A school day
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Wed 25 Aug 2010 01:43
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We arrived in Nobabu Bay in Nuapapu, one of the
small Vava'u islands inTonga, two young boys swam out to the boat to the delight
of their friends on the jetty, who cheered them on shouting and
whistling. We gave them a drink and biscuits and, after
they had dried off, a tee shirt each, we then took them back to the jetty
in the dinghy to their friends. They invited us to their village
where a volley ball game was in progress and we asked one of the men
to give our pack of pens, paper, books, crayons etc. to the local
school plus a large bag of sweets for the village kids. We left with
fond memories and pockets full of sweet wrappers.
  To our surprise the following morning the local
school teacher came to see us and asked if we would like to visit the school and
if we had friends who would like to come along, they would be welcome
too.
We went to visit the school on Tuesday morning with Alan and
Alison (SY Fly Aweigh) and Michael and Gloria (SY Paekia Mist), we all took
school supplies, tee shirts and Gloria also took a world map. We met some
of the pupils and like most kids they were doing their homework on the
way to the school, the older boy testing the younger ones on their
maths!   There are two teachers at Nuapapu
school, they have 24 pupils between the ages of 6 and 11, which they
take in two classes. The pupils then progress to the secondary school
in Neiafu, staying with family or friends during the week.
We had an incredible time, they each introduced
themselves in English and said what they wanted to "do in the future" some
wanted to be pilots, some wanted to be soldiers but the majority said they
wanted to be teachers. They sang a traditional song with "hand
dancing" and then a young girl gave a solo performance of a traditional
Tongan dance, with graceful hand movements, that was so beautiful to watch.
  We then had to introduce ourselves, we each
showed where we came from on the map and the routes we had taken. We
listened to them reading individually and talked about the things they
liked. We took a photo of each pupil and the whole class together
and in the afternoon we delivered printed copies to the teachers who were
delighted with them, they gave us beautiful shells as a memento of our
visit.   It was a pleasure and a priviledge to meet these
delightful youngsters and their dedicated teachers who gave us all yet another
memorable day.
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