Longomapu, my site

“Whatever site you get is the best site”

– Dave Chung

I’ve felt during my journey in Peace Corps (this go around) I’ve been extremely lucky. I was lucky to be selected at random for Tonga. I was lucky to be placed in Vava’u. And above all, I am lucky to be placed in Longomapu.

Vava’u is an island group. Information on the internet varies, but the general consensus is in total there are around 70 islands in the Vava’u island group, roughly 16 are inhabited. I (and four other volunteers) live on the main island. As it stands now, in all of Peace Corps Tonga, I have the title of the furthest volunteer from another volunteer! I like this title, but presumably, it will change when the next wave of volunteers comes next year; rumor has it that some of them will be placed on the remote islands off the main islands. The closest village to me is around four kilometers away, but there is a shortcut through the bush to get there. Even though it’s 10 months away I’m already trying to manifest that the person placed there and I will be homies. My village has around 500 people, three churches, one school, and three fale-koloa’s (roadside convenience store / limited food supply).

Longomapu

I wanted to wait to post this entry until I finished my community map, but after countless hours on that bad boy, I regret to inform my many subscribers of this blog (I have one subscriber, shout out Ash!!) that it will have to wait. However, I will touch on the geography a bit. Longomapu is very mountainous and very high in elevation. There is one single road in and out of town, so I don’t often see new faces. As mentioned, I am tucked away in my little corner on the westernmost part of the island. I was talking with a friend who lives in Longomapu yesterday and he told me it feels like the rest of the island forgets about Longomapu because we’re so far away from everybody else. That comment makes it sound like we’re in the middle of Wyoming but in actuality, you can drive from one end of the island to the other in probably 40 minutes. Longomapu is very elevated. The two highest points in all of Vava’u are located in Longomapu. I have done both hikes. The first one I did with my friends SB and Big Rach; this was an easy 20-minute jaunt up a dirt road to a beautiful, well-maintained, viewpoint. The second consisted of my friend Filipe and I wielding machetes, chopping through thick bush, scaling vertical rock walls, and eventually getting to what I would consider the most beautiful site I have seen in Tonga thus far.

This second hike is an abandoned hiking trail; long-term I hope to redeem it and make it less threatening. Aside from the mountains, there’s a wonderful little “beach”. I quote “beach” as it’s just a very, very long coral bed.

My favorite way to spend some alone time (something that’s hard to come by) is to read the tide chart, wait for an especially low tide, and go snorkeling around the coral beds. I’ve seen some fantastic sea life, including, sea snakes, lionfish, and plenty of mystery fish of various colors and sizes I don’t know the names of. Another notable aspect of the geography of Maptown is there is the fourth angle of the town that is adjacent to a lake. It’s a thick bushwhack to get to it, so no one in my village ever goes there. I’ve done a few whacks over there and I even have dreams of building a secret dock for a secret kayak for some secret rides. Stay tuned for that one.

Produce/diet

My diet is 90% fruit and eggs, 10% other. My village has been extremely welcoming to me and more days than not someone will drop some fruit off at my doorstep directly after their shift in the bush. In fact, while I write this, I currently am the proud owner of nine pineapples. The main livelihood of Longomapuians is farming. The main crops grown are tobacco, kava, tomatoes, papaya, and pineapples, and recently I found someone that grows sweet potatoes. Currently, I suto (hitchhike) to the capitol on Friday to buy groceries, but I am trying to get to the point where I’m comfortable enough in my village to cut trips out of my community to around once a month. Aside from that, often times someone is cooking and I’ll follow the smell and end up in a situation like the photo below.

My house!

I plan on writing an entire blog post on my house, so, I’ll keep this brief. It’s small, it’s quirky, I have four walls to myself, and I can watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean every night. I love my little house; it has a whole lot of character.

My school / My work schedule

I work at a wonderful school with a group of passionate teachers. The classes range from kindy all the way to form two (kindergarten to 8th grade). There are roughly 115 students.

I am the form one and two English teacher (7/8th grade). My house is a seven-minute walk to school, and I am always accompanied by a posse of children when I go to and fro. English proficiency levels vary so I’ve been working on setting up tutoring/after-school clubs to balance the curve but these things take time!

Currently, my schedule is:

M – Teach F 1/2
T – Teach F 1/2 – Night class
W – Teach F 1/2 – Community trash clean up club
T – Teach F 1/2 – Night class
F – Working in my community (and for now, go to town for groceries) – movie night (I set up a projector on the side of my house and a put on a movie and kids eventually congregate, it’s good fun).
S – Usually walking around my community and finding myself in scenarios
S – Church and eat. It’s illegal to work and do most things in Tonga on Sundays aside from these two things.

I was going to write about projects I am currently working on and things I look forward to but this blog post is already too long.

‘Ofa atu, malo lahi,

Cam