Liahona High School Graduation 2018

We were privileged to attend Liahona High School graduation and dance this year. We did not go last year as we had only been here a few months and did not know any of the students. This year, we have grown close with the boys from Papua New Guinea and know others from our ward, and our country welfare manager's daughter.

The dance was held the Friday before graduation. Unlike at home, parents are encouraged to come and the students dance with their parents. Teachers and missionary couples also are invited.

The March pictured here is a traditional start of the ball. The excitement builds as the honored couple begins 2x2, couples join and they march around the room. Then they go down the middle, break off, and become 4x4, then 8x8, etc. It is fun to participate in The March. Excitement grows as the line gets longer.






Melenaite Samani, our country welfare manager's (Silongo) daughter  was the head girl for the class. Silongo is fun to work with and we were happy we got to take picture of him dancing with his daughter.

We also took pictures of a few of our Papua New Guinea boys. They have become friends. Monte is found visiting with them after church and they come find him to sit with during priesthood. Several times these boys have stopped in at our house. Once they had been out late and missed dinner. They had purchased some "top ramen." They knocked on our door about 9:30 and asked if they could boil some water. We let them in and they had their "dinner."       

Alfred Mathew, head boy

Mandella Douglas

Graduation was this week. Our office was closed so we were able to go to the ceremony. It is just like graduation anywhere else. The graduates seat in front, speeches are made, and cheers abound as the students are handed their diplomas.

Like students everywhere, the students wore the school colors of Liahona (green and white) with pride. I liked one of the statements made by the dux..."Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." It is following ideas such as this that the students will succeed as they go out into the world.

We were able to get a pictures of one of the PNG boys. They move through with their diplomas so fast that I was not prepared to take pictures as the other guys came through.

Another tradition in Tonga is piling leis on the graduates. These are made with candy and money. Sometimes the value is several hundred dollars.

Where is the graduate? 

Jack Benson and Bernice Rome

Mandella Douglas

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
                                                                                                                  Henry David Thoreau

Food Delivery in Lavengatonga

We found out from Huni of a family living in an old bus in Lavengatonga. Father and 11-year-old son have returned from New Zealand; mom has gone back to New Zealand for the rest of the children. Christian (dad) and Tevita are living here in Lavengatonga. They have only been here a week or 2. Christian has not found work yet. He told us "Sometimes we don't have food. We will go 2-3 days without any food."

Bus family is living in.

We are very thankful Huni told us about this family. They just need help until Christian can find a job here in Tonga. Since all we knew was that they were living in a bus, in addition to food items we also purchased other items we thought they would need -- towels, shampoo, soap, toothpaste, mosquito coils. The Coombs gave us toilet paper, paper towels, and paper plates to take to this family.

Mom comes home in a couple weeks. Tevita is going to be baptized the end of the month when Mom returns back to Tonga. We are looking forward to attending his baptism. In the meantime, we will be back to check on their food needs. They do not need to go without food! We can help.

Elder Thomson, Christian, Sione (Tevita's friend), Siser Thomson, Tevita, Sister Huni

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do.

                                                                                                                                     Philippians 4:9

Popua GPS

The PTA President of Popua GPS came to our office a few weeks ago asking for help at their government primary school.We went to the school to assess the needs. The school is in much need of painting. School furniture is needed. Some children sit on the floor during classes; they do not have desks or chairs. These students sit on mats on the floor.

The teachers also need new chairs. We saw several which look ready to fall to the floor. This one at the right was leaning against the wall, and looked like it would crumble when someone sat on it. We brought the teachers rolling hydraulic chairs.

     
World Service Day was coming up. Havelu LDS Middle School elected to paint Popua GPS as their service project this year. In the past they have usually cleaned up the neighborhood around Havelu Middle School. They wanted to do a bigger more meaningful project this year, and it was elected to paint the school in Popua. The students worked really hard Friday morning. Members of Tonga Stake completed the painting on Saturday. What a difference a little paint makes!

Monday LDS Charities brought 32 desks and chairs for class 5, and 9 small tables with 54 little chairs for class 1 and 2 classrooms. It was these young children who had mostly been sitting on the floor. These furnishing will provide a much more comfortable learning environment for these little ones.

Of course, class 6 boys were eager to help unload the truck!





