves. The two days of lounging around by the pool or in hammocks, using the resorts kayaks or snorkelling were very nice indeed. It probably helped that the Channel Nine travel program was visiting the following week, so the place looked immaculate.

After two nights of luxury, we went back to beach fales at Virgin Cove. Apart from the tranquil white sandy beach, we also enjoyed an umu (food cooked in a traditional underground oven) and a fiefia, which included some spectacular fire dancing.


to be continued.

the king's birthday

4 July is a major celebration in Tonga, though here it is the King's Birthday (and not independence) that is being celebrated. This year marks King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's 88th birthday. Which is not bad going for a guy who at various stages of his reign has weighed in excess of 200 kilograms.

Accompanying the King's birthday celebrations is the fortnight long Heilala Festival which culminates with the crowning of Miss Heilala on Friday night. One of the AYADs that I arrived with is working with the Tonga National Youth Congress. So it was, partly out of allegiance and partly through earlier notice, that rather than any of the three other fundraisers that it was with the TNYC Miss Heilala event that I got into the swing of festivities last Wednesday night. On the night we enjoyed a singing, dancing, introduction of the Miss Heilala contestants (accompanied by some very muscular and well-oiled Tongan bodybuilders) and a glass or two of the free Koala Blue Shiraz.

The next birthday function I got along to, was a very unregal hip-hop dance competition. Though I guess kings and hip hop performers share a love of tacky gold jewelry. After sitting through three entertaining, though sometimes torturously protracted hours, of Tongan teen hip-hop dancing I am finally convinced that Tongan children are made indestructible. There is no other explanation for their ability, and willingness, to repeatedly throw themselves around in the reckless manner required for their version of hip-hop dancing. It was also quite impressive that the makeshift stage held up to all the abuse. The crowd competed for our attention with the movement and energy of those in the stands of Atele Stadium often drawing our focus away from the onstage antics. So much so, that one of them even one a prize for her impromptu dancing.

Tuesday was the big day. The King wasn't well enough to attend in person, looking from within his palace instead, but that didn't detract too much from the day for me. I wasn't lucky enough to be inside for the palace grounds for the main festivities, though some AYADs did score an invite. I did however enjoy laughing at the petiteness of the French soldiers, as opposed to their Tongan counterparts, and the kitschness of the Miss Heilala floats in the seemingly compulsory parade that took place on the day. The picture above of Miss Keipi's Cake Art is one of the few I took that worked out. Although there are three Tongans from Australia competing in the competition, Keipi's Cake Art is just around the corner from my house in Fasi, so I am going for her. Though after the early rounds of the competition, she didn't look much of a shot. The winner is announced tonight.

The celebrations were disrupted somewhat today. The King's nephew Prince TuÂ’ipelehake and his wife Princess Kaimana TukuÂ’aho died in a car accident in the San Francisco area. A sad event, but this country is well prepared for a sad event. Expectations about the King's passing were very openly expresssed in the speeches made this week and in the press. So it is that I am well prepared for the need to wear black clothes for perhaps a month starting on Monday (leaving aside my trip to Samoa).

Today was meant ro be a happy day, I moved to my new office with windows and a cross breeze. Can't have it all my own way in paradise, I guess.

nothing

There isn't all that much happening in Tonga this week. That and I am feeling a bit fakapikopiko (lazy). The next month is sure to be full of excitement with the King's Birthday, the Miss Heilala Pageant and my fortnight long trip to Samoa. As such, I am not going to publish a proper post this week and have more frequent posts throughout July.

For now, enjoy the picture above and, hopefully, my blog looking as it should.

the day the princess came to my birthday

This has been a week of celebrations in Tonga.

The group of seven AYADs that I arrived with have settled into three houses. For simplicity, we can call these the boys' house, the girls' house and the couple's house. Last Friday the girls' house had their housewarming. The theme was cocktail, so most of took the opportunity to wear the "semi-formal" outfit we were told we would need in our pre-departure pack and have since discovered we will wear only when taking advantage of the flimsiest excuse possible - like on Friday. Others, as pictured took to the markets and a fabulous store here called The Shop That Time Forgot to put together there creations. As you can see from the pictures and guess from the name, this shop specialises in selling clothes manufactured in the 60s, 70s and 80s that never made it out of the wrapping, let alone were sold, at that time. Anyway, the night was fun. Most of us made it home around 4am.

On Tuesday, my work launched the Kingdom of Tonga Strategic Development Plan 8 (SDP 8). This was the culmination of some eighteen months work, so though somewhat stressed about the day going well most of my colleagues were pleased to finally reach the launch. I was more excited because it was my birthday and the Princess would be attending. It is not often you can say that a princess came to the party on your birthday. Maybe it wasn't exactly my party, but near enough. The other fun part of the launch was the addition of an SDP 8 theme song and dance. If we ignore Unchain my heart and the GST, Australian governments don't do theme songs for their big launches and more is the shame. I can't wait to hear Looking to the Future, Building on the Past on the radio or playing at the Billfish, will have to try and remember the moves to the dance.

That night, I went to dinner and drinks with some fellow AYADs and assorted palangi and managed to celebrate both my birthday and the arrival of the new group of AYADs. With three intakes a year now, there will be arrivals quite regularly.

And, of course, there was the celebrations at lunch time on Thursday amongst a group of Aussies who managed to find somewhere to watch a replay of a soccer match that had happened a few hours earlier on the other side of the world. Our disappointment at missing the first half thanks to the ever unreliable TonFon television programmers was long forgotten by the time the final whistle sounded. There will be a few phone calls to TonFon today to make sure we get the whole match versus Italy tomorrow.

