Big Doings

There was a time in my life when I had every single minute of my day allotted to accomplishing a task i.e. Colby-Sawyer circa 2006. During this heyday of academic bliss my schedule was so jam-packed that showers were few and far between and exhaustion was a constant state being. My monthly, weekly, daily – even hourly – roles and responsibilities were explicit and needed to be met without delay.

In Tonga my schedule is rarely set in stone. Like most South Pacific Island cultures Tongans operate on “island time”. There is no need to wear a watch in Tonga because it is impossible to be late. Leaving such a hectic existence to find myself in the Kingdom of Tonga where paradoxically “Time Begins” but doesn’t seem to matter much at all has been trying. During my first few weeks living alone in my village I barely even knew how to make my way around my new neighborhood let alone discern any sort of set role or responsibilities within my new community. Not having an agenda should have been invigorating but all I felt was anxiety and restlessness. Instead of basking in my newfound freedom I found myself compulsively finding things to do around the house to keep me busy and give structure to my day, namely hand washing my clothing. I don’t think I had one piece of dirty laundry my first month at site…

Ultimately I have learned how to relax and enjoy the lack of structure in my life. I have realized that not knowing what the near future holds is as exciting as it is unique. Not many people in the world can wake up not having a clue what their day is going to entail and experience anything half as out of the ordinary as I have while living in this island kingdom.

Friday morning while delivering photos my mother had recently sent I was surprised to see my neighbor Vika preparing for what could only be one thing- a Tongan feast. I was soon informed that it was “Misionales” and would I be going?! I was to be at the church at 2 for the church service with the feast to follow.

Misionales is when Tongan families give the majority of their savings to the church. I happen to live in a village infamous for its lively and ostentatious population and was highly entertained throughout service when those who did not give enough money were jokingly threatened by one of Leimatu'a’s finest using toy grenades, machine guns and plastic knives. The amount of money a family gives is announced to the entire congregation by the minister, much to their pride or chagrin based on the size of the contribution.

After almost three hours of preaching, hymn singing, and cash donating it was time to eat. The church hall was prepared with easily hundreds of thousands of pa’anga worth of food and we all sat down on the ground and feasted to some classic feast food items including but not limited to the following: roast pig, fried chicken, hot dogs, fried eggs, yam, potato salad, lu, bread fruit, crab salad, raw fish, sweet potato, lobster, sweet & sour chicken, octopus, fried fish, hard boiled eggs, sausage, watermelon, pineapple, apples, chocolate bars and imitation cheetos- delicious…

While at the feast I was reminded of the koniseti “concert” that was being held that evening. The concert was being put on by Silakivai, the organization responsible for the computer lab where I work among various other community projects. The sole purpose of this koniseti was to raise funds to help pay for the duty on a new school bus so the high school students can stop having to hitch rides into town to go to school. The old school bus, which was once used for Auckland’s public transportation system many years ago, has been out of commission for almost a year now. With the help of Silakivai members living overseas a new school bus has been procured, however, the duty to ship the vehicle to Tonga is so great there has been a regrettable postponement getting the bus to Vava’u.

During a koniseti the MC announces the upcoming dancer’s family name and people place cash donations on the person dancing based on their performance. For such a conservative culture dancing for money is prevalent, and ironic. There are undoubtedly some astonishing dancers in my village; over $10,000 pa’anga was raised that night! Hopefully it will be enough to pay the duty but converted into New Zealand dollars I don’t think it is as significant an amount.

The koniseti ended around midnight- the end to an unexpectedly interesting day, not the first and definitely not the last I’m sure!