Tonga - Before and After

We hardly know where to begin . . . We have been in a flurry of activity the past few weeks and so much has happened - it seems like we have just gone from one important thing to another important thing!

Basically, we returned from a trip to Tonga on February 2nd and on February 10th Cyclone Gita hit Samoa as a category 1, causing widespread flooding, landslides, and destruction.  In the early morning hours of 12 February, Cyclone Gita passed directly over Tonga as a category 4+ (almost 5) storm. 

A large part of Humanitarian work is "Emergency Response" so you can imagine that our office has been a little crazy lately!  Hans and Sam, along with Gary Winters, who trained us in the MTC, just "happened" to be in Tonga for a conference, the night of the cyclone.  

Elder David Bednar has said: . . . Some may count this experience as simply a nice coincidence, but I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. 

We know that Humanitarian specialists being there at that time was NOT coincidence - those men were there so they could arise early the next morning and accurately access and report the damage with a Humanitarian perspective! 

Nuku'alofa is the capital of Tonga.  The cyclone went right over the top of the country!

Sister Thomson, serving in Tonga, told Ral a few days after the cyclone hit:

"The Tonga you visited is not the Tonga now." 

This makes us so sad, but the important thing is that the many wonderful people we met and worked with while we were there are doing well.  As you will see, the island people are wonderfully resilient. Cyclones are a common occurrence for them - although it has been said by meteorologists that Cyclone Gita is the worse cyclone to hit Tonga in 60 years . . . 

Sam made this observation after assessing damage the morning after the cyclone:  

"The Tongan people don't feel sorry for themselves and don't wait for someone to help them; 

they just get to work helping themselves."



The picture above shows the track of Cyclone Gita which even ended up doing a lot of damage to the north tip of the South Island of New Zealand.

We will tell you about our trip to Tonga; what we did there; 

and tell you a little about what is currently going on after the cyclone.

Our Reason for traveling to Tonga:
THE DIABETES PILOT PROGRAM

 

The Diabetes Initiative is something we have worked on ever since we arrived in New Zealand.  Diabetes is a huge problem in the islands and the Area Presidency has tasked the Humanitarian/Welfare Team to develop a program for the people to help them change to a healthier lifestyle.

We finally completed the program manual and it returned from the printer on 23 January.  Our team was divided up and all of us set out to initiate pilot programs in 6 stakes in New Zealand, Australia, Samoa, and Tonga.  The pilot program is being presented to only Tongan and Samoan church members at this time.  After we receive input and data, we will make changes and the manual will be translated into Tongan and Samoan. One day, it will go out to all the islands - but for now - this is a start!  

On 26 January, the two of us flew to Tonga to give a Priesthood Leadership presentation and complete facilitator training for the two stakes participating in our pilot program.  The presentation on Sunday evening was a huge success and was met with much enthusiasm, as evidenced by the response to the diabetes screening we offered the group!

  

On Tuesday evening, Ral introduced the manual and trained the facilitators who will conduct the 12 week course, consisting of 20 participants per class.

NOTE:  After we arrived home, Tonga and Samoa were able to complete Lesson #1 before the cyclone hit both countries.  Unfortunately, at the present time, the pilot program in Tonga is "on hold" until that country can be restored to a state of "normalcy".  The pilot has resumed in Samoa and is continuing in New Zealand and Australia, and the feedback so far has been very positive.

TONGA - Then and NOW
(When we were there on 2 February and after the cyclone on 12 Feb)

When we flew in, there were 3 missionaries coming home to Tonga on our plane and the airport was packed with members of their families!  You can see some of the signs for them in this picture. The "red' sign in the middle is of the Tonga rugby team that beat Samoa, their rival, for the championship and this was a "very BIG deal"!  The international airport (pictured below) suffered minor damage and was able to accommodate aid flights - the first plane with "civilians" flew out 3 days after the storm.  The domestic airport was heavily damaged.

As you can see, the main island of Tonga, Tongatapu, is shaped like an elf shoe!  Nuku'alofa is the capital of the Kingdom of Tonga.  Find Liahona and the LDS Temple on this map (in the middle of the front part of the shoe).  Liahona is the name of the Church School and the main complex which houses the Dental Clinic, the Service Center, and missionary housing. The Tonga Temple is right next door. 

Liahona: Before and After

 

Liahona was very lucky and all the students pitched in and helped clean up.

 

This is a picture that we took before Gita of Elder and Sister Thomson, our Humanitarian Missionaries in Tonga, outside their home in Liahona.  Peg, the one-legged chicken and her four chicks lived on their lawn and everyday we would check on Peg.  Their beautiful tree was stripped of its leaves but the Thomson's home was undamaged from the cyclone, other than water that came through the levered windows - but Peg and her chicks were carried away by the strong winds.  We received this note from Sister Thompson yesterday: "BTW, we have 4 chicks coming around our house again. Mom was Peg's friend."

