Feb. 5, 2014

Lessons Learned  2/5/2014

Tonight as we have been contemplating the events of today, we have had cause to reflect back on our arrival here in Tonga and our assignment to build the capacity of the teachers.  We have had a delightful visit with the young teacher we met the first day on our visit to the Liahona campus.  Viliami, who is now a dear friend, was telling us about his first days at the TIST campus where he is going to get his trade certification for carpentry, which we call construction.  We were laughing about his first days at the TIST campus.  His construction teacher had the students clean the classroom, shop and grounds around “ their area”.  When we gasped at the thought that the students had to clean the classroom area before they could begin class, Viliami told us that it was a good thing to do.  He reported that there was a lesson to be learned in this process and it was to appreciate the things that we have and take for granted.  Viliami attended Liahona high school and he said working at TIST made him appreciate what he had, a wonderful, clean campus that the students now take for granted.  He said “this experience makes me thankful for what I have and what I can teach when I come back to Liahona after my first training”.  Viliami, his wife and young daughter now live on campus because he is a teacher which is great because he doesn’t have to drive to work.  They do not have any furniture because they can’t afford anything.  However they are very grateful to live close to school.  If you could see his van, you would understand.  I will try to describe it.  It is a VW type van that doesn’t have one panel on it that doesn’t have some damage. I think it is also missing a door if I remember right.  Steve and Elder Aland, got his tires fixed that were bald and wouldn’t hold the air in when they were filled.  The top of the van is rusted out, only has a few places around the perimeter of the top that hold the top to the bottom of the van. There is also an occasional strip of Duct tape placed in strategic places to secure the top to the bottom frame.  I’m not sure how it stays together.  I do remember a time last year when Vilaims was late for school.  He told us later that he just couldn’t get the van started, didn’t know what to do to get it going, when he decided maybe he’d better pray over it so he could get to school.  He reported he said his prayers, it started and he got to school, a little late, but at least he got there.  When we were talking about his van, we were talking about spare parts that he needs because one of the front wheel bearings is gone and I asked him if maybe he just needed to trade in the whole van for spare parts and get something a little better to drive.  He just laughed and told me he couldn’t afford it.  Then I felt bad because I was joking, but I didn’t know the extent of how poor he really is.

Viliami brought his little girl to see us one day a couple of weeks ago.  She had an awful bumpy rash around her little nose and mouth, red, blistered and looked really sore.  I looked at her and said “follow me”, and we went over to visit Sister Mitchell who is the mission nurse.  I had her look at Neta and we concurred, “impetigo”.  Luckily, Sister Mitchell had some packets of triple antibiotic ointment that she gave to Viliami to use on Neta.  Neta is about 2 and is very shy around palangi’s (white people) but she is slowly starting to warm up.  We did get a wave out of her after our last visit.  Viliami and Ana had taken Neta to a clinic and apparently they didn’t know what was going on with her face, so they were given a Betadine scrub for her face.  The only problem with the scrub is that it can get very drying and can cause burning on the skin if it is used for longer than one treatment.  Viliami said that Neta was getting pretty fussy about having them use this solution on her face, she was much easier to treat with the triple antibiotic.  Her little face has healed nicely now. They are always so appreciative of any little thing that we do.  One day a fairy showed up at our house and left 2 Tongan brooms that I have been begging Steve to get for me.  The Tongan fairy must have heard my plea, because they were there.  When I confronted him about it all he did was laugh out loud.  “Its got to be the janitors” he said but I could tell by his twinkly eyes that he was the fairy.  He loves to tease us.

Monday we, Sister Aland and I, taught our first piano lesson here at Liahona after school.  We planned on about 12 students over 12 years of age and ended up with 24, adults not included in that number.  That was a surprise, but we managed to have fun anyway.  Sister Aland does a good job teaching, I am a good assistant.  We had our “band” instruments made from Pringles cans with beans in them for shakers, a mop bucket with a big spoon for a drum, a smaller container with a little spoon for another drum, the desks and hands for our rhythm band.  Sometimes we even add the kitchen pans and lids to make a little more noise.  Then to top it off, we sang Christmas songs with our band, just to show the students how hard it can be to do one thing with their hands, sing and read music at the same time.  They even got to learn how to lead music.  It was pretty fun. Sister Aland has a teacher from BYU who teaches music where she gets ideas from on the internet.  I think the site is called melody magic or musical magic.  I was going to remember that one, but I think I’ve forgotten it.  I am currently taking a class that Sister Aland is teaching for elementary teachers.  We started that tonight and it was good for me.  I enjoyed it a lot.

