Tanakitu'unga 2013

Well, Ryan and I had our final day of school with our students this year. Our ‘tanaki-tu‘unga’ (graduation celebration) was fun and emotional all at the same time. Tevita worked hard to organize the graduation. Parents were really touched that he took the time to plan a formal ceremony. He even asked if Ryan and I would make certificates for the students. Students sang a variety of Christmas songs in English and also performed their Tongan ‘lakalaka’ dance. It was truly a day of celebration.

Tevita’s speech made me cry. He just talked so passionately about how proud he was of our school this year. He pointed out how strong our team was with all teachers, parents, and students working together. The PTA chair echoed this. Many people talked about how they feel like this is the new approach in our village focused on education and opportunity for students. Ry and I are just so grateful to have been placed here. Teaching these kids in this community is a pure joy. I wouldn’t give this experience for anything. Not even hot showers J Well, not today anyway.

Here are some pics from the week:

Before the ceremony, I had the idea to make the Tongan candy necklaces to give to our class 6 students at the ceremony.  My “happy” helper went to town to get me the stuff, and then helped me clean up the mess I made trying to figure out how to wrangle candy into plastic wrap and still have it look pretty. It took awhile, but we got ‘em done.

Malaysian twix bars, Indonesian snickers, toffees from Thailand, are we worldly or what?! 

Using the flour to weigh down the cling wrap. Whoops! Luckily my husband was HAPPY to clean it up.

Notice the change from day to night in the sequence of these pictures? This was NOT a fast process...

Tongan graduations are a little different from American graduations. First, students’ final grades are read out loud to the audience. Then, each grade level is ‘sorted’. The teacher ranks the students from worst to first according to their scores. This is very hard for the students at the bottom and many of them cried when they saw they were last. But the students on top are joyful as they are mightily rewarded with cash and gifts. After students are ranked, family and teachers are given the opportunity to bring gifts up to reward the students. Some kids get a ton of cash, others get a ton of candy necklaces. Ryan and I gave every student in class 6 a candy necklace. This was so fun to do, especially since the kids who didn’t do well didn’t get anything. Different, huh?

Getting ready for the program to start.

Our PTA chairperson, Maliu. He is so passionate about education and really inspires our whole village to  embrace innovation at school. He is such a joy to work with. He has asked to be in charge of the library and computer lab when we leave. So cool.

Make money, money. Make money money. 

When I went to give candy necklaces I came away with twice as many as I gave. Let's just say after that every kid wanted to sit by me.