On Saturday, I participated in the 2006 Olympic fun run. The run itself wasn't particularly notable, nor much of a celebration, though I did manage to run more than the four kilometre course by being foolish enough to follow some Tongans who went the wrong way. What was a highlight, was finally meeting somebody who plays hockey. As part of the day's activities, there were demonstration clinics for kids of various sports including hockey. The local competition gets underway next month and I may now be coaching one of the teams. It should be fun.

the sounds of tonga

Unfortunately, my match on Saturday never eventuated. The Kolofo'ou team arrived half-an-hour late and had to forfeit. It was a bit disappointing to have ridden all that way and not play, but given it was a grey, rainy day I wouldn't have been doing much other than soccer.

As it was, I did get to watch a couple of games whilst I was out at Veitongo. The most entertaining was a junior match where the muddy conditions did little to disrupt the spirit of the players.. About a third of the players didn't have boots and were running, or more accurately sliding, around in socks. There was also a pair of innovative kids, one with the left boot and the other with the right. To add to the absurdity, the game began with one team conceding three goals in quick succession, before settling into a muddy midfield scramble only to come back in the dying minutes and score three goals also. Not world cup quality, but great viewing.

Given I don't have much to report about from my soccer non-match, I though I would move on to the next of my planned insights into Tonga. This week, the sounds of Tonga.

The overwhelming sound of Tonga is UB40. Yes, the Birmingham bred reggae band - that most of us have avoided listening to since their hit about that very unreggae topic of alcoholism in the 80s - are huge in Tonga. UB40 toured here in March shortly before I arrived. If they weren't popular beforehand, they certainly are now. There are probably a few people looking forward to the next major touring artist to take the place of UB40 on the airwaves. It would be impossible to go a day without hearing UB40. In supermarkets, workplaces, restaurants and emanating from peoples cars and homes UB40 is being played continuously somewhere in the Kingdom - except on Sundays.

Tonga's love of reggae is not limited to just UB40. I have heard plenty of Bob Marley as well as a cover of Every breath you take with more of a reggae feel than The Police ever intended. The cover band at our most frequented haunt is gauranteed to play this song, something by UB40, Queen and - recognising their location below the equator - Men at Work's Land Down Under all infused with an extra dose of reggae.

I hope to record some of the more improbable reggae covers and place the recordings on my flickr site for your listening pleasure.

During the day reggae competes with the sounds of Tongan culture - tapa mallets and church bells.

Tapa is the traditional tongan cloth that featured as the photo of the week with my last post. To produce the cloth, Tongan women pound the bark of the mulberrry tree from 5 cm wide strips into a thin cloth about 20 cm wide. The rhythm of this pounding can be heard over most of the island during daylight hours. Sometimes this is quite therapeutic, at others it is headache inducing.

On Sundays, church bells ring out from before 5am calling people to mass. They continue on every hour or so through to the mid-afternoon or early evening. In between, the sound of hymns drifts gently across the island. I think the church nearest my house is at least 500 metres away, but the singing carries quite clearly over that distance. There might be a church nearer to me that I haven't noticed yet. This is very possible as there are churches everywhere.

The last major family of sounds in Tonga come from animals. Every Tongan seems to own their share of dogs, puaka (pigs) and chickens. Even in downtown Nuku'alofa pigs and chickens aren't too far away.

Pigs in Tonga are like cows in India. They are everywhere and treated as sacred. If you run a pig over whilst driving, then you have to pay for not only that pig, but all its potential offspring as well. Pigs aren't too noisy, but they can certainly keep me awake sniffing around in the dirt if I forget to shut the gate at night.

In the early hours, the neighbourhood roosters compete with the church bells to wake us up. I always thought that roosters crowed at dawn. Tongan roosters must be able to see over the horizon, because the sun is rarely up when they start making a racket.

Dogs in Tonga aren't too keen on people. Rightly so, they are treated appallingly. We were told on arrival that having a dog would be good security, and to have a dog all we needed to do was feed one. Haven't taken to feeding any dogs, their barking is incessant and vicious. They go bark for crow with the roosters. Alongside Tongan drivers, dogs rate as the greatest danger whilst out cycling. Ahead of potholes even.

Finally, my photo of the week that accompanied my last post was nicked by the Tonga Visitors Bureau to promote a forthcoming cultural festival. I will have to find out about the royalties I am due.

kicking goals for newtown fc

This week has been a particularly good one.

For the first time, I feel that I actually have something to do at work. Not quite make-Tonga-a-better-place things to do. More at-least-it-stops-me-playing-solitaire things to do. Which I am more than happy with, I would like to believe I am not naïve enough to think that I, as a volunteer in town for 12-months, really am going to make too much of a difference to Tonga. Maybe this is an acknowledgement of my laziness as much as it is a commentary on the role of the volunteer.

Either way this week I have been busy and it looks as though I will stay that way, but still with some time for solitaire. I have also confirmed that there will be work for me to go on with beyond the ‘Eua project and an urban planning project I am involved in. I will be working more closely with Minister's staff and have better access to learn what actually goes on here. It should mean I can find enough to do at last.

If nothing else, the Tongan national development plan is released next week. I haven’t had much to do with its preparation so I can sit down in the latter part of next week and read it through for the first time.

Also, this week, I managed to join my local soccer club. Or should that be local soccer team. I am not really sure, it all just kind of happened.

Having been filling 8:30 to 4:30 of each day with not a great deal at work, I was pretty keen to find something to do in the evenings. Cooking dinner, reading books, watching DVDs and drinks at the Billfish, had been only somewhat filling in my evenings so I thought I would join in with a group of Tongans who play soccer each evening in a park near my work.

