Fehu'i - Questions

My birthday was as great as ever. As the years pass by I continue to feel blessed. I live in an amazing country and have met wonderful people. I ate awesome Mexican food (a treat here in Tonga) and saw a whale breach right here in the harbor. In current circumstances with the Government strike I have not received mail in 6 weeks – but I got a package from my family on my actual birthday. Simple delights.

Question: How do you maintain a youth group when the youth are always spending months at a time on holiday in other villages?

I can’t seem to figure this one out. The nature of living in this generous culture is that individuals can just stay with relatives for extended periods of time at no cost. This makes scheduling events or retaining plans almost impossible. This has led to me getting sucked into Harry Potter lately. A friend just received #6 so I feel this distraction will continue.

Question: How do you motivate youth?

I’ve struggled with this for my whole first year. I’ve tried food (too expensive), movie nights (attracts more kids than youth), personal invitations to events (thrown in the trash), and begging/pleading (just makes me look bad). None of it has been effective. I would like more participation in meetings and events, but maybe I’m setting my standard too high. Maybe this is about training myself to redefine participation. Is one youth enough or two? Am I here to change a village or to give a couple of youth some opportunity to grow?

How do you make a yard grow into a beautiful garden?

You’ve heard me complain before about my lack of gardening skills. I recently broke down and asked for help. I was sitting in my yard reading and realized that although I had made several attempts at planting, it looked plain and boring. After five youth and eight kids came through in a frenzy, I now have a little color in my yard. I even have a tire filled with flowering creeping plants. So my solution was to stick with what I know – Ask other people to do it for me.

Until next week.

Love,
Adrianne

Samoa

Sitting at the airport for six hours hoping that the plane flying above would actually land, I thought to myself – where is the Frequent Flyer Room? Where is the complimentary drink and internet connection that my Dad always talks about? After being informed that the plane could not land due to weather I was told that another plane (that could land) had taken my bag. After a few deep breaths I realized another week in Tonga was not the worst thing in the world.

Two weeks of delays was worth it once I finally arrived in Samoa. I played pool, stayed in a hut on the beach, snorkeled, ate amazing food, shopped in the markets, slid down a waterfall, hiked through the hills, and didn’t see a soul that I knew. Total Bliss.
When you live on a small island and there is a play by play description of you r every move, it is joyous to be anonymous.

Refreshed and renewed I came home to a continuation of the Government strike. Still no school and no mail, but life goes. As Peace Corps Volunteers we are told not to participate in any movements or protests and to keep our opinions to a minimum. So off the record - this is a good step for the people of this country. For individuals that typically don’t give their opinion, to take a stand on something they feel is important – is huge.

Once home I also got to participate in a retreat for the new training group. It was a chance for us old folks to share our wisdom with the new group and enjoy some perks of living in the South Pacific as well. We ventured out to a little resort island, Mala. After enjoying volleyball on the beach and stuffing ourselves with a wonderful Tongan lunch, we were invited up to the lodge for a drink by the New Zealand High Commissioner, who happened to be spending the weekend. He was totally split, which made our conversation about whale watching and volunteering all the more enjoyable. I’ve been feeling like a bit of a lush taking great pleasure in having the US Government pay for our lunch and boat ride, the New Zealand Government pay for our drinks, and I was looking for a representative of Australia to try and get dinner out of the whole deal. It was a wonderful day and it was great to get to spend time with the new group.

At the close of the week I was able to see two of my youth get married. Well actually they had run away during the week and gotten married but this was their first Sunday in church (which is huge here). There is lots of gossip running around because the couple are actually first cousins. Blood lines run close here in Okoa, but this is not typical and is prohibited by law. The mother of the groom is now claiming that the father is not the true father in order to prevent shame upon the family. I thought it was a little too late for that, but apparently after the first Sunday of the marriage all is forgiven. The gossip continues to soar and I’m just basking in it because it is not about me.

Love,
Adrianne