'Swimming Pool' incident in Tonga

We arrived in Tonga on November 5th (Thursday morning). This would be my third trip to Tonga. I made it a goal to go swimming in the ocean on this trip. We mentioned it to my cousin Aiona. Her kids were excited. We asked the kids where they wanted to go swimming (kaukau tahi) and they said "the swimming pool". They asked what time we should go and I told them Saturday in the afternoon. They looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to swim when the sun is out and blazing. I told them that was the best time.

On Saturday afternoon, Haloti, Aiona, her two kids (Sela Seini & Kakala), Petueli (Emeli's son--Aiona and Emeli are sisters and their dad Ta'u is my dad's brother) and I went out to the pool to swim.











So you might wonder, what's so great about this 'swimming pool'? First of all, this is located close to the wharf in downtown Nukualofa. It also is right next to the main road. Anybody and everybody driving by can see us swimming. No big deal.

See the pic below:

The van parked by the street is Aiona's van. As we were swimming, a small white truck pulls up and parks right behind her van. I thought, okay, we are going to have some swimmers join us. The driver remained in the car while this lady gets out carrying a boy probably around or 5-7 years old. The boy was completely naked while the lady was fully clothed (which still doesn't mean anything 'cause in Tonga my cousins were swimming fully clothed in their street clothes). First thought that came to mind -- this kid must've had an accident (number 1 or maybe number 2)while they were on the road and they pulled over to bathe him in the water.

I just sat where I was swimming with the kids (pictured above). By this time, my husband was already out of the pool and just staring. I tried to be a little undercover and glance every now and then. At the top part (in the picture above -- the area at the top of the picture) that's where she brought the little boy into the water. Well assuming it's his mother, she was telling the boy in tongan to "tu'usike" (squat) in the water. Yeah, I'm thinking, okay maybe it's not to bathe, but maybe he needs to use the bathroom. The little boy then turned around and as he squatted I noticed from the distance that in his crack (sorry for the description) it was "pala" (real bad rash). It then made sense - she brought him there to swim in the salty ocean water to help cure the "pala". I looked over to Haloti and you could tell he was disgusted. He was motioning for us to leave. We left shortly after. That is Tonga for you! LOL.

On that note, something I told myself in preparations for this trip and the one earlier this year -- "anything goes". By that I mean, I was going to go and be out of my comfort zone. And that I did. I wasn't going to worry about how they prepared the food. I was going to try things I don't normally eat. Eat whatever they had.



The house we stayed in (pictured above) which I call Uncle Ta'u's & Aunty Kati's is really my dad's. When we left Tonga, he left it to them, but legally it's still his. The heir to the home is my brother. Not a bad looking house considering it was built in the late 1960's.

For some reason, the water does not get to them. Luckily, they have a water tank which collects the water from the rain. They have to manually fill buckets and bring it into the house. In the bathroom stall, there is a toilet (just like the ones we have here in America), however to flush it, you have to get a bucket (laundry detergent bucket) and pour the water in.

In the shower stall, there was a barrel filled with water and a wash basin (similar to a baby bathtub -- but circular) next to it to bathe out of. (No you can not fit in this tub.) There was a pitcher in there to get the water out of the barrel and pour in the wash basin where you basically had to sponge bathe. I used the pitcher like a shower. I'm sure they were happy when we left because I think I probably used up a lot of water. They offered to boil some water for me, but I told them no it was okay. Some days I wish they did because the water was not as lukewarm as it was earlier in the year. It was actually pretty cold in Tonga in the evenings and early morning.

Each time I've been to Tonga I've come home humbled. I am reminded of how much I have, how much my kids have and how blessed we are to live here in America and enjoy simple luxuries such as running warm water, shoes, snacks to snack on, soda, washer & dryers, clean clothes, and the list goes on and on. The people of Tonga are content with what they have. They live simple lives. I know if we compare their way of living to here, we think how sad, but yet, they are happy. Something I learned from my family there -- they gave everything and anything they had to make us comfortable.

Thank you for taking care of us! We love and miss you all!