It has taken me awhile to work out what time they play and get along at that time, but this week I managed to go twice. At the start of the second night, they announced we have a game on Saturday (tomorrow). So tomorrow I will line up for the Kolofo’ou (kolo is town and fo’ou new, so Newtown) Football Club in some tournament. Should be fun, though I think they have an idea of playing me as the goalkeeper which could be rather shambolic as the team certainly doesn’t play with any structure. Let’s hope the opposition is just as bad.

I thought that seeing this weeks entry is a little short I would write rather randomly about anything to do with Tonga. I have chosen to talk about cars in Tonga.
This was prompted by my sighting a battered up old Toyota Corolla whilst riding home the other day. As a kid, I had a matchbox version of this same car. Another kid at school gave it to me when I was at Franklin Public School, so in 1983. This matchbox car was still floating around in my dad’s garage the last time I lived at home, in 1999. You can imagine the amount of abuse this little toy would have received over those sixteen years. I was never gentle with my toy cars and this one would have survived a dozen or so moves, been bashed about in toy boxes etc on top of all the damage that a kid can inflict on a piece of diecast metal. Anyway, the point is that the Toyota Corolla I was following the other day looked exactly the same as my matchbox version circa 1999. Most of the paint was gone, the doors were barely hanging on and whilst there was a windscreen that was about all of the glass. Now, this is reasonably typical of many cars in Tonga. There are some fancy new ones, mostly big 4WDs, but many of the cars are old and judging by the rego stickers have enjoyed previous lives in Japan (or China) and New Zealand before arriving in the Pacific. Already dilapidated on arrival, the cars deteriorate further in a hurry thanks to not-so-meticulous care of the Tongans and the abundant sea air. There is a good chance that this is why drivers stay under the 40 km/h speed limit, to make sure their cars don’t fall apart.

On that note, read my new word of the week.

from caves to marches

After a busy week in 'Eua, I returned to Nuku'alofa just in time to enjoy the best weather that we have experienced since arriving two months ago. The days are sunny and in the mid to high 20s. The south-east trade winds keep things very comfortable and even a little cool at nigh.

On Saturday we took advantage of this good weather by going camping at 'Anuhulu Beach. 'Ana is the Tongan word for cave the beach features just that as well as a graveyard and some good snorkelling.

Due to some laziness on our part, we arrived too late on Saturday to do much other than cook dinner and gaze at the stars. The latter is one of the highlights of living somewhere away from the glow of city lights.

The same is true of the sunrises and sunsets. 'Anahulu beach faces east towards 'Eua, so in the morning I rose early and watched the sun sneak over the horizon before we settled down for breakfast ahead of our first exploration of the cave. As much of the cave that we explored didn't quite live up to its full title (hulu means vast or large), but there was still plenty to see including bats, a few large pools and, unfortunately, because this is Tonga, plenty of litter. We took candles in with us and set them up around the cleanest and largest of the pools as we went for a swim. It was little cold and a bit eerie, but we all emerged from the cave safe and sound. Another trip into the cave was organised for the afternoon, and at that time it was a great way to escape the heat of the day.

No photos from inside the cave unfortunately. There are some photos of the graves up on my flickr site.

If that wasn't enought of a highlight for the week, Thursday saw the opening of parliament. This is no dull and dour affair, but starting from about 9:30 in the morning involves schoolchildren and military groups marching and dancing up and down the main street of Nuku'alofa for the best part of four hours. There are plenty of photos on my flickr site, which best capture the colour and pageantry of the day. I am looking forward to the parade for the King's birthday, his health permitting, which should make yesterday's celebration seem rather dull.

'eua and error

This last week has been spent in ‘Eua. I didn’t go in to the week with great expectations, hoping only to have a relaxing week away from irritations and to do some work. I was anticipating this post to be quite short as I didn’t want to cover old ground from my earlier visit to ‘Eua. It won’t be, the week was eventful both for me and Tonga. There are also plenty of accompanying photos now up on my flickr page.

This, my second, trip to ‘Eua was to support my newly-adopted counterpart, Winston, and two UN technical assistants prepare a strategic development plan for ‘Eua. This could have been a really dull week, with me just tagging along setting up computers and projectors, etc. As it turned out I was very much involved in the job of developing the plan and this job was a huge amount of fun, though a little exhausting, because the UN technical assistant who made it to ‘Eua succeeded at involving the people of ‘Eua as much as possible.

There are about 5000 people living on ‘Eua, working mainly as farmers, in forestry or as part of the small, but expanding tourism industry. The people live what is described on the sign at the airport a “friendly village life” in 14 villages spread out along the main road and the eastern coast. ‘Eua is also home to perhaps the only national park in the Kingdom worthy of such a name. Our job for the week was to work with people from all across the island and start to capture what they want for the future. The whole exercise could lend itself to pretension, however thanks to good planning on the part of the UN guys, the current popular enthusiasm for change in Tonga and the friendliness of our hosts the whole week was very uplifting.

From our arrival on Friday until the workshop on Wednesday, the days, Sunday aside, were filled meeting the various associations, collectives, chambers and other interest groups in ‘Eua. These ranged from rather dull affairs to more lively sessions, but all were interesting because they were mostly conducted in Tongan (which has inspired me to work harder on the language) and thanks to some quick translations and some participants talking in English, I finally had a chance to get a feel for how real Tongans, rather than just public servants, regard their lives and the good humour with which they approach everything.

In the evenings, we were entertained either at our guesthouse or the home of Winston’s uncle. Getting to go to Va’inga’s house was a real treat. The hospitality was superb with plentiful food and alcohol put on for us. It was also nice to talk at length with Va’inga and whoever else would drop by.

