Fleeing the Sunday rest

2014-02-16 Sunday

Sunday is church day. Everything is closed. Rumor’s got it the police might warn you for being on the beach or working out. You have to rest!

Or go to Pangaimotu.

The small island (include shipwreck and restaurant) is half an hour boat trip away from Nuku’Alofa. This is where all the Palangis go.  

Palangi is Tongan for Outsider, slightly derogative, literally meaning Person from the sky (Pa- to touch, Langi- the sky).

I went together with two other backpackers (German and Italian) and on the island we met a dozen of volunteers around our age. Coming from different organizations and professions, I admire the commitments from the Aussies, Kiwis and Americans agreeing to spend one or two years away from friends and family.  

Blowholes!

2014-02-15 Saturday

This was a day spent at the café with Jack.

But we also went out in the beautiful nature and spotted the famous blowholes, which reminded me of similar blowholes I saw in New Zealand a couple of years ago.

Waves pushed through tiny openings in the coral reef. Cool! 

Arrival to Tongatapu and the third gender of Tonga- meet the Fakaleitis

2014-02-14 Friday

 I arrived to Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga, with a rainbow greeting me welcome outside my airplane window. This was around 10am. I had arrived, but not my luggage. Who cares when in a warm, beautiful place, I thought, and took a cab to the capital, Nuku’Alofa, with approximately 25000 inhabitants. Temperature is a constant 25-30 C/ 80-90 F with a lot of humidity this time of the year adding up on the heat effect. 

 

First I went to meet my contacts Siesi Hala’api’api at the TongaHealth foundation, and Dr Ofa Tukia at the Public Health division of the Ministry of Health. Both were conveniently enough located at Vaiola Hospital. They provided me with the background information I needed about the structure of the government and the educational system, and before heading to town I got some cake from Siesi who celebrated her birthday.

Friends café was next stop with a smoothie and plenty of water. They have wifi and I started my computer to start looking for accommodation. My brother Joa has a friend living in Nuku’alofa and I called him through a bad Skype line to get information about the Valentine party I had heard plans of. Jack invited me to his house to stay over the weekend and that is where I have been since. Jack, his sister Joanna with husband Henry, and Chris have shown me an amazing amount of hospitality and their humor is out of this world!  

 

The Valentine party was a launching party for a new lounge/restaurant/bar and one of the most modern buildings in Nuku’Alofa with a great ocean breeze on the open air upper floor. The parties in Tonga have to close early, (I think around 1am on Fridays and Midnight on Saturdays), but that just mean you start earlier!

 

 

 

 

 

On the party was two Fakaleitis, they were the most sweet and fun I have met in a long time. 

 

The Fakaletitis (faka= in the manner of, leiti derived from English lady) are an old Polynesian tradition of men acting as women, similar to Samoan Fa’afafine and Hawaiian Mahu. It is said families used to choose a son to raise as a girl when no daughters were born, to make sure someone would continue the domestic chores. Today it is more commonly, but not necessarily, a choice for gay men. Homosexuality is illegal but Fakaleitis are accepted, even if they are on the lower part of the social hierarchy.

One of the Fakaleitis performed a killer choreography to Christina Aguilera. As a faithful watcher of Rupaul’s Drag Race I feel confident to say the Fakaleiti performance was world class- high heels, legs to die for, on point lip-synching and crazy splits!

 

 

 

Like a Lady- the Fakaleitis of Tonga

A 10 minute documentary trailer - 

 

Check it out!

 

 

Btw!

If you aren't familiar with the best reality show ever, make sure you Watch the trailer for the new season of Rupaul's Drag Race starting in a week!

