Good to be back but missing Tonga

It’s been three months since my time in Tonga. To help curb my nostalgia here are some memories I caught on camera.




This is the fruit tree in the backyard. My first time eating fekika fruit. Looks like the tree of life.


Fruit at the market. Vi, papaya, lemons, star fruit, bananas and indian apple.


And fresh root crop. It's Tonga's rice.


Sunday meal, kai umu in Sopu with a ward family and a member of the bishopric.



Kai puaka at our staff party.



I found the my look-a-like relative in Vava’u, Bishop Tui’one.


Good times with my roommates, for the last half of my year in Tonga, Tomosan and my first roommate Elaine. Miss you both! Here Tomo and I are enjoying a buffet dinner and a floor show at Liku'alofa on the west side of the main island.


Here Vina, Lina and Nina ran into Elder May when they visited in August. Adam is returning to the states in October 2008.


This girl, daughter of a family friend, is scared of this fakaleiti.


Thirsty? We were sitting in the shade after a kaipola, huge feast, in Kolonga and Fibi just had to handle her craving.

Remember the word, kaipola, huge feast


I don't miss this. Somebody preparing meat for a kaipola.


ISLAND H O P P I N G in Vava'u


Boat stop.


L A P L A Y A









All shoes...and flippers off at the door.

Ai foo or doing laundry at home, near the most convenient water source. Shower time and laundry time.





Here is our ity bity fridge.


Kapa pulu bus. Corned beef bus.




Crazy Aussie's riding two to a bike. On the way back from dropping the rental at the car rental place.


Weaving.


Trying to find a clear cell phone reception. Can you hear me now?


Didn't think I'd ever ride in a limo in Tonga.

We CANOE'D to Pangimotu!!!

(above) Sophie, Tomo and Paula on the Ha'apai canoe, just arriving at Paingimotu from Popua, main land Tongatapu.

Hi Beautiful People!

Sophie and I went to Pangaimotu by canoe aneafi with Tomosan, Kerry, Leigh (newer AYAD), Ofa (Talafo'ou!!!), Sitiveni Fehoko and three other guys from Popua: Sitiveni Si'i, Paula and Lopeti.

Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/vanessa.tuione/FavCanoePangiTripPhotos

We had a good time and I wanted to share photos with my fellow seafarers (haha) and you too!!! (There are more photos than just these by the way...these are just the many highlights, thanks to Tomosan's waterproof camera which made it all possible.) Wish we had waterproof cell phones. Diane, your cell phone is in the cell phone hospital right now because I neglected to provide it a waterproof jacket. But, it's going to survive.

I or maybe we all learned a few things about rowing canoes and stuff: We took a big canoe, the Ha'apai Canoe and a smaller canoe, Dan's canoe -- two canoes and Sitiveni's boat.

Here are a few things I learned. Feel free to add to the list...

Big canoes are better in choppy water.
Little canoes are faster in a current going your way.
Two boys are better than one. (For rowing purposes)
If you row a big canoe, best to have a long oar.
Cell phone + sea water = atamai maha
Waterproof cameras are a must when traveling to the South Pacific.
We really need to teach Tongan's how to swim.
Rowing can be huge in Tonga as a sport.
Just Do It!

'Ofa atu!
Nesa

Mataola's photo face

Opening Day for Tongan Basketball in Talafo'ou

Wow, this was a wonderful experience.

Tomo and I went to Talafo'ou, an eastside village, to attend the Opening Day of the Basketball Season. We know a few girls on the Talafo'ou team.

Shortly after school lets out marking the end of the school year, the basketball season begins. Basketball in Tonga is not like American basketball. It is more similar to netball which I don't really know anything about. It is only played by girls and fakaleiti's (semi-flamboyant to flamboyant gay guys). Tongan Basketball is played on a field, there is no dribbling and the hoops do not have backboards. Girls are really skilled at getting the ball in the hoop, nothing but net. Although there are no nets in Tongan basketball. It is sort of like ultimate frisbee but with a basketball. The field is divided in three sections with two goal areas around the hoops. The players are assigned to a section and they can only play in that section. Once a shooter has indicated that they will shoot and are in the goal area, the defense must let them shoot with no interference. The game is often rough and I would be scared for my life if I played. The uniforms include skirts with tight shorts underneath.

This year's captain is our good friend Ofa. She had to prepare additional traditional Tongan stuff to give as a gift to the opposing team and their captain. The home team, especially on Opening Day prepares a lot of Tongan stuff to give as gifts to the visiting team, including food.