The youngest in the family, a girl of a bit less then two, also thought that these palangis who kept visiting her house were the scariest thing in the world. At the start of the week our arrival would be greeted with a terrified expression before she burst into tears. With each night the little thing became less and less afraid, to the point that she would wave at us from a distance or another room. If we were in the same room, however, she would quickly attach herself to the nearest Tongan adult and stare out at us from within their protective embrace, apprehensive about these strange pale people.

Nights at The Hideway can be great. There is little to do apart from chat with the other guests and the place attracts interesting guests. Our first night involved some generous guests who kept the beers and talk about the current climate of change, including rumours of a possible strike brewing, coming for a few hours.

I didn’t want to go into too much detail now about the current tensions in Tonga, as that will surely be the topic of another blog when the strikes take place in a fortnight. But it is hard to avoid the topic of the moment.

As I think I have mentioned, the Tongan public servants went on strike last year in protest at the disparity in pay between the Ministers and public servants. This dispute quickly escalated into a dispute about democratic and political reform, the escalation being supported at the time in no small part by our fellow and generous guests at The Hideaway. This escalation was momentous for Tonga, as it represented the first time that the Tongan people in large numbers openly criticised their government and sections of the royal family. The strike ended with public servants being awarded 60, 70 and 80 per cent pay rises, however this was later qualified by the need to make a quarter of the public service redundant to pay for the increases.

Also, the then PM, a member of the royal family, resigned earlier this year and was replaced by a new PM who was appointed by the King from members of parliament elected by the people – the first popularly elected, commoner PM in a round about kind of way. (This new PM bears an eerie resemblance to Bob Hawke). In the last week, this PM has announced a cabinet reshuffle that included appointing three additional. Their appointment and the government’s seeming agreement to buy back the power company it had earlier sold to the crown prince, occurring against the background of mass redundancies and a major fiscal crisis has resulted in the public service, supported by business and the democracy movement, to threaten to go on strike again unless the government resign and fresh, wholly-democratic elections are called.

That is, another dispute about equity has quickly become a push for greater democracy. Interesting and historic times in Tonga then.

This enthusiasm for change really affected our final day in ‘Eua, when we conducted a workshop and had the people of ‘Eua choose words for key parts of the plan. Not only was the whole day kept reasonably lively by the current climate of popular empowerment (if I can call it that), but also people were genuinely happy to be working together, rather than at loggerheads and with the exclusion of some groups, such as women and youth. The end result was some genuinely good ideas and all round good feeling.

I can’t wait to go back to ‘Eua in August/September to finish the plans and I haven’t even mentioned the whales that should be migrating through the area at the time.

tinned corned beef and taro

Food in Tonga is meant to be very poor, in variety and quality, and very expensive, in price. Or so I had read before arriving. The title of this post is what I was threatened to expect. The reality is much better, at least where I live. It can be a challenge to prepare good food, but not from a lack of variety. This week my post should assure all of you that you won’t go hungry or have to do without if you visit Tonga. Also, people should feel reassured that I am neither wasting away (getting fitter, yes) nor suffering any loss in my culinary abilities by being reduced to cooking two-minute noodles each night. Hopefully, I also convey some of the fun of shopping and cooking in Tonga.

I should say to start that I am quite lucky. My work is located next door to the Talamahu Maketi (Market), which is the main market in Nuku’alofa. Monday to Friday I can slip next door at lunch time to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables.
Locally grown bananas, pineapple, lime and watermelon are the most plentiful fruits available, though I have also found it easy enough to buy apeli (apples) and oranges imported from New Zealand when the urge takes me or, with oranges, when I have been run down.

The stalls inside the market also sell beans, carrots, eggplant, okra, garlic and ginger on a regular basis. One day they are there, the next you may not be so lucky. I have also bought pumpkin (once), coriander (twice), bok choy and a few other herbs on the rare occasions they have been available to keep the variety up.

The vegetables and fruit are arranged in small piles or bunchs. Each pile usually costs 2 pa’anga. So rather than choosing how much you want, you choose the pile that looks freshest and hand over your 2 pa’anga. A very simple system, that avoids the need for scales or more than a rudimentary knowledge of Tongan/English for the buyer/seller when a palangi is involved.

The outside of the market is fringed with stalls selling taro, kumala (sweet potato), ufi (yam) by the basket load. The logisitics of carrying a basket of taro whilst riding home have prevented me purchasing any of these, though our neighbour has kindly given us some ufi and we have bought kumala elsewhere in more manageable quantities.

Throughout the week the range at the maketi improves, with Saturday being the most plentiful. On Sunday, as with everything else, the market is closed. Which necessitates a bit of planning, to make sure we don’t go hungry especially as Monday’s pickings can be a little slim sometimes.

The vegetable part of shopping and cooking is fairly easy then. Meet, spices, sauces and other supermarket items are another matter as most of these, apart from fish, are imported from overseas.

Across the road from the maketi, and on the same road as I live, is the most westernised supermarket – Molisi’s. It is generally well stocked, but can be a little pricey so Tongans and more experienced palangis always question why I shop there. Convenience is enough reason for me on most days, but I still find myself doing a tour of several supermarkets at least one lunch-time a week and on Saturday mornings.

Apart from a desire to explore, the tour is necessary as no two supermarkets stock the same products and each is sure to run low between shipments. Hunting out ingredients can be great fun and as long as I am sure to check the use-by dates, the finds can dramatically change the menu for the following week. Each trip brings new surprises as the stock is always changing or replenishing with each ships arrival. The effort makes you appreciate how convenient life is in Australia when you can shop when you want and know that you are fairly likely to find what you want.

Supermarket items can be pricey. Dairy especially. As is cereal. Though the latest shipment did bring some cheaper muesli which I have been treating myself to on weekends with locally made yoghurt and fruit.