 

  

  

The Temple: BEFORE and AFTER

The Temple next door only suffered minor water damage and a piece of the metal fence was broken.  However, the beautiful trees were stripped of their foliage.

We actually expected LDS buildings and churches to hold up well through the cyclone because they are well built. 

The night of the cyclone over 9100 people took shelter in our church buildings throughout Tonga and most of our buildings suffered minimal damage.

Other buildings on Tonga were no so lucky . . . This is the Parilament building, before and after. 

There is also a church office in Nuku'alofa, which houses the Humanitarian offices and Self-Reliance.  The fence was damaged and the guardhouse was flattened.  Here is Sister Thomson in her office.  The cyclone broke the window behind her and took out part of the roof - offices were flooded and computer equipment was destroyed.  The Thompsons are currently working out of an office in Liahona.

The following pictures were taken in Nuku'alofa while we were there but many of the things in Tonga that we took pictures of, have either been destroyed or have been damaged by the cyclone.

 

Below - Alas! Ral's little shop with the greatest name did not survive the cyclone.

The main produce market in town survived but was moderately damaged.  There are always temporary markets all along the streets selling fruits and vegetables.
 
  

Our favorite bus-stop survived. Here it is filled with school children.

Tonga has a king; therefore it is a Kingdom.  Pictures of the king were everywhere. The sign over the street and the sign on the Treasury Building are now gone. (The big Treasury Building was undamaged.) 

We loved this pedestrian sign of the "walking feet"!  All of the telephone and power poles were either snapped off or blown over during Gita.
 


Here are some of the homes.  Most all homes in Tonga had some kind of damage and some were totally destroyed.  Even the Prince's home lost part of his roof.
 

 

Mormon Helping Hands!

The familiar yellow jackets of "Mormon Helping Hands"!

Our Area Welfare Manager, Hans (shades and machete) and our friend, Gary Winters (shades and axe) helping to clear the road.

Humanitarian Projects in Tonga

These are some of the many things we did while we were in Tonga for the Diabetes Pilot.

Training with the Thomson's

We always spend a lot of time with our Humanitarian Missionary couples; getting to know them better, and helping them with any needs or concerns they may have.  Monte and Rissa Thompson are another fantastic couple we work with.  Here they are in their traditional Tongan attire.  They are such hard workers as evidenced by the pictures of them working after Gita.

  

  

Training with our Dentists

In Tonga, we are lucky to have a Dental Clinic at Liahona, currently manned by two missionary couples, Phil and Jan Hudson and Malcolm and Heather Coombs.  The clinic and the missionaries come under the Humanitarian Department at present.  We also counseled with them as to their needs and managing the clinic to fit the needs of our target groups of missionaries, pre-missionaries, and students.

(L to R)  The Coombs, The Fishers (dentists that come for a few weeks at a time), and the Hudson's.  To the left is a picture of the Hudson's preparing for the night of the Cyclone by sleeping on the floor of the Service Center!

Garden and Food Projects

Growing gardens is a big part of our Diabetes Initiative due to the lack of healthy vegetable choices on the islands.  We monitored the Learning Garden, individual family gardens, and a local plantation harvest.

(Above) This is Tavita, the director of the Learning Garden and Faka'osilea Kaufusi, our Country Welfare Manager for Tonga.

(Below)  This is an Ufi (type of yam) harvest.  All the land is owned by the "Nobles" in the country, so the blue truck contains the share of the harvest that goes back to the Nobles - and yes, these ufi are huge!

Cyclone update:  The Learning Garden is fine, but we don't know how the local gardens fared - we're sure that there was considerable damage.  It is harvesting time in Tonga and due to roads needing to be cleared of debris and power lines in large parts of the country still down; there has been a huge concern that crops will rot in the ground. A  Humanitarian project has been initiated to store community crops in refrigerated containers at Liahona which has been very appreciated and successful.

Furniture for Schools Delivery

"Furniture for Schools" is a charitable organization in NZ that LDS Charities partners with to deliver donated school furniture and books to needy schools throughout the Pacific.  We were able to assist in a delivery - and seeing the joy on the faces of students and teachers was a real treat!  

The first of two truckloads of furniture!

 

The missionaries even stopped by!  (Love their outfits!)

Cyclone update:  Many schools and their contents were damaged in the cyclone.  We are currently assessing immediate needs and also waiting to see how the government will address damage issues.

Chicken Projects

LDS Charities helps with chicken projects on many of the islands in the South Pacific.  Here are a few pictures of the projects we saw.  (We have not as yet been updated on damage done by the cyclone to various neighborhood chicken projects.)