We popped in on Tuesday and found the children at lunch recess. When they saw us, they clamored to their rooms and sat on their new chairs at the pretty orange tables. There are 27 students in each of the class 1 and 2 rooms.

They gave us 5 and sang a couple songs of gratitude...."Thank you, thank you" and also "Jesus loves Me."

They said "We are so happy for chairs!"







At the handover ceremony, a brother and sister danced. The children learn the traditional Tongan dancing young. We always are amazed at the talents the students show at these handover ceremonies.

The grade 5 class read a poem they wrote of thankfulness. 

All the children sang several songs.

And of course there were talks by the Deputy Minister of Education, the school principal, and Elder and Sister Thomson.

We know there are more needs for desks and chairs. We will keep our eyes open and hopefully earmark some more for this school with our next delivery in 2019.

Popua is an area of much poverty. There are homes made of corrugated roofing, others made with what types of wood they can find to nail together to provide some shelter. We are very happy to help this village. The children are so fun to be around. They are happy. They say they love school. I hope they always will.

Every day of our lives we are given opportunities to show love and kindness to those around us. 
 President Thomas S. Monson                                                                                                       

Prevention of Childhood Obesity

Our projection School Gardens and Prevention of Childhood Obesity has been approved. We are partnered with Ministry of Health (MoH)- Healthy Promotions Unit and The World Health Organization (WHO). This program started last year with 8 preschools.This year there are 11 schools. LDS Charities is providing for 3 preschools - Kologna, Folaha, and Upper Room Kindergarten in Ha'ateiho.

We are excited about this project. Diabetes and other NCDs continue to rise in Tonga. Overweight and obesity are modifiable risk factors, with unhealthy eating and physical inactivity major contributing factors. Tonga Global Health Survey 2017 indicates 55% of Tonga young population already overweight. A significant change in diet and exercise is needed to change this trend.

MoH is directing their efforts toward young children to improve health knowledge, attitude, and behavior by promoting healthy eating and physical activity at early childhood education centers and also to increase access to healthy food and water. We have been asked to help bring forward their plan for vegetable gardening, healthy eating at school, drinking water rather than sugary drinks, and exercise equipment to promote physical activity. 

We visited a preschool in Fangaloto that benefited from the project last year. They were so excited to see us (even though we did not provide equipment to them -- WHO did). They sang songs to us with much gusto. 

We are in the process of getting things ordered. Each school will receive a water tank and guttering on the building. The teacher will be asked to only allow water for drinks in the school -- essentially a NO SUGAR ZONE. 

We will help teachers, children, and parents build a garden. They will plant, weed, harvest, and eat the vegetables for snacks at school. We will provide a 2-burner counter-top stove for cooking lunches.

We will provide slide, jumping balls, hula hoops, little trampoline (a foot high), a teeter totter that converts to a walking board like a balance beam, rugby and net balls.

Once all the equipment arrives from New Zealand, we will go to the schools and have a handover. We hope to set up an obstacle course with the equipment -- climb up the walking board, jump down, hop through some hula hoops, jump on the trampoline, jump off, throw balls through hula hoops, run over to the slide - climb up and slide down. Start over again. We think this will be a fun way to include the children in the handover.

This week the Prevention of Childhood Obesity Program was launched. WHO was on board for this project before we were asked to help so their equipment has arrived and they wanted to get it to their schools. We were invited to the launch as it is for the whole program. We were very pleased the launch was at Ma'amalo Kindergarten because it is connected to the Methodist School we did a project in last October. Good memories, friendships renewed.

        

WHO Dr Yutaro Setoya

Ma'amalo Kindergarten

As we lose ourselves in the service of others we discover our own lives and our own happiness.                                                                                         Dieter F Uchtdorf

Eat Healthy and Be Active

The pilot healthy lifestyles class finished with many successes. The manuals are now being translated into Tongan and will be ready to use the first of the year. For now South Stake is starting 2 classes using the revised English manual. They do not want to wait for the Tongan version!

Ana Va'ahale stated, "I am ready. I want to make lifestyle changes now. Many of us ladies who are starting tomorrow are obese. We do not want to always be this way. We are going to work together."

We are excited for them. People who have taken this program serious and implemented changes in their lifestyle have seen great changes. They testify of feeling better and having more energy. Many have lost much weight. They continue food changes and exercise and are losing more weight.