Meat and fish is a fun all of its own. I have mainly been cooking with chicken and fish. Red meat is hard to find, apart from lamb flaps and beef mince which are both very fatty. Depsite almost every Tongan seeming to own a puaka (pig), these are reserved for ceremonial feasts so there is no pork and bacon is imported from New Zealand frozen and expensive.

Chicken is only available frozen, either whole or as drumsticks. I have adapted to cooking curries and such using whole drumsticks, but am becoming quite adept at de-boning frozen or partially thawed drumsticks for stir-fries et cetera. Packing my good knife has also proved hand for quartering whole frozen chickens when I feel like something different or more elaborate.

Cooking fish has also required me to learn some new skills. Though I have found snapper and mahi mahi fillets, whole fish is far more plentiful. When I say whole, I mean whole. The Tongan fishmongers leave it up to the customers to clean and scale any whole fish. The other fish that is readily available is tuna which is cheap at about A$5 a kilo, but it is sold by the round. That is they take a whole tune and slice it vertically into discs about 7 centimetres thick. To obtain steaks or smaller pieces you need to remove the skin and bones. As each round weighs about 3 kilograms, this is usually done with a frozen fish after the first meal. Tuna loin (sashimi quality tuna) is also available for about A$10 a kilo, but I haven’t bought any yet.

My diet also includes a good range of bakery products. Bread for toast in the mornings as well as various cakes, donuts, slices and other treats in the afternoon and on Sundays. Bakeries, as I have mentioned, are the only places open on Sundays, so after going for a long ride, as I have most Sundays, I treat myself to something like cupcakes or donuts.

The other novelty about shopping in Tonga is the Falekaloa, which translates as house (fale) of goods (kaloa). On every second corner, it seems, there is a Falekaloa. These could be best described as downmarket 7-Elevens. They sell nearly everything you could want that has a decent shelf life or can be kept frozen in a freezer. From our nearest falekaloa, 20 metres away, we have bought toilet paper, beer, phone cards, toys, biscuits, flour and many other things. Only, most falekaloas have a counter across the front with security bars and you stand outside whilst purchasing what you want.

Making purchases has been a bit of a challenge at our local falekaloa, like many, is operated by a couple from Hong Kong that bought Tongan passports in the hope of emigrating to Australia or the US prior to the return of Hong Kong to China. As soon as it became known that Tonga was selling passports, Australia and the US ceased to recognise the purchased passports and the people from Hong Kong have been stuck in Tonga ever since. As they can't buy property, most run small retail outlets in rented properties. Their Tongan is great, but mine isn't just like their English so making purchases requires lots of miming and pointing as well as help from other customers.

The other big difference between a falekaloa and a 7-eleven is price. Through a combination of shoddy construction (most falekaloa are small shacks built on somebodies front yard), buying in bulk and self-packaging (such as with flour) the prices are kept below those of the supermarkets. All this and convenient as well.

There is one other fale that is important for food and that is the falekai, literally house of eat, or restaurant. We have sampled a few and the food is cheap and decent. They range from cafes through chinese and japanese to italian. No fine dining, but a nice change when you can't be bothered cooking.

Enough about food, if I talk about it anymore I will have to find a bakery.

Doubt as to why I am here in Tonga nearly consumed me in the last fortnight. After seven weeks, I am well aware of the attractions of the place – the people, their culture, the islands and their surrounds all have me enthralled and eager to see more. However, if I were only to come to Tonga as a tourist, then I would have been better remaining in Australia and earning enough money to enjoy the journey without seven hours a day, five days a week buried in the labyrinth that serves as my office. These thirty-five hours are ostensibly for work and it is a lack of such that I have found so troubling. I have also had trouble with other volunteers whose lack of experience will result in them making things worse through their fumbling efforts.

Things have improved this week as I have been working with two technical assistants from the UN and a Tongan to prepare a development plan for the island 'Eua I visited at Easter. This week we have met with senior people from all over government and it has been a good opportunity to learn about the Tongan public sector. Information isn't readily accessible, and you don't simply go around setting up meetings with senior people (well not unless you are the other volunteer I have a problem with). The meetings on 'Eua has allowed me to learn a lot more about the roles of the different ministries and authorities (which aren't all that self evident) and also how Tongans think about the role of government. Slowly, I am becoming able to piece together a work program for myself that will, all going to plan, result in something meaningful improvement.

I will have more time to think about this as I return to 'Eua from Friday. I will be spending a week there for work completing the consultation for the development plan and helping to conduct the final workshop where the technical assistants will attempt to write the plan. I will be without internet for the week, so there will be another long gap between posts.

'ane po na'e mofuike

The title of this post translates as, "last night there was an earthquake". I know that isn't perfectly correct, as the earthquake was two nights ago now. However, saying the night before last is a bit of a stretch for my limited Tongan.

My first attempt to say "there was an earthquake" in Tongan was " 'Ane po na'a Tonga teketekelili." I thought this translated as "last night Tonga shook", but my language teacher corrected this to "last night Tonga was enraged". Having experienced the earthquake, that isn't an inappropriate description.

Anyway, you are probably all more interested to read about the earthquake rather than receive "ako lea fakatonga" (Tongan language lessons).

Fortunately, I haven't been sleeping through the night since arriving in Tonga so I was awake when all the excitement began. Fortunate in that I was able to experience it rather than fortunate because I didn't get hurt (which I didn't anyway). I may have awoken ahead of the earthquake because the dogs in there weird doggish-way sensed its approach and began barking madly well before the ground rumbled. Once the earthquake began, everything went quiet and there was just the roar of the quake itself and the occasional clatter as something fell from a shelf or the blinds were smashed against the wall.

