April 30, 2010

The Beam that washed ashore

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After cyclone Renee, Pops had been thinking about building an A-frame house (in Tongan called a fale hunuki) first rather than starting a building project of a traditional fale Tonga.  The next day after he'd decided to build a fale hunuki, this beam washed ashore like magic.  Salesi and I carried it 600 feet to our house, where we let it dry out so that it can be used in building Mayone's fale hunuki 'hafekasi' (that is a fale hunuki with a raised wooden floor).







"Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
-Matthew 7:1-5

Cyclone Renee, February 14-15th 2010

Some photos of cyclone Renee, which swiped out great swathe of land from Monuia Point...Monuia Point was the place on 'Uiha where one could stand and see both the sunrise and the sunset....where "east meets west".  As Pop surveyed the changed landscape after the tropical storm, he said, "Now there is no more Monuia Point".  Rudyard Kipling penned the famous lines, 
"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet
Till earth and sky stand presently at God's great judgment seat;
But there is neither East nor West, border nor breed nor birth
When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet" (Ballad of East and West).
Mathmaticians refer to the distance between East and West as 'infinity', a line of infinity (Anton Bosch, www.erwam.com).  The symbol for infinity is a circle which crosses on itself, and it is in this space of crossing where East and West truly and only meet.

This is the angry sea after the storm had passed...the place where I'm standing used to taper into a "point" shape about sixty feet forward...the land was washed to the west of the island...
Several big trees like this fell down...the roots are shallow and no match for the relentless winds...
  This photo, not taken during Renee, was taken a few weeks after, when another tropical storm in Fiji, affected our waves for two days, they reached high as our front lawn...Long time 'Uiha residents tell us that these palms in front of Kali's house once were rooted into lawn, but that the beach has pushed up by the rising tide...

'Uta land

The farming land on 'Uiha lies on the eastern ("liku") side of the island. It is rich soil that has sustained the 'Uiha people for 3,000 years.  Vaiokema's land is named te'e feo, which means "fishy smell", however, I detected no fishy smell when we went, but undoubtedly there is a story behind that name, perhaps shrouded from memory!

Salesi and Pops set out to clear and farm the 4 acre tract. In the back there are five or six clumps of large bamboo.

So far, they've planted manioke (tapioca), kumala (sweet potato) and talo...there are (growing "wildly", or rather remnants from previous farmers like Vaiokema and others) foods such as pata (similar to banana), banana, lesi (papaya) and mangoes, plus a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now.

This is a photo journey: 

You enter the gates to 'uta and you walk a couple miles to get to te'e feo, where new crops have been planted...
Walk to the back of te'e feo, and you cross a bamboo forest, and then reach the liku coast and the sea:

April 29, 2010

On Grandfather's Island

Salesi the kingfisher...reeled this big one in one night...'Uiha people say only lucky "monuia" people catch these from the shore...
I can barely hold this fish up....

An old fale tonga in 'Uiha, the roof fell to the ground during cyclone a couple decades ago.
Salesi and Pops clearing for Mom's house.
Our neighbor 'Ofa brought us fish one morning...




View of Monuia Point from the wharf...

Kali's house, our homebase while building...
Front view of house, with peto (kitchen/shed) to the left and bathhouse in back...behind me is the sea.

Garden out front...

Bathhouse and the round thing in front to the right is the water catchment tank (sima)...
The kitchen...

  Our first stove...Salesi designed and constructed it...very efficient but smoky...

  Interior view of house...
  Our home theatre system....we get electricity from about 6:30 to midnight or 2am, depending, as well as on Saturday mornings...


Jack, our 'Uiha dog...he's afraid of the pigs, other dogs, the cats and the goat, resentful that he has to share/fight over leftovers! 



 The goat rules the roost: her name is Lula.