Ask Mandy: Church in Tonga

Question: Mandy, what's the primary religion in Tonga?

Someone asked me to answer this question, so I thought I would (especially since the answer is pretty interesting). If you have a question about Tonga or what I'm doing in the South Pacific feel free to email me at beneathabalconyofstars(at)gmail(dot)com or comment on this post and I will answer it.

So let's start with some history: Back in the 1700s there was a man named Captain Cook who sailed a boat and landed in Tonga. Along with his boat, Cook brought Christianity. Today, Christianity is the primary religion of Tonga, but that's not to say that other religions don't exist here. For such a small country (last I checked there are about 107,000 Tongans - which is less than half the size of Madison, Wisconsin), it's interesting to see how many different religions are found in such a small place.

In Tonga, culture and religion are so closely related that it's very hard to talk about one without the other. So much of the culture and community here involves participation in church activities whether it be participating in the choir, women's group, kava circles, youth night, or a koniseti (concert). I've never been asked "Do you go to church?" rather I get asked "Which church do you go to?". Everyone goes to church. Every morning before my students begin their school day they line up under the Tongan flag and say the Lord's Prayer. I work at a GPS (Government Primary School). I wonder what life would be like here if Cook hadn't shown up?

So based on my observations so far, here are the different churches in Tonga and little tidbits about each:

1. Wesleyan* - this religion is the closest to Methodist back in the states and closest to the church I grew up attending.

2. Church of Tonga* - There are 3 different types of Church of Tonga. They all have 1 thing in common - their ministers are passionate. They yell and cry and yell and cry and ... well you get the idea.

3. Mormon Church - Prior to Tonga my only experience with the Mormon religion was a Jon Krakauer book and a viewing of "The Book of Mormon" (the musical). The Mormon Church is located 10 feet from my bedroom window in my village. Their worship services are 3 hours long. The first 2 hours everyone stays together and the last hour everyone separates by age/sex (youth, adult males, adult females, etc.). The Mormon Churches in Tonga are all sparkling and look brand new. There is one in just about every village on this island. They are the most "westernized" buildings I have seen in Tonga so far.

4. City Impact* - This is the most modern church in Tonga. There's a rock 'n roll band, a super active youth group and the service is done in both Tongan and English. It reminds me a lot of the big non-demoninational churches back in the States. They worship down the street from me in a warehouse-style building.

5. Baha'i - Before moving to Tonga I had never heard about the Baha'i Faith. It's relatively new in terms of world religions (created in the mid-1800's). The Baha'i faith believes that all the great masters in history (Buddha, Jesus, Moses, Krishna, etc.) existed and came to Earth at a specific point in time and for a specific purpose. Humanity is evolving and with this evolution comes the need for the message to be conveyed in a specific way to reach many people. All religion, in other words, comes from the same source (God, Universe, whatever you want to call it). The Baha'i faith is about uniting the world as one and they believe that we are moving into a new period in time where this unity will be recognized by all. There is no physical temple/church building that the Baha'i worship in here on Vava'u and there are only a few temples internationally.

6. Catholic* - The Catholics is Tonga have the most beautiful churches. The one down the road from my village sits on top of a hill and is white and blue. You can see it from the water as you sail into the warf, too.

These aren't the only churches. There are more.... they just aren't found in my direct community so I chose not to talk about them.

* denotes Christian

**Another side note: I am still learning all about Tongan culture, so what you are about to read is only from my perspective and what I've learned so far. Don't take it as concrete or truth. These are just my opinions and observations.

Sharing is Happiness.

Today I was invited over for Sunday lunch at Noa and Bensini's. That sort of sounds like a super neat-o Italian restaurant. Nope. It was neat-o alright, just not an Italian restaurant. They are my neighbors. And some of the kindest people I have met in Tonga so far (and that's saying a lot because I live in the Friendly Islands and everyone is super nice here).

After church we walked to their house and Noa and Bensini's daughter, Toa, (she's 5) entertained me while lunch was being prepared. She came around the corner with a new toy that she got for Christmas and handed it to me and said "LAP-A-TOP-A!" It was a laptop. A laptop with 6 buttons, especially made for an early English learner. We sang the ABCs (New Zealand style - meaning we said "Zed" instead of "Zee" at the end) and counted to 10. Then Toa drew a picture of me. It was super cute though each hand looked as big as my head (I do have big hands for a girl - maybe she noticed?). After drawing, Noa invited us into the kitchen for lunch. Lu sipi (lu made me sheep), lu kapa pulu (lu made with canned corned beef), manioke (a root crop), bread fruit (another root crop) and otai (a juice made with fresh pineapple, coconut, and oranges). Bensini sat at the head of the table. Bensini is larger than life. He is one of those men who doesn't even have speak, you just know that whatever he is going to say is going to teach you something or make you smile. Noa introduced me to faingota (shellfish) during the lunch and as I slurped my first oystery-looking Tongan shellfish, we talked about how great it is to live in Tonga, specifically Vava'u. Bensini said that what he loved best is how much fun it is to give to your neighbors and not expect anything in return. Noa and Bensini not only had made lu for me, but for the neighbors across the way and next door as well. He went on to say how his neighbors help him when he's in need to "because Mandy, sharing is happiness". And not just with food - for anything. "We're one big family," he said, "Tonga is your home now, just as much as Wee-sconsin and Cololato." (Wisconsin and Colorado) I think he's right. It was so much fun sharing lunch and stories with Noa, Bensini and Toa today.