It felt like our house was a boat being tossed about on a rough ocean. The house, and possibily a large amount of Nuku'alofa, seemed to move as one whole and there never seemed to be any real threat of the house being broken up or the roof collapsing.

After the initial excitement and confirming with my bemused housemate that we had just experienced an earthquake we both went back to bed. Before going to bed, John had watched an episode of Buffy that featured an earthquake which resulted in the opening of a hellmouth and the issuing forth of various demons. I think at first he thought the real earthquake was just a dream, and then later, if it was a dream, when the demons would appear. Tonga is too devout for this possibility.

There was a tsunami warning issued shortly after the earthquake, but Tonga was without power and even the Australian High Commission, which has its own generator, didn't receive the warning of the threat of the wave until forty minutes after it was meant to hit Tonga. A great early warning system.

This week has involved a couple of firsts. In addition to the earthquake, I saw my first 'anga (shark) whilst snorkelling. Only a 60cm reef shark, but it caused me to pause for a moment as it emerged from the murky water (probably stirred up by the earthquake and an overnight storm). I should have followed it for a while, but lost it whilst trying to attract the attention of the others I was snorkelling with.

Unfortunately, whilst I was swimming somebody stole my small swimming goggles which I had left with my t-shirt. We were warned about the high likelihood of being the victims of burglary and theft whilst we were here. As far as things go a $10 pair of goggles is pretty light price to pay for my first experience.

I am to work on the development of an infrastructure plan for the island of 'Eua I visited at easter. My role will be in support of two foreign technical assistants, from NZ and the UN, so I am not sure there will be much for me to do. At least I will score a trip to 'Eua out of my involvement. There may also be a subsequent plan for the Niuas, which are the most remote of the Tongan islands. They are closer to Samoa then Nuku'alofa and are serviced by one plane a week and one boat a month (if the ocean is calm enough to allow them to dock). There is little chance of me going to the Niuas as a tourist, so going for work would be quite a piece of luck.

Finally, I didn't manage to sleep through all of last night either. I wasn't woken by an earthquake, but by my mum calling to let me know that my sister Annabel had given birth to a baby girl Mieke Elizabeth Kennedy. This was as exciting a reason to be awoken as an earthquake, though a little more expected. The free flight from virginblue as compensation for our delayed trip to Tonga will be put to good use to visit Mieke, my other niece Bronte and all my family in Sydney for christmas.

how not to ride around the island of tongatapu

On Sunday 23 April, a couple of English volunteers (Al and Emma), another AYAD (Heather) and I embarked on our first significant ride around Tongatapu. The trip was inspired by Al who wanted to visit Mapua a Vaca (The Chiefs Whistle or blowholes) before his two months in Tonga came to a close on the following Wednesday.

As mentioned in the last post, Tongatapu is fairly flat which makes riding quite easy as long as you can avoid the potholes and dogs. The island isn't overly small, but you could certainly manage a full circumnavigation in a day if you kept the pace up and weren't too distracted by the scenery and beaches. Riding at a cruisy pace, and allowing for the few wrong turns that will inevitably result from relying on a tourist map for directions, the ride to Mapua a Vaca in the south-west of the island took about an hour traversing from Nuku'alofa in the centre of the north of Tongatapu.

An hour long ride constitutes exercise in most peoples comprehension, which means that the four of us were breaking the law as exercising (or working) on Sunday is illegal in Tonga. However, we were met with friendly smiling faces only and none of the pious ire that we were warned to expect.

This first part of the trip was calamity free. Apart from arriving at low tide which reduced the spectacle somewhat we were all quite happy with our achievement and after a few photos and a quick swim we were ready for some lunch. Being Sunday, this is easier said and done. Again, the law precludes shops from being opening so we were relying on our questionable map and navigational skills to direct us to one of the few resorts that would be nearby and flaunting this rule.

After an hour and a half of further riding heading east along the south of the island, a flat-tire (me, after successfully an entire town of potholed road I relaxed and took my off the road and caught the one lone pothole in otherwise good stretch of road) and a nip on the ankle from a territorial mutt (Emma) there was still no sign of a resort. Somewhat forlorn, we pulled off the main road and headed back towards the ocean in the hope of at least finding a nice place to swim if not food. We were well rewarded, as we had stumbled upon Matatahi (beach) Veitonga.

The drama of the day continued when we went to set off. My key broke in the lock of my bike and was only after much trying that we extricated both Al's and my bike from the pole they were locked around. We also managed to get a little further lost on our way back to Nuku'alofa (following other peoples directions) and thereby had covered nearly half the island in our day of riding before coming across a bakery on the fringes of the capital which from all accounts sold the most well appreciated warm sausage rolls and cup cakes ever.

Next time we go for a ride, we might do it on a day other than Sunday and go a little better prepared. I am still trying to overcome the chest cold I woke up with on Monday after all the exertion. On Anzac Day (Tuesday), we did return to Matatahi Veitonga, but went by car and took all our food with us.

On the Saturday, I went to my first rugby match in Tonga. The game was part of the second round of the Pacific Cup - a new five round competition between six teams, two from each of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji (a not-so-Super 6). It was a muddy affair and the gold jerseys of the Tonga Tautahi team were looking decidely brown by the end of the game. Coincidentally, Jess also went to a match that was part of the Pacific Cup on the weekend. I guess it shows how much a part of life it is here.

The way the competition is structured, means that there is a match in Tonga every Saturday the five weeks. I am pretty keen to go to some of the remaining games, so there should be a few more photos of polynesian rugby.

Still no real work. However, my time in Tonga won't be all beautiful beaches and rugby matches, thankfully. As nice as it would be to have an extended holiday, I do have to turn up at work everyday from 8:30 to 4:30 which is a lot of time to fill with not much to do. I have finally spoken to the director of my department at some length, and there is definitely meaningful work for me to do in the longer term on developing the Kingdom's strategic policy and ensuring that the policy is pursued by the various government agencies. This work will start post the restructure in July.