WHY CHANGE?
Pacific area leads the world in diabetes.       
At least one amputation every day in Tonga.
Tonga has highest male obesity rate in the world.
Childhood obesity is on the rise.
Increasing rates of premature adult mortality.      

Healthy Eating

Participants learn the four food groups and the importance of each. They set goals for healthy eating. They learn the importance of eating breakfast and drinking water not soda. Portion size matters! Many people think it does not matter what they eat as long as they feel full. This is not true. Each kind of food has its own value. Vegetables are not that common in the Tongan traditional food diet. So eating vegetables daily is stressed.

In the Pacific only 1 out of 10 people are getting enough fruits and vegetables to keep them healthy and protect them from developing diabetes and heart problems.          World Health Organization                         
Exercise

'Ainise and Reynold 'Ofanoa 

We love this photo from the Beat Diabetes Run. We call the 'Ofanoas the Happy Runners. Exercise is vital to improving health.

In class, participants learn to be active every day. They can do whatever activity they enjoy, just as long as they do it.

It is said 30 minutes of exercise per day can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 40% - UK Chief Medical Offers' guidelines

Diabetes type 2 can be delayed or prevented in people who are overweight and have higher than normal blood glucose levels. Diet and physical activity intervention are more effective than medication.    World Health Organization




Each lesson in the 12-week class is followed by 30 minutes of activity. The week we visited the group was led by Bishop Uiesele 'Epinesa in zumba. We had fun exercising with them. Groups have also danced and gone for walks. These activities help the group to be close and able to help each other stick to the program.

Tonga Family

Talasiu

Gardens 
Participants learn the  benefits of growing a garden. Having a home garden filled with fruits and vegetables puts healthy food at their fingertips. These foods are often expensive to buy, but so easy to grow. When it is time to prepare dinner, the children can go out to the garden and pick vegetables for the meal.  

We encourage you to grow all the food you feasibly can on your own property … plant… if your climate is right. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Make your gardens neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in the home, involve them in the process with  responsibilities.
                  President Spencer W. Kimball

Testimonials

Fane Fituafe before and after

FANE FITUAFE
"Eat Healthy and Be Active" has been a blessing to me and my family. It has been the best experience of my life, I have learned a lot about Nutrition, establishing good eating habits and setting fitness goals and above all intertwining healthy living with gospel principles has deepened my understanding and testimony of what Heavenly Father expects of me to remind me that my body is a temple of God. The class discussions & textbook have been a constant motivation to make better choices and "stick with it for results." I feel 100% better day to day, and have way more energy to perform my role as Vice Principal at school, and most importantly more energetic at home to perform my responsibility as a wife and mother to the best I can be.

 I started at 143.9kg and today I have lost 20.3kg. I want to drop my weight to 105kg, as it is my ideal weight compared to my height. 
Thank you very much for providing us with the program that taught us the value of healthy living; it has helped me personally to grow physically but most importantly spiritually. This has changed my life, I feel better, look better, and I eat  better and can control what I eat. I am grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing our Ha'akame Stake with such a program and pray it will continue to roll out to the rest of Tonga to bless the lives of many more in the future.

Ilaipe Vea

ILAIPE VEA
I share with you what I have learned the last 12 weeks. We did a lot of sacrifice especially changing our diet. We had enough food. Also no more drinking soda or juice but I focus on water only, and I finish my dinner at 6 – no more eating at night time.The first time I weighed 150 kg, now it is 138, so I lost 12 kg. It is a big improvement. My blood pressure and my blood glucose are better. I am planning to continue on, keep working, and lose another 20 kg. Most of my clothes are getting loose so I need a belt to tie on.  

Sepesi Fakatou

                       

                                         

Ha'akame

SEPESI FAKATOU           The first time my sugar was 19.9, second time 16, and today my sugar is only 11. So to me, I know it is not too late for me to change in       my style of eating.           

HA'AKAME

I want to share with you the last time I went to hospital the doctor said “you don’t have to take the tablet anymore.” And he asked me how I made that change. I told him about this program and how now I eat lots of vegetables and I don’t eat after 7. I don’t starve, I eat lots of vegetable and I am not hungry.                       Man who did the cooking at Ha’akame

Huni Goes Night Fishing

Loueni Huni learned to fish from his father when he was 9 years old. His father would take him beyond the reef at night to get fish for the family. Huni learned to dive down to where the fish were "sleeping". It is a lesson he learned well.

