Tag Archives: Tonga

Tau’olunga faka’ofo’ofa

Posted on December 7, 2011 by

I recorded this clip 5 years ago today:

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A Poem for Sunday: Sky-bursters

Posted on December 4, 2011 by

I wrote this poem while sitting through a church service in Tonga, at the Siasi Uesiliana Tauataina (Free Wesleyan Church) in Fakakai, Ha’apai. “Sky-burster” is the literal translation of a word in Tongan (palangi) meaning foreigner - so named because, according … Continue reading →

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“I believe…that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri!”

Posted on July 3, 2011 by

To most of the outer island Tongan people we knew, America is Los Angelos (they call it Ela A), Hawaii and American Samoa. Most couldn’t name another state or city in the entire country (It would be fair to point … Continue reading →

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Thank You for the Goodness: A Christmas Story

Posted on December 23, 2009 by

A few years ago I wrote a short Christmas story.  The story is set in Tonga and the idea for the story sprang from my observations about the way Tongans deal with religious diversity.  By way of introduction, here first … Continue reading →

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Puke Loi pe Puke Mo’oni?

Posted on November 29, 2009 by

Meet the children of Ha’ano Government Primary School classes four, five and six.  In this clip, I introduce each of the students present, and we discuss the health of an absent student named Lu’isa.  Her classmates carry on a debate … Continue reading →

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Dark Star Safari: Wet-feedings and hunger porn

Posted on July 23, 2009 by

Paul Theroux does not admire foreign aid workers or the work they do.  The first 200 pages of Dark Star Safari contain several accounts of rude, obnoxious, self-important aid workers, often depicted as roaring through blighted communities in expensive Land … Continue reading →

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Celebrating in Tonga

Posted on August 13, 2008 by

I lived on an outer island in the Kingdon of Tonga for two years while in the Peace Corps.  Here is a clip I took of the villagers celebrating the opening of a newly built school house.  The Tongan women … Continue reading →

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