My job, well what I would like to do, is to encourage the soon-to-be-appointed CEOs of the government departments to at least adhere to what semblance of a plan their is for Tonga by imposing some discipline on the functioning of the public service through adequate planning and budgetary discipline. However, since there is nobody really leading the whole show this might be a little hard. The consultant who wrote the Strategic Development Plan will be back next week so that will be a good opportunity to learn a bit from him.

In the meantime, my time in the office will be spent working on the 'Eua Master Plan (though with two consultants being brought in there shouldn't be too much work) and studying the copy of An Intensive Course in Tongan that I bought yesterday. You will all have to test me by making me speak Tongan as much as possible when you visit.

the week of rain

Since Thursday 12 April, it has rained everyday for a little over a week. This isn't exactly in keeping with Tonga as an island paradise. Admittedly, the rain has been both blessing and curse - respite from the hot, muggy conditions that had assaulted us since our arrival in Tonga was certainly welcome. However, the rain somewhat disrupted the long-weekend trip to 'Eua.

Before I recount on the trip, now is probably a good time for a geography lesson. Tonga, as I hope most of you know by now, is located in the Pacific Ocean north of New Zealand and east of Fiji. (Nowhere near the Solomon Islands, for those of you who are concerned.)

The Kingdom is made up of 177 islands divided into four island groups. Running south to north, these are Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u and the Niuas, as shown in the map I stole from another website.

I live, as most Tongans do, on the island of Tongatapu where the capital, Nuku'alofa, is located. The physical highlight of Tongatapu is the reef that surrounds the island. Otherwise, Tongatapu is an amazingly flat island and most of the natural vegetation has been removed since the Tongans first arrived 3000 years ago, to be replaced by coconut trees which has actually been required by law since 1927. From the Land Act:

Every male Tongan subject ... shall within one year from the date of [taking posession of land] have growing on such allotment 200 coconut trees planted in rows and so arranged that the trees are 9 metres apart or 4.5 metres apart in rows 18 metres distant from each other.

This is just one example of the over regulation that blights the Kingdom.

As I was explaining in my last post, 'Eua lies to the south-east of Tongatapu and is in stark contrast to the flatness of the main island being dominated by a low ridge that extends the length of the island. As most of the land remains unallocated, the natural rainforest and pine plantations dominate (though there are still some coconut trees). This and a number of interesting geological formations make 'Eua just about perfect for bushwalking and camping, which was our plan for the Easter long-weekend.

The weekend started with an 8-minute flight from Fua'amotu domestic airport, supposedly the shortest commercial flight in the world. In June to November, the low altitude of the flight allows you to spot the migrating whales below - no such luck for us. I was able to take a couple of photos of the Tongatapu coast (which shows the reef I mentioned) and coconut trees. I recommend the flight, being over and done with before you even know it and far better than the horror stories I have heard about the ferry which is the only alternative.

Plans to camp/trek over a night or two were put on hold when we were greeted by the continuiing downpour on our first morning in 'Eua. The options were to sit and read a book or take the 4WD tour. Normally, I would baulk at the idea of 4WD-ing, but everybody else was enthusiastic and I didn't think it a good idea to finish my book on the first day of what could be a very wet long-weekend. Lucky for me, as the tour was well worthwhile the highlights being a visit to the big banyan tree and Maui's fault.

The description of the banyan tree is no understatement. The trunk of twisted vines stretches over 10 metres in diameter and the tree towered above despite starting in a cave 5 metres or so below us. We clambered down into the cave via a muddy slope and then used the twisted trunk of the banyan tree to climb back out. This set a trend for how a 4WD tour in Tonga differs from one in Australia.

Maui's fault is a large chasm formed, as legend would have it, when the Polynesian god Maui struck his kava stick into the ground and moved it back and forth to tear a whole in the earth. The Lonely Planet Tonga Guidebook says climbing into Maui's without climbing gear is impossible. Our guide, Peter, told us this story as we travelled to the fault. On arrival he then instructed us on how to climb down into and then out of the fault using a few muddy footholds and the thick vines of nearby trees exactly as he had done for the Lonely Planet author. There wasn't much point to us climbing into this cave, other than the challenge of getting out again, but it was fun and proved that you shouldn't always believe the guidebooks.

On Sunday, with the rain still beating down a few of us chose to do the only thing you legally can do in Tonga on that day and went to church. I have already attended the large King's Church in Nuku'alofa as part of our orientation. The quality of the singing and the ferocity of the sermon at the King's Church were good, but nothing when compared to the intimacy of the small village church we attended in Tufuvai, 'Eua. Being agnostic, my attendance at church is purely cultural appreciation. The highlights are the singing of the hymns, which the Tongans pride themselves on, and the game of pass-the-baby which involves any child under two being passed from mother to aunty to uncle to sister and so on throughout the whole service.

Monday was a little more low key as we were meant to fly back to Tongatapu that evening. I went for a walk along the coast wading through rock pools and managed a few octopuses, sea slugs, flat worms an eel and the usual array of fish and coral. On returning from the walk, we found out our flight was cancelled because of all the rain. I am getting used to delays flying to Tongatapu anyway, so the extra hours of swimming and exploring were very welcome.

In 'Eua we stayed at The Hideaway. Though rather basic, The Hideaway is relaxed and pleasant. The owners, who lived in Canberra for twenty years, are extremely friendly and seem to be the first to recognise the tourist potential of 'Eua, organising the tours around the island and whale watching in season. This and the good, sizeable meals make the Hideaway a great place to stay.

