Kovi mo e Lelei

Kovi mo e Lelei - The Bad and the Good

I’ll start off with the bad news:
A little boy in my village was shot two nights ago. The whole incident was an accident. An old man was playing with a gun and pretending to shoot some little kids. The kids would run and scatter while laughing hysterically. The man didn’t know the gun was loaded (which is no excuse in my book). The bullet went through a wall and struck the 4 year old in the stomach and arm. After staying at the hospital here in Vava’u for one night, he was flown to Tongatapu to hopefully get better medical treatment.

Shootings have not been an issue here in Vava’u. Guns are mostly used for purposes of killing large pigs and cows. I hope this accident awakens people to the issue of gun safety. I know all the kids in my village are pretty scared.

Now a little good news:
I’ve booked my flight to come home for Christmas. I’ll be home for almost a month!!! Although I love it here, I’m excited to see everyone back home. It will be just the refresher I need to come back renewed and full of enthusiasm to finish off my last 8 months.

When I joined Peace Corps I signed up for the World Wise School Program, which is keeping correspondence with an assigned classroom. After a year. I finally have my match and will now begin communications with a geography class in Indiana. Not many people have ever heard of Tonga, so it feels good to educate people about this beautiful country.

The Youth Vegetable Plot is moving right along. We have been working on clearing the land, which is a bigger project than I had initially thought. The guys have been chopping down trees and I have been raking up trash. I guess people have been using this land to dump cans and glass bottles for many years. A few more days of clearing and we will be ready for the plow to come. We already started a little vegetable bed for the tomatoes, cabbage, and green peppers. The carrots and beans will be planted later. The rains have been coming down so everything is growing fast. My garden has been unsuccessful, but I have a better feeling about this one.

Hope everyone is healthy and happy.

Love,
Adrianne

Ta e Puaka

So I attended the Putu (funeral) for the Nobel in Makave. I’ve truly grow to enjoy putus. This one was similar to others I’ve seen except on a grander scale. Several differences were that the general public was not allowed in the home to kiss the body. I was okay with this aspect. Although this meant that I could also not see the Princess because she was also inside the home. I ate really well and took my mila mila (plastic bag) full of food home with me. I slept for a few hours and went back in the morning for the burial. Primary kids in their uniforms lined the whole walkway from the house to the church. A high school band lead the march followed by the whole police force (20 total) who carried the body on a platform. Then several Nobles followed by the family strolled by and the crowd gathered at the rear. The church service was nice and long. This was the first putu I attended where there was an actual service in a church. The burial was directly behind the church and I sat under a tent for that portion of the occasion. After the burial I thought we would all get a mila mila of food and head off home. I was mistaken.

There was a formal kava ceremony which I had never seen before. I have to say that I truly enjoyed this part of the day. Twenty men sat in a huge circle with about six feet between each of them. I’m not sure that I understand all of what was going on, but it was enjoyable just to see. My Nobel, Fakatoufifita, sat at the head of the circle while the man next to him directed the ceremony. The respected men yelled orders and five men entered the center of the circle and answered to the commands. It seemed like a well orchestrated performance. After 15 minutes the five men were ordered to pick up a large pig and bring it in front of Fakatoufifita. They sat there and chopped it into sections. I was standing outside the fence watching when I heard, “Pisi Koa mei Okoa – Peace Corps from Okoa” – ME!!! I looked around with not a clue what was going on. They told me to go to the edge of the circle and sit down. I was then told that my Nobel had requested that I “Ta e puaka – slap the pig.” I walked through the center of the circle towards the large hind portion of the pig. As directed, I gave the left butt cheek one good slap and then turned around and walked out. Two woman from my village had followed me and carried the hind and the heart of the pig, which was a gift to me from my Nobel. The ceremony continued with more distribution of meat and drinking of kava, but I didn’t see much of it because I was in such a state of excitement. It was all over by 2:00 in the afternoon.

I decided to have an umu (earth oven) for the youth. In trade for them working hard on preparing the Youth Vegetable Garden and planting seeds, they got to eat pig. I though it was a good trade.

During this past week the Governor of Vava’u (my island group) passed away. I’m not sure what is in the water these days, but it means I need to do more laundry because I’m out of black clothes.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love,
Adrianne

Tongatapu

Sorry for the delay in updates. I wasn’t really feeling inspired to write. I'm trying to get back into the groove.
Anyway, I spent a week down in Tongatapu for my mid service meeting. Mid-Service meaning half way through my volunteer experience!!! I now feel like an old timer. Tongatapu was a nice chance to get to see everyone from my group. It’s great comparing stories and getting project ideas. It also made me realize how different an experience each one of us is getting. Mainly the City folk / Village Life variation. Both are definite Peace Corps experiences, but I’m quite fond of living the village life (even with all my complaints).
There have been some definite changes in the Peace Corps community here in Vava’u. We have four new volunteers joining my island group and they seem to be adjusting well. I feel like I’ve moved from being the curious child full of Why Questions - to the wise grandparent that seems to have an answer for everything. The cycle of life here in Peace Corps is an organism all of itself.

Work is on an up swing so I’m taking advantage of the opportunity. I am organizing a small business workshop for the week of the 17th. This is a program that has been successful in the past so I’m excited to keep it going. I will then be participating in a survey of individuals with disabilities in Vava’u. I’m excited because this was a topic I had attempted to work on last year, but momentum was slow. This time around I have greater hope because the push is from the Red Cross program in Tongatapu. My final goal for this month is to have a Halloween party at the primary school where I teach. This is a holiday that is not celebrated here in Tonga, but I feel like it could be a chance for some fun.

I was standing in my doorway brushing my teeth this morning and heard the news rumbling around that the Nobel from the next village, Makave, had passed away during the night. The rumor is that the Princess and possibly the King might be attending the funeral. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

That is all for now.

Love,
Adrianne