 

 

 

Introduction to Tonga and my Master Thesis

2014-02-10

 

It is closing time for departure to the land where time begins, the first country in the world to greet each new day. This mythical place where whales breed and new islands still form on the edge of a trench so deep Mt Everest would fit. Here lies a brave group of shattered islands formerly called the Friendly Islands, today the kingdom of Tonga. The people here are first to see the daylight and proud of their unique history. This is the only country in the Pacific region to never have been colonized. They make up the smallest kingdom in the world and about just as many of their one hundred thousand inhabitants are now living abroad in New Zealand, Australia and USA. For Christmas holidays many expats rejoin with their relatives to feast on piglets roasted in earth-ovens, refreshing pink drinks of watermelon and coconut milk the locals call ‘Otai, and sweet crops like yam and taro.

Tonga means South, and that is where I am going.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But just as I recall the distant memories from my childhood’s glorifying movies Pippi Långstrump i Söderhavet and Villervalle i Söderhavet…
 

 

Just as I picture myself in the upcoming movie-

Simon i Söderhavet…

Just in that moment... when I see all the exotic colors of Tonga, I get an odd feeling. I start to see my traveler’s guide friendly text above in the light of an act of exoticism. When I in my vague attempts of being semantically theatrical claim this as Paradise I risk placing myself in an unwanted position. Individually made with good attempts, but on a population level an action of alienation, justifying inequity and inequality. My subconscious wish to find Paradise in the distant Polynesian coral reefs, therefore depicting this island Kingdom in unnaturally bright colors. It seems innocent, but if I am not aware these thoughts may maintain the post-colonization structure I do not want to belong to. The truth is hard to find, and may be different depending on who you ask.

 

  I want to find out what reality in Tonga is for me.

 

I am right now on my boyfriend’s and his brother’s sofa enjoying my last day in Harlem, New York City. The TV is playing, my boyfriend washes up tonight’s dishes, and a plate of Louisiana crunch cake lies on a plate in front of me. Moist, airy, and with white crunchy icing it looks delicious. It reminds me of the obesity epidemic around the world. Traditionally known to affect high income countries like USA, today also low- and middle income countries are increasingly affected. Over- and undernutrition today coexist simultaneously within the border of the same country, sometimes even within the same family.  

In USA 75 % of the adults meet the criteria for overweight or obesity. Tonga, a low- to middle income country, 90 % meet the same criteria, with 15 % suffering from diabetes. Adolescence have shown to be the crucial time for weight gain, and with Tonga having a youthful population with a median age of 20 years old, it is more true than ever that the young are the future. 

What I do know before departing is that resources in Tonga are scarce and the obesity epidemic has struck the island countries of the South Pacific hard, with Tonga in top 4 globally.

 

This is a relatively new phenomenon which has been described as a result of adopting Western lifestyles as well as cultural factors, for example favoring energy dense food, appreciating a larger body ideal, and a strong conservative hierarchal structure for women and men.  

For my Master thesis I will undertake a comprehensive, qualitative approach to address this complex issue. I wish to interview students, teachers, parents and other health authorities about physical activity among adolescents in the Vava’u island. The hope is to avoid the most obvious pitfalls and by early Swedish summer have a Master Thesis to present. I have already learnt plenty about myself and how the world works. If I in the end can help policymakers develop more efficient interventions regarding physical activity, I would gladly walk that extra mile.        

  

The natural harbor Port of Refuge in Vava’u is considered one of the safest in the world, from above looking like a giant octopus with its tentacles consisting of dozens of islands.

 

Vava’u is the perfect spot for sea based activities, with whale watching, diving, superior game-fishing, kayaking and surfing. No wonder the main village Neiafu becomes a busy hub in summer as sailing people, the so-called yachties, arrive for shorter or longer stops as part of their Pan-Pacific adventures.
 

 

 

For spring, when I will be there, pace is slower with lots of humidity, but the risk of tropical cyclones needs to be considered. The storm Ian, January 2014, was the worst in decades and made substantial damage.

 

The Tongan islands occur along the Ring of Fire and the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis are an all-year threat. After an earthquake in Samoa 2009 a tsunami hit the northern islands of Tonga. Undersea volcanic eruptions in 2006 and 2009 resulted in new islands being formed, and in 1946 volcanic activity called for the complete evacuation of the inhabitants of Niuafo’ou, who were allowed to return to their homes first ten years later.