On work, the Minister has decided that the department where I work will indeed take on a policy advisory role when it is merged with the Ministry later this month (as I suggested on this blog last week) and also redouble its efforts to ensure that the national development plan is adhered to at budget time. For some reason, the Director is proposing that I work on developing a database rather than these other tasks. A quick, but tentative, email with my application to the AYAD Program attached and some suggestions of work I could do might change their mind. Here's looking forward to next week.

I have also worked out a way of uploading photos from work. They just don't upload in the order I would like. Check them out on my flickr site.

to work i go, in my tupenu

I had my first day at ngaue (work) on Wednesday 12 April. Actually, I was also there last week, but that was only for twenty minutes so it hardly counts. I am still a little unsure about what I will be doing here on a day-to-day basis. People can read my AYAD profile if they would like to know what I am meant to be doing. Please excuse the photo.

The uncertainty is caused by a number of factors. Tonga for the first time has a Prime Minister that was elected to parliament by the people, though still appointed by the King. This has occurred against a backdrop of further political reform. Also, the Prime Minister recently announced a restructure of the Tongan Government that will result in a reduction of departments (and staff) with my ngaue becoming part of a larger Ministry. It is certainly an interesting and momentous time to be in Tonga.

My workplace has been focussed of late on preparing the national development plan which is mentioned in my profile, however with a new Prime Minister and the democratic reform underway I can't help but wonder whether there is a possibility that the plan will be rewritten to reflect the increased role of the government in setting the strategic direction for Tonga.

The other possible consequence of the develotuion of power on my work is the need for the government here to now develop its own policy. The influx of economists into the Ministry of Finance, coming from my workplace, may in future be employed to develop policy or provide policy advice. My impression is that this would be somewhat novel.

I guess I will have to wait and see about work, hopefully not as long as 1 July when the merger occurs. Maybe when I finally get to talk to my boss next week, I will learn something.

On a cultural note, starting work involves wearing the tupenu, pronounced too-peh-noo, - the traditional Tongan skirt which is worn by all men working in government departments (and many places otherwise). I am planning to upload a photo of me wearing my tupenu, but the internet connections I have available will not allow me to upload anything at the moment.

In theory the tupenu should be ideal for the local climate, however the three that I have been able to buy are all made out of a rather coarse, thick polyester material - not so pleasent. Riding a bike in a tupenu is not something that I am rushing to try either, I just wear shorts and change when I get to work.

The other thing I have done in the last week - apart from eat, drink and go snorkelling - is find a house. I am living with one other AYAD, John, in a small, but new, clean and orderly place quite close to town. It takes me about five miniutes to ride to work, but even five minutes is a bit of an adventure with Tongan drivers and certainly long enough to get a little bothered in the heat. Photos of my house will be uploaded shortly also.

For Easter, the other AYADs and I are going to 'Eua, the most southern of Tonga's inhabited islands. Details of the trip next week, as well as more Tongan language.

thursday airport, sunday island

My year in Tonga started well. Checking-in at Melbourne Airport on Thursday, I managed to have my 70kg of luggage accepted without any charge. This must be some kind of record.

Things were okay at Sydney Airport until I said goodbye to mum and Annabel who were kind enough to visit and have lunch with me for two hours of what was meant to be a four hour stopover. The four hours quickly became five, and then we were told it would be after another three hours before our flight would take off.

Eight hours at an airport is never fun and I am very glad that the other AYADs departing for Tonga were also with me to provide entertainment. The "food vouchers" provided by polynesian blue (used at the bar of course) also helped.

In the end we were lucky to get out after 11 hours, as the Sydney Airport curfew would have come into affect as we were taking off. As we taxied out, I thought that I might get to farewell Jess a second time if I had been forced to spend the night in Sydney and fly out the next day.

Finally, at 5:30 am local time we touched down on Tongatapu. The sun was rising and our passage through customs and immigration was quick and painless. This coupled with a promise from polynesian blue of a free fare were good ways to make up for the delay.

After little to no sleep, Friday was a bit of a right-off. Lunch at the High Commissioner's house and dinner at the nearest restaurant to our hotel was all that we managed. I was glad for any instructions that were provided, thinking wasn't working with that little sleep.


On Saturday we visited the market to buy food that was cooked that night at a bbq-on-the-beach that some of the soon-to-depart AYADs invited us to on the western tip of the island.
I cooked steamed snapper with chilli, lime, garlic and ginger and others roasted vegetables and chicken which were very nice thank you and proof that you can get good food in Tonga. I will be eating a lot of fish this year, it is all that cheap - even tuna (A$4/kg).

The bbq was preceded by a few ikales (the local beer) drunk whilst swimming around the reef watching the sunset.

We spent Sunday at Pangaimotu Island where none of the usual religious restrictions are in place and for this reason is referred to as Sunday Island. We spent our time snorkelling and enjoying the sun and sand. where we went snorkelling.

Generally. It is very hot here, but I am already using my bike a fair bit to get around. Tongatapu is very flat and it isn't too far to anywhere we need to go. Nuku'alofa is very underdeveloped. More so than I expected, but that is quickly forgotten. You forget very quickly and despite the heat everything is very easy to do. The ocean is almost always in view and the water is gorgeous. The people are very friendly, as you would expect. This year is certainly going to be a once in a lifetime experience.

Today we started language lessons and I bought my first tupenu (skirt). The tupenu is brown polyster, but that was the only one in my size. I will need it for Thursday when I go to work for the first time. Photos of me in my tupenu and more will follow as soon as a I find a computer that I can connect my camera or iPod with to upload them.

a year in tonga

in april 2006, i will be going to tonga for a year to work as an australian youth ambassador for development.

I will use this site to publish notes on my time in Tonga.

More in April.