Halouini - Halloween

The house that I am living in is my neighbor’s property. They gave permission to the youth group to fix up the house and make it “livable” for me. With this verbal agreement in place I have felt very comfortable in my home. So you can imagine my surprise when my neighbor’s older brother (who currently lives in another village) came up to me and told me ONE WEEK. I sat in my house making tortillas and stared at this man. In his broken English he tried to explain to me that I had one week to move out and find another home. I have had difficulty with this family in the past, but I thought all issues had been cleared up – meaning I would not date their son. The guy was not being the typical Tongan from the “Friendly Islands,” so I decided I would be a little stubborn myself. I told him I was not going anywhere until we had a formal meeting with Peace Corps. He left in a bit of a tiff.

Ten minutes later my neighbor came over and apologized for his brother. He informed me that they called the Mother, who is currently staying in New Zealand, and her cries saying that she loved me convinced them that I should be allowed to stay. The eldest brother (a minister on an outer island) gave me permission to stay until May, when the Mother will return. Although everything seems to be somewhat settled, I am feeling unsettled about the whole situation. But as my Dad recently reminded me – These situations are just making me stronger.

On Monday the 31st, I brought Halloween to Tonga. It was a chance to mix some fun and some cross cultural experiences for the kids at the local primary school. It didn’t run as smooth as I would have liked, but it turned out to be a blast. Most of the difficulty was trying to explain Halloween to the teachers and kids. They looked at me like I was crazy when I told them to dress up like the tevolo (devil/ghost). After convincing them I was serious, I had about 30 out of 120 actual get dressed in a costume. They looked amazing. We had a “best costume” competition followed by the games pin the wart on the witch and bobbing for mangos. I had a couple youth come and do face painting, which added some color to the kids that didn’t have a costume. I passed out loads of candy as they sat down to watch a movie (Son of the Mask). I’m hoping this party becomes a tradition at the school. By the kids’ reaction to the event, I think it might just happen.

The survey on disabilities here in Vava’u has gotten to a good start, although the downpour of rain has not been helpful. Hopefully all will be complete within a week and a half. I’ve been frustrated because the weekly disability program, Alonga, has not been going very well for the past two months. I’ve had a severe lack of commitment from the volunteer teacher. Over the next few weeks I would like to attempt to secure some funding (which we are lacking greatly) and include a stipend for the teacher. If money does help with commitment then it might be time to find someone else with more time.
I’ve also been asked to prepare an event for World AIDS Day which is coming up at the beginning of December. I need to let the creative juices flow to come up with a few new ideas.
I’m heading down to Tongatapu for the weekend because I was chosen as the Emergency Contact person for my island group in the event of an “urgent situation.” We are going to do a brief training, but I have a feeling it will be a waste of time. Oh well, I heard they just opened up a movie theatre with popcorn and fountain drinks.

With all this going on I have a feeling the next 5 weeks until I come home for vacation are going to fly by quickly.

Love you all,
Adrianne


P.S. Another encounter with two molokaus. This time I didn’t scream for help. I sat waiting to attack wearing my gardening gloves with a broom in one hand and a shoe in the other. I jabbed with the handle end of the broom and killed them both.