Pictured to the left is Huni with the spear gun he made. The gun handle was given to him by a friend. Huni attached a metal rod which he had shaped with a pointed end. The rope attaches to the trigger. When he has the fish in his sights, he aims for the eye and squeezes the trigger. The spear "flies" through the water and pierces the fish. Hand over hand, he brings the rope and spear back and readies it for the next fish.

Huni in pictured taken from Mormon Newsroom

Huni has taught others to fish. He tells of a family where the men could not provide for the family. Huni took them fish to eat. After taking them food a few times, he told them they needed to learn to fish. Huni took them fishing and the men learned to fish. Now they always have food. "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."  Huni has been fishing for 57 years. During this time, he has provided food for not only his family but many others. He has truly been a fisherman for the poor.

I told Huni sometime we would like to go with him when he went night fishing to see him enter the water in the dark. This week he told us he was going fishing. He was picking up a friend in Vaini. He is teaching him to fish. Could his wife (Nunia) drive to Navutoka with us? He would leave his car at Navutoka to drive home when they finished fishing. We would take Sister Huni home. 

Huni and his friend put on  hoodies to help against the cold for the hours they would be in the water. They put on their weight belts, masks and snorkels. They tied their "coolers" to their belts. On the end of the cooler, they put 2 wires which would be used to slip the fish off the spear and into the cooler. They then sat on the shore and put on their flippers. Holding flashlights and spears, they smiled at us, and headed out into the ocean. Tonight they were not going far beyond the reef, but other times Huni will swim from island to island, 20+ miles, in search of fish to give to the poor.

It was scary watching them enter the water, knowing the sharks swim these waters, even though Huni says "the sharks are my friends." 

One day last week, Huni told us of his fishing trip the night before. "Sister, I went fishing last night. When I had been fishing for some time and had many fish, I felt something was following me. I ignored it, I kept fishing. I felt it again. I turned around. There was a big shark. We were face to face. I wasn't scared.  I just looked at him. He looked at me. Finally the shark turned around." -- The Lord protects this man who always is thinking of others. He was fishing to give food to the poor; the Lord made this shark turn around.

Genesis 9:2-3   And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered... Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you...

Crops In the Bush

Most of the crops are grown in the bush - also called farm or plantation. The farm is away from the house, and the father and sons have to drive to the land they farm.

Farming is hard labor ... no modern equipment here. The main tool is a long hoe. We took some pictures traveling around Tongatapu of the bush.

Ufi is sometimes planted between the coconut trees. Ufi is a staple of Tongan diet. Families eat a starch with every meal, either taro, kumala, sweet potato, or ufi.

To plant the ufi, one digs a hole  4-5 feet deep with a shovel (one hole for each plant). The soil is put back in the hole and the start (like a potato start) is planted. This is so the soil is soft and the ufi root can grow down. It will not grow if the soil is packed hard. We often see the men with their hoes riding on the bicycles to the farm.

Papaya trees

Papaya or pawpaw can be grown in rows in the bush, and often several trees are seen in people's yards. Papaya is very abundant. I made jam with the papaya. It is also good in our morning smoothies. I made papaya coconut bread last year... yummy. The papaya is just coming on this year, so soon we will have more papaya coconut bread. It costs about $2 per papaya.

We are often given fruits and vegetables as a gift of appreciation when we do our work around the island. Today we got papaya.

Note: Other crops are grown between the rows of trees. Not much land is wasted on the farm.

Bananas can grow almost anywhere. Most homes have a banana tree or two. But in the bush, there are groves of banana trees. Different varieties are different sizes; some are long and slender, some are squat and plump, some have pinkish meat, some the whitish yellow. But all bananas are like you have never eaten in North America. We will definitely miss bananas when we go home.

Giant taro (kave)

Taro is a staple, used at nearly every meal. There are different kinds of taro. This giant one is kave. Taro can have white flesh or purple. We love the purple best. It is sweeter than the white taro.

The leaves have to be cooked before they can be eaten. They are used for lu, which is a primary Tongan food. Lu is served at every feast. Leaves are layered and then filled with corned beef (pulu), chicken (moa), or sheep (sipi) and also filled with onions, tomatoes, and whatever else you want.

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth                                               Psalms 104:14 KJV