What have you shared recently?

  

National Geographic: Tonga Edition

I still have a dream of being a National Geographic Photographer. How sweet would that be? Just being in nature and taking pictures of things that are beautiful and totally rad. Monkeys, elephants, ... cool fish like this one (he was my breakfast a few weeks ago):

  

I imagine that I would wear a super sweet safari hat, too.

And maybe some cargo pants to boot.

  

That hat would have been helpful today when I unlocked my classroom door and a 9-inch molokau fell from the sky and missed my face by inches. Those dirty little poisonous centipedes. I hate them. The noise they make as they scurry across the kapeti (fake tile rollable flooring) is like nails on a chalkboard. Then when I returned to my house there were two lizards (one looked more like a dinosaur) waiting for me. One of them number two-ed on a picture of my brother (Sorry, Erik). That little stinker.

And now I'm watching the flying fox bats soar in circles over the coconut trees as the sun is setting. The mangy black dog that barely fits himself through a slit in the school's fence is eating my left over vegetables. I hear pigs down the road. On the way to town today I counted 53. Fifty-three pigs. I also passed by a heard of cows. Not sure who they belong too. They were just grazing by the side of the road. I made eye contact with a big brown one with horns. We kept our distance.

Not sure if any of this is National Geographic worthy, but it's my life and I kind of love it.

  

Heat.

Part of me wishes that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer back when Captain Cook showed up to Tonga. People here didn't wear clothes then. It's too hot for clothes.

Mandy, we get it. It's hot in Tonga.
You think you know. I thought I knew. I use to complain about the humidity in Wisconsin and then I complained about the humidity in Florida. And then I just moved to Colorado to get away from the moist (least favorite word in the English language) air and stopped complaining.

Three months ago, I sat down with my PCV friend Sean and asked him "So Sean, how hot does it really get? Because I can't imagine it getting any hotter than this." (The weather then would feel like air-conditioning now).

Fast forward time. Zwip zwip zwip.
This morning I was sitting in town hall with my friend Joey and I turned to him and looked him in the eyes and said, "Joey, I will never ever ever ever take air conditioning for granted again. Or just the feeling of being cold. Can you imagine it? Cold!"

And then the arm I was leaning on slipped from underneath me (because I was sweating so much) and I nearly fell off the bench.

The Minister, Culture & Teaching

It was way back in college when, during one of my required education courses, we discussed our teaching in terms of what is explicitly taught and what is implicitly taught in the classroom. In other words, when I am teaching students there is a set of objectives or standards I want them to master by the end of the day, but while I set out to teach those, I unintentionally teach them ways of acting, ways of receiving information, ways of responding, and other not-so-concrete ideas that come from my culture, what I have learned and what I deem to be effective.

Last week, when Tonga 77 had our in-service training, 'Ana Maui Taufe'ulungaki, the Minister of Education spoke to us about our task as teachers in Tongan schools. She spoke passionately about education and her connection to the Peace Corps - she is still close to a member of Peace Corps Tonga 1 (as in, the very first group of volunteers to come to Tonga back in the 1960's), but was also extremely honest. So far in Tonga, many people have talked about how I am going to help my students to learn English and that it will open doors and I will make a huge (and positive) difference. And how anything I bring to the school will be a great. Now I'm not saying that the Minister didn't say these things, however she also reminded us that the task isn't that easy. Here are some bits that I took away from her talk:

She stressed the importance of literacy education and that the current system is failing the students. Why is it failing them? Because learning a new language isn't just about learning a new language... it's a process. With this process comes cultural baggage and values ("liberal and western") that are imparted onto the students as well. This is where conflict arrises. Not only do students have to navigate a new language, but they have to come to understand a set of values and ways of thinking that are drastically different than what they know. While some could argue that liberal and western views concentrate on the "rights of individuals", so much of Tongan society is based on the importance of relationships. Wealth in Tonga isn't about the amount of money people have, but the scope and depth of the relationships they form (and not just with family members). These relationships provide mutual support for every member of Tongan culture. The Minister questioned what values Tongan schools are promoting and cautioned that these values should be balanced between Western and Tongan ideals. In order for Tongans to "take charge of their destiny" learning must first be rooted in Tongan culture. Taufe'ulungaki spoke of the Tree of Opportunity and the roots are in students' first culture. From there people grow and go in different directions, like branches. According to the Minister, Tongan culture seems to be disappearing from schools. And that it is our job (as well as the job of other Tongan educators) to make sure that this doesn't happen.