  

Our Chicken "Champion" is Brother Huni, who is amazing - just so you know!  There is a wonderful story about him in Mormon newsroom: 

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/%C2%A0fisher-for-the-poor

Brother Huni literally swims with sharks to catch fish to give to the poor in Tonga! We had dinner at the Thomson's one night and the Huni's sang to us - beautiful people and beautiful voices!

 

"Celebration of Life"

We were invited by the Huni's to attend a family "Celebration of Life" ceremony which honored their daughter, Kesaia, who had passed away a year ago from complications of diabetes.  The ceremony began at the graveside, where prayers and speeches were given and the "headstone" was unveiled.  

 

Tongan graveyards are bright and colorful.  Pictures of the deceased are everywhere.  Quilts are placed on racks at the graves and when they are worn out they are replaced with new ones. Graves are usually covered with colorful fake flowers, coral pebbles or sand, and sometimes - upside down beer bottles (because there is no deposit on the bottles!).

During Cyclone Gita, as you can imagine, much of the decorations and pictures were toppled or blown away.

At the meeting hall, a "party" was held.  There was music and dancing, gift giving, and "heaps" (a great New Zealand adjective!) of food.  Ral kept taking pictures of the many tables, thinking the food placement was finished, and then more would come!  It was piled high for sure!  All the family and guests ate while Brother and Sister Huni sat at the side and watched.  This is a sign of respect.  Gifts were given to the people who took care of Kesaia when she was sick and the customary removal of the tapa cloths was completed; a sign that the official mourning period is over.

 

 
 
Ral always attracts the children!

As we were writing this, the Huni's were asked to serve another mission for the Church by their Area Sevenly.  We can't remember how many they have been on, but like we said - they are amazing people - two of the Lord's best!

Projected NICU Project and Food Delivery

We toured the hospital and talked to Semisi there about a project for the NICU - babies are dying for want of a ventilator so LDS Charities will partner with the hospital to obtain the desperately needed medical equiptment asap.  We are also considering a project to expand the NICU, but that would be in the future.  The hospital suffered little damage from the cyclone - a great blessing! 

 

We accompanied The Va'enukus' and the Thomson's to make a food delivery to a poor village in a low-lying area.  The homes in this village were destroyed in the cyclone and there was flooding.  The people had been relocated for safety reasons before the storm and so were safe.  Today, the very little they had is gone, but they will probably rebuild in the same location.

 

 

More pictures of the beautiful, lush vegetation we saw in Tongan and the plantations given to the people by the nobles to harvest their crops.  

You can see the farmer right in the middle of the picture above if you look closely!

Banana tree in front!

Our hotel faced the beach and had a lovely view.  When we were in Tonga, we had heavy rains almost every day.  We had to be moved out of two different rooms that faced the ocean because of flooding in our room, so I can only imagine what the hotel was like with a cyclone bearing down on it!

Below is the view from the last room we were in during a heavy rainstorm.

No time to Sight-See!

We were busy everyday and really didn't have time to visit the local sights.  However, we did happen to drive by the famous "3 Headed Coconut" tree (see the sign on the road?!), which did survive the cyclone!  We also stopped at a beach long enough for Ral to "brush her teeth with sand" for our friend, Willie Moala who is from Tonga!  Notice the two cute little boys swimming in the "buff"!

One evening, Brother Kaufusi took us to the Hina Caves for an authentic Tongan dinner and Tongan dancing.  We walked down to the caves right next to the water.  It happened to be the night of the super moon and our picture didn't turn out well, but just know that the moon was awesome and beautiful over the water!  I haven't found out how the caves fared with the cyclone, but they were beautiful when we were there.

 

 

  

 

A few more pictures of wonderful things in Tonga - banana bunches, flowers in the hotel that didn't look real, the royal palace gates, drinking fresh coconut water at "Waves Cafe", the Tonga Temple, and a beautiful sunset the night before the cyclone hit.

 

 

We will visit Tonga again.

The island may not look the same to us

 . . . but the people will still be the beautiful people that won our hearts.  

They are resilient and wonderful.

The Lord blesses and loves all His Children.

This poem was written on a whiteboard after the cyclone in the lobby of  the Tanoa Hotel:

The cyclone ends.

The sun returns;

the lofty coconut trees lift up their plumes again;

man does likewise.

The great anguish is over;

joy has returned;

the sea smiles like a child.

- Paul Gauguin -

. . . this was written next to it by that a young Tongan who worked in the hotel:

As we flew away from Tonga on the 2nd of February, we had no idea that the island kingdom we had come to love would be facing Gita in just 9 short days.  

We exited the plane, and saw our "Maori Gate" in the Auckland terminal.

We were "Home".