Ofa (team captain)



The whole community of the home team gets involved in this transfer of Tongan gifts and it was wonderful to watch. There are some photos here of the Talafo'ou team members wearing huge tapa cloths, fala, fabric and blankets over their uniforms before the game. One by one, they were called onto the field by position and they shed their Tongan wear and gave them as gifts to the cooresponding position player from the opposing team. This was done to fun dancing music provided by the DJ. The older women danced, so did the young children, the older men danced but mostly drank kava, and younger men were involved in preparing the umu to give to the oppposing team, the opposing team arrived in a caravan singing or honking their horns to the DJ's loud music and the community leaders spoke to each other welcoming each other to this occassion. It all was really very beautiful to me.

Oh and by the way, Talafo'ou won. That was the icing on the cake, some dang good icing. The score was something like 17 - 10. One thing I found maybe odd was that the spectators are all very serious during the game. No one makes noise. No cheering. Just clapping when a team scores. Tongans are serious about their basketball.

For more photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/vanessa.tuione/OpeningDayBASKETBALLInTalafoOu

My Address

Vanessa Tui'one
c/o Tonga National Youth Congress
P.O. Box 2670
Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Puaka anyone?

Cousins, Sione and Paula, who prepared puaka for dinner practically every other night while I was in Vava'u back in June.

I don't know how old Paula is but he is much younger than Sione. Sione is 17.

Photos of Paula and Sione killing the pig, etc: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/vanessa.tuione/PaulaAndSionePreparingThePuaka

The Ha'amonga - A Brief History Lesson

I am very pleased to say that this history lesson includes canoes, double hulls and kalias.


My sister Vina and I during her visit in August


Information from the Tonga Visitors Bureau

Although Nuku’alofa has been the seat of government and royal family for over a century now, legend records that the first Tongan kings ruled from the far Eastern village of Niutoua, where the monumental Ha’amonga (trilithon) stone stands. This trilithon consists of two large vertical stones with a third horizontal connecting stone mortised into the tops of the upright pillars.

These uprights are about 5m high, 4.25m wide and 1.4m thick. The lintel is 5.8m long, 1.4m wide and 0.61m thick. The visible portions of the uprights are estimated to weigh between 30 and 40 tonnes each.


Filo on top of the Ha'amonga.

Ha’amonga Trilithon

The eleventh Tu’i Tonga, Tu’itatui, built the trilithon about 1200 AD. The two uprights are said to represent his two sons, Lafa and Talaiha’apeape, with the lintel uniting the columns symbolizing brotherhood. The Tu’i Tonga was concerned his sons might quarrel after his death and erected the monument as a reminder to stay united. It was they who decided to move the centre of the government to Lapaha. It is said they preferred a more calm anchorage site for their great double-canoes.

Lapaha is the northern district of Mu’a, situated on the shores of a lagoon about 9km east of Nuku’alofa. Because it was the centre of Tongan culture and chiefly rulers for at least six centuries it is the richest area for archaeological monuments in the Kingdom.

Nothing remains of the original living and working quarters of the ancient royal families but a few scattered foundation mounds. However, you can still see the outline of the moat which once encircled the central “kolo” of fortified royal village. (One end of the moat ditch reaches to the present main road next to the large burial mound “Tu’ofefafa”).

During the long reign of the Tu’i Tonga, every village and island was governed by a chief who could trace his descent to the Tu’i Tonga himself. The first known Tu’i Tonga ruled some time about the early ninth century, but the dynasty seems to have reached its peak of power and sophistication about the 15th and 16th centuries, including the reign of Tele’a, whose superb tomb, the “paepae’o-Tele’a,” stands as the finest achievement of ancient Tongan monumental work. By the time Captain Cook arrived in the “Friendly Islands,” in 1780, the dynasty was already degenerating and sixty years after Cook’s visit the Tu’i Tonga was overthrown by the Kanokupolu Chief, Taufa’ahau Tupou I, who went on to found the modern parliamentary monarchy which rules Tonga today.

The power and size of the Tu’i Tonga dynasty can hardly be overstated. Legends and histories from al over the Western Pacific confirm the dominance of the Tongan empire, at the dynasty’s high point. Travelling abroad on their great “kalia” canoes, the Tongans conquered Samoa, the Wallis and Futuna islands, Niue and parts of Fiji.

-- end --

So...what was the downfall of the Tu'i Tonga dynasty? Need to look for another pamphlet on that one.

Later in the pamphlet it said that the Tongans mined the coral lintels from Ha'apai and Paingaimotu (small island off the coast of Nuku'alofa) and transported them to the main island on double hulls. That's cool. No one is making double hulls now in Tonga. Sounds like we need another canoe festival to me.

Great news, the Vava'u Canoe Carving team from the Canoe Festival 2007 has their sights on building a kalia!