Steve taught his first class tonight, called “Effective Pedagogy”.  We aren’t sure how to pronounce it though.  He was so nervous about teaching the class, but he came home super excited about how well it had gone. The Holy Ghost is a great teacher. The teachers have almost been beat up by some of the teachers here whowere making unreasonable demands on what they are asking for from the teachers.  In one class, 48 teachers, signed up to take it, less than half passed it.  These are not dumb teachers, but they got work piled on that was out of line with what the requirements of the class should have been. Several teachers have been scared to death to take ITEP classes because they were so afraid to fail.   Some of them have gone through 3 different sets of missionary teachers with no follow up.  So at this point all Steve and E/S Aland can do is help them get through these classes.  These 3 teachers have much the same philosophy of teaching, so the teachers are now enjoying what they are learning, maybe having a little fun along the way.  Viliami told us tonight that he had gotten to the point that he hated teaching and wanted to get out of it, but now he knew why he had wanted to be a teacher in the first place.  Our goal is to build capacity, not to tear the teachers down.

Printing of the modules for the classes has now come to a standstill.  The books that were printed were not accepted by the purchasing agent, partly because there was no back cover, and because the company could not do the needed work.  We were impressed by the way he handled this, because he told the company what needed to be done and they would be paid for the work that they had completed.  Everything that had been shipped, was sent back to be finished and we spent the morning going to different printers to see what could be done to get the job done properly.  So back to square one.  The teachers have a good attitude though, inspite of not having any text books to teach from.  They do have the soft copies on their computers with the information, just no paper student assessment books.  I suppose that will get worked out later, I hope.

We had the opportunity Saturday to go with one of our favorite friends and woodcarver to a beach that we had never been to before to cut some wood that grows out of the coral at the edge of the ocean, Bishop Richard Westover Nui. He carved our hook and the nativity sets that we bought before Christmas.  Wow. I was simply amazed at the panorama that surrounded me when we finally got down to the beach. We had to climb down two flights of steps that had been carved into the coral ledge that protected the land from the sea. The stairs were uneven, not big enough in some places for a foot to balance on before the next step curved around the face of the coral.  Balancing was a little precarious at times, when we had to grab the growing vegetation to stay upright. The waves that greeted us at sea level were about 15-20 feet high as they rolled into the beach.  The coral breakers that surround most of the beach around the island was only about 15 yards from where we were working, so the sea was pretty close in some places.  There were very few sandy areas to walk on, most of it was coral formations, so we were really glad we had on our walking shoes.  It’s so hard to describe in words what was happening to the water.  As I looked out at the breakers, the tops of the waves were probably at least twice to three times my height coming in, dark blue in color. When the distant waves reached their maximum height, the first wave had returned to meet the second wave. Just as the two waves collided, the second wave bent over to meet the first wave.  The collision then caused a white foamy spray to reach to the sky and beyond, the color of the water turned to turquoise which then rushed to the shore.  By the time it hit the coral with a bang, it was a foamy white color.  The sound of it hitting the coral was big and heavy as it crashed and then again the water exploded into the air.  I had to run one time because the wave was coming toward me with enough force that it looked like I was going to get extremely wet or get washed away, I was much too close to the billowing waves of the ocean, The power of the crashing water is a little frightening when it rushes at a puny person.  Wave after wave kept rushing in, there would be a little break in the intensity of the force of the waves, then it would get big again and back to the big schedule.  It’s hard to get enough of the grandeur of the ocean. The sky was a salty haze that day hugging the coastline, so the pictures Steve took look a little gray.  But the sun was intense and hot. We were glad to get back into our air conditioned car.

The car we are driving right now, we call our Zip Zip car.  It looks like a typical Tongan car, many bumps, dents, peeling paint plus bald tires. Dr. Williams who was here before Christmas called it his “humble mobile” which is an accurate phrase for its looks. It gets us around when nothing else is available and the air conditioning does work.  We blend in with the general car population of Tonga.  The car actually belongs to Deseret International, the group that works with the placement of dentists.  We keep it for the Dentists to drive when they get here, but I think Deseret International is going to have to find something a little better.  For now it helps us when we need to run errands.