Tonga

As you’ll have noticed from the lack of posts, Tonga is fantastic but wifi seems to be sparse!

I’ve had 3 weeks here, staying at the lovely Dayspring Lodge and on placement at Vaiola Hospital. I’ve mainly been in Obs and Gynae and the emergency department. The hospital here is a LOT more developed than in Gizo and much bigger. They actually have departments for different specialties as opposed to a “male” and “female” ward. The main thing that has struck me about the health here Is the massive prevalence of obesity and diabetes. It’s evident in O+G with basically all the mothers on the ward having gestational diabetes or in the high rates of abnormal bleeding and gynae cancers. As I’ve spent longer here, I’ve become aware of quite how big a role food plays in the culture here. Interestingly, it is seen as “healthy” to be morbidly obese and was traditionally a sign of wealth and power. There are various health campaigns, but seemingly they aren’t enough to tackle the huge issue. Highlights in the hospital have been multiple deliveries, riding in a tongan ambulance, some really interesting presentations of diseases that have progressed much further than they ever would in the UK, attending the hospital’s “grand round”.

Obviously, I have taken the opportunity to travel around Tonga. There are a few other students here at the hospital, so it has been nice to hang out with them- we’ve hit up a few bars and restaurants, won a pub quiz, tried kava, explored some beaches. I’m based on Tongatapu in the capital, Nuku’alofa. I’ve explored this island. Highlights are the ‘trilithon’ (basically the Tongan Stonehenge), a natural archway in the cliffs and some extremely impressive cliffs and beaches. The volcanic activity means that many beaches have a bar of volcanic rock out off the shore, where the waves come crashing in and the water spurts up through blowholes- very impressive. In the capital itself, there is the palace for the royal family and I have attended church, where they have a ridiculously extravagant operatic chorus and full brass band for the service! I enjoyed trying to sing along to the tongan hymns, in tongan. I attended a Tongan feast and cultural show one night, which was pretty bizarre. The host spent about 20 minutes telling us his life story and praising the lord for his luck with his businness, the wife made a speech at the end apologising if the show had not met our expectations, there was an actual 7 year old fire-dancing and a little girl doing a dance while locals went and stuck money to her- she didn’t look that amused. Apparently it is a tradition at weddings that each village will bring a girl to dance, while people stick money to them, in order to raise funds for the bridge and groom. I can’t say I enjoyed the tongan food, very meaty and starchy and fatty, but it was nevertheless interesting to try.

I spent a few days in Vavau, the northern island group of Tonga. The main island of the group is shaped like an octopus, with arms coming off it. There are also lots of smaller islands dotted around it. I did a kayak trip around the islands- we took all our stuff with us on the kayaks and then camped at a different small uninhabited island each night. The shape of vavau means is has loads of beautifully calm waterways. It was incredibly scenic! We stopped off at Swallow’s cave on the first day, a huge cave where thousands of fish seem to gather. I couldn’t believe it when I put my head under the surface and looked down to see thousands of fish circling underneath me. As the cave opens out into the sea, there is a reef and drop off where there were loads of amazing colourful fish! We also saw some great birds as we kayaked around and some bats! The islands were really very special. There’s something amazing about having an island to yourself or looking out over the sea from a beach that is all yours. Sadly, some of these remote beaches had rubbish from the ocean sprawled across them. Our guide runs clean-ups of the beaches with youth groups, but these did not seem to be managing the problem. On one beach he had done a clean-up just weeks before and it was already covered! It was really moving. The evenings were particularly special times, sat by the campfire on the beach, watching spectacular sunsets and having some really interesting conversations. One more memorable conversation was when our guide was telling us about how he struggles to find a girlfriend since every time he dates someone, it turns out they’re related to him! We were talking about possibly making a Tongan “tinder”, perhaps where you put your family tree on your profile! Shout out to my fellow kayakees, Brad and Teresa, who put up with me third wheeling them for the trip!

Aside from the kayaking, I had a night at Ofu Backpackers. Ofu is a small island, with a little village on it. The backpackers is essentially someone’s house in the middle of the village, which runs along the beach on one side of the island. I was also the only guest staying there! It was great to be amongst the village, with the kids going to school and pigs and chickens EVERYWHERE. They were having a big tongan feast a few days later, so were busy with the preparations for that, and various family members were arriving from across the world. It was really interesting chatting to them all! Aside from relaxing on a hammock on the beach and swimming, I had an explore of the island. No-one lives on the other side of the island, so it was so peaceful with the beach all to myself. The best moment was watching the sunrise on the east side of the island.

I also visited Eua, the oldest island in Tonga and one of the oldest in the pacific. It was quite contrasting to the other islands with dense, quite European looking, forests. I was fortunate to come by a group of us all going to Eua the same weekend, through the cultural show I went to and on the ferry to Eua! We enjoyed some great hiking, seeing many features. There was great wildlife- wild horses, loads of butterflies, parrots, we foraged oranges, guavas and chillis. There were 2 giant ovava trees which were stunning- they were huge with endless roots extending from them. One of them had a cave underneath, with a stream passing through! There were lots of caves, a natural archway, a grave for a NZ solider lost on the night guard, waterfalls and gorgeous beaches and dramatic cliffs. There are no taxis in Eua so we were advised to hitch-hike. Our scepticism of being able to hitch-hike with 8 people was swiftly proved wrong. In fact we never waited more that 10 minutes to get a lift. Most people have pick-up trucks (usually about to fall apart), and are happy to have people hop in the back! Not the safest, but an adventurous way of getting around!

We stayed at “Taina’s place”, a basic but delightful backpackers. It was set up by Taina, who sadly died in 2012, but has been continued by her family. I got a little confused with who the various people around were, but either way there were some very cute kids about, who looked sweet dressed up in their trad Tongan attire for church on Sunday. There were also about 20 puppies, some pigs and a load of chickens just strolling about the gardens. I was the one who had booked the accommodation, so seemed to be given some higher status by the hosts, who would always only address me- eg. “Rafaella, dinner is ready now….”. This earned me the status of leader for the weekend- I carried the map, sat at the head of the table and was honoured to have free reign of the music selection! On the Sunday night our hosts cooked us “Umu”, a traditional dish- miscellaneous meat/fish with coconut cream, wrapped with a taro leaf. I decided to put aside my usual non-meat-eating habits and embrace the culture. Unfortunately the carcass of assorted bones, fat, random skin, pieces of ear, with a sprinkling of actual meat, was a bit far and I swiftly passed the delightful parcel of mystery animal on. We seemed to be perpetually offered cake. A moment that summed it up perfectly for me was when they gave us cake to have with the porridge we had made for breakfast, I then walked through to find them enjoying a selection of 3 different cakes for their breakfast, open the fridge to find 2 more cakes, as well as the cake that we had bought! I think I won’t be having any cake for a little while now!

It’s been a great experience here in Tonga and so contrasting to the Solomon Islands! I’ll be going to Samoa next to travel. Feeling a little apprehensive about my flight with the well-known and reputable company “Talofa Airways”….. especially given the windy, rainy conditions recently, but am praying to the ancestral gods of the pacific to get me across to Samoa safe and sound!