The Tonga

The Tonga are a beautiful people. Soft spoken, quick to smile and laugh.  They are peaceful and contemplative, quite unlike Americans in that they welcome long pauses and take time to gather ones thoughts. They always stop to greet one another, and take offense if no greeting is given. 

 'Kuamba' or 'Mwabuka buti' (How are you? Or good morning)

The response always, 'Kabotu'  (I'm good.). 

Their staple food is nshima, ground maize mixed with water, essentially thick, white, corn meal. 

Preparing nshima is harder than it looks. The Tonga orphanage moms first heat water over a flame in a large pot, then gradually add the ground maize. The trick is stirring with correct strength and rhythm-- any other attempt will result in half cooked nshima falling into the fire or settling in clumps. It's easy stirring when it is still watery, but very challenging as it gets thicker and thicker.  The Tonga women are stronger than they look! 

When the nshima is finished in addition with the relish served alongside (typically soy chicken, anchovie-like fish, or bean leaves), we rinse our hands using a cup of water and basin, then sit down on the kitchen floor in a circle with our plates and eat together.  We use our hands to scrape up a bit of nshima, flatten it, then add an indentation with our thumbs to create a scoop (think tostitas scooper chips) to spoon up the relish and eat. It is very filling. 

The kids at the orphanage are sweet and full of life. There are 17 or 18 kids there, ranging from babies to teenagers.  Within a few minutes of sitting down in the dirt with the young ones, it's not unusual to have 2 or 3 sitting on my lap, one behind me pulling at and playing with my unusual red curly hair, and a few others kicking a ball to me or running at me full speed awaiting my arms to catch and tickle them...all at the same time. 

All of the kids have very worn clothing (they receive new clothing once or twice a year) with holes, stains, and dirt everywhere. The little ones usually have runny noses with flies never far behind. Many young ones don't wear diapers. Better not be afraid of having a kid with wet pants sit on your lap. 

The older girls do the little girl's hair using a comb and thread. Like mothers, the older girls carefully select a section of hair then wrap it around and around with black thread.  It has the look of cornrows but is very simple. 

One if the girls, Millium

is a true leader for the other kids. No older than 10 years old, Millium is like a mother. She carries the babies around, instructs the younger kids, is passionate about her studies, all with a wide, genuine smile and big bright eyes.  I nearly died when she picked up a toddler and instructed him how to run a circle during duck duck goose. 

Today, 4 Tonga women taught me  how to clean maize (corn).  In addition to the maize needing to be separated from the chaff, some of the large bags in the storage rooms were infested with rats and pests. The good maize needed to be separated from the rotten. 

First you fill a large flat bowl with maize. Then you lift the bowl higher than your head and slowly pour it into a larger container. You repeat this process 3 times, shake the bowl to release addition chaff, pick out any corn husks, leaves, sticks, or rotten kernels, then pour it into the larger maize storage bags. 

While sifting, the result is snow. Sort of. As the wind blows between the falling kernels, the white chaff flies out into the air.  It's best not to find yourself in the path of this chaff. It will get everywhere.  The proof was in me looking like I had a severe case if dandruff. Awesome. 

Dandruff aside, I was amazed at how hard these ladies work, and with smiles. They love to joke and laugh together, and are quick to appreciate my humor as well. One of the ladies, Rosemary, was kind enough to teach me many Tonga words.   

It's fun to communicate with the Tonga people as I continue to learn more basic phrases.