----- So what do I do with this information? ---

I came to Tonga with loads of ideas about what I think best teaching practices are. But also excited to learn from the teachers and experts that I will be working with. I know that not every class responds the same way. Each classroom and child are unique, but how do I know if I am doing this teaching thing right? How can I - Ms. Western-MiddleClass-America make sure that Tongan students are not forgetting about their own culture? What parts of Tongan culture are taught (implicitly or explicitly) in the classroom and how can I support that teaching? How do I know if I'm imparting too many of my Western values on these students? What are my Western/Liberal values? What is the balance?

I've got a lot of work to do.

I know one thing is for sure - I will continue building relationships with my students and community members, encourage them to do the same and continue to learn about what's important to them and what Tongan culture includes. You have to start somewhere.

  

I am a Yes Girl.

Notice: This is filed under Crunchy Granola Thoughts. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. You've been warned. This week is full of granola - so much that Nature Valley might be jealous. Lame joke alert. For the record Nature Valley makes the best granola bars ever. They don't sell them in Tonga. I may have dreamt about them the other day.

I want to talk about self-love. Because I truly don't think it's possible to survive [and thrive in the] Peace Corps unless you have a healthy dose of it. Seriously. You spend a lot of time alone with yourself and inevitably scrutinize your every move and decision. You sometimes over-think, sometimes don't think enough and question your actions. Am I good enough? Smart enough? Funny enough? Tough enough? It would be an awful long two years if you didn't like who you were hanging out with. I can tell you that I have loads left to learn in the "self love" journey. I've realized this especially over the last week. There are different ways to demonstrate self love. I think a language of love that I'm pretty fluent in is saying "yes!" [to most things, anyway]. So here are a few of the things that I have said yes to that remind me exactly how rad I am.

   

Yes to bringing my french press from America so I can drink real coffee sometimes (when it arrives in packages from America).
Yes to eating an entire 1kg jar of yogurt because it tastes good.
Yes to yelling "high five self" when I am alone in my house and have just finished picking up every dead cockroach, molokau corpse and smooshed lizard body on the floor and I didn't yell or get scared.
Yes to walking/running an hour a day and not getting attacked by dogs while doing it.

Yes to setting up meetings with the Governor's Office so I can get the ball rolling on some ideas that I have.
Yes to finally practicing yoga on a regular basis (and loving it!).
Yes to having an all-Tongan conversation with an old man named Sikaleti (Interesting fact - Tongan translation: Cigarette) who taught me about the benefits of lemongrass.
Yes to wearing elastic skirts everyday.
Yes to already having read 20 books while serving in the Peace Corps.

Yes to teaching my Tongan neighbor what an omelette is and having dinner and Tongan language lessons together.
Yes to writing snail mail and it actually arriving in the USA or wherever I've sent it to.
Yes to rockin' dorky glasses when no one in Tonga wears them and when half the time they are sliding off my nose because of the humidity.
Yes to having a file on my desktop entitled "Smile" because sometimes it's just hard to. Double-click.
Yes to using a scrub brush on my feet every night because I live in flip-flops and don't want my bed to be dirty.
Yes to new things. Because they are scary and fun.

Yes to being more honest and open about my feelings.

Yes to sticking up for myself even when it's scary.

How do you show yourself love? What are you saying YES to?

Countdown to School.

It's hard to believe that I haven't had my own classroom in over 8 months.

I'm about to enter my 6th year of teaching. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I graduated from the University of Wisconsin. And now here I am living on an island. Weird. Back to the story.

The wait is finally over. Next week is Teacher Planning week here in Tonga. What does that mean? It means that every teacher on the island of Vava'u Lahi (my island) plus the outer islands will come into Neiafu (the big city - 5,000 people big) and go through a week of Professional Development in order to prepare for the new school year which will begin on February 4th. 5 days of Professional Development done all in Tongan. You can bet I will have my Tongan Dictionary at hand and ready for all the 'faka-" words they will throw my way. Here are some that I might hear, see or do:

respect - faka'apa'apa

cooperation/meeting - fakataha

constantly watch - fakasio

to cluster or crowd together - fakapupupupu (pronounced fah-kah-poo-poo-poo-poo)

to verify/certify - fakamo'oni'i

to explain or interpret - faka'uhingatonu'i

Also, I am still busy setting up my classroom. It's quite the challenge when you have limited resources. Here's what it looks like so far:

  

This is what you see when you walk in. That's supposed to be me peaking out from behind the "Y".



These posters were still up on the wall from the last Peace Corps Volunteer who served here. I especially liked the "M". Can you guess why?



The ceiling is made of chicken wire and something that looks like tinfoil.



Posters to practice word chunks and blends.