Down on the farm - Tonga style!

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Wed 11 Jun 2014 22:09
Now we really feel as though we are exploring new areas! Nuka was the first island we anchored off and on Sunday afternoon we ventured ashore. John has described it as looking how he would expect England to have looked in about the 10th century! To say it is rural would be an understatement! There are pigs running free all over the place and the 'roads' are muddy tracks shored up with coconut shells.
There was a church and also, surprisingly enough somewhere where you could top up your mobile phone! As it was Sunday afternoon, whilst most people where at home, we didn't see many, just a few children playing outside.
There has clearly been a lot of money invested in the area by means of foreign aid as each house has a very sturdily built solar panel in the garden. The whole of the Tongan economy is based on foreign aid parcels and money sent home by Tongans living abroad. The amount of people emigrating is balanced by the amount of births, more or less, so there is still a thriving young population in the country. We met a lot of the local children, all of whom were keen to tell us they go to school so that we would give them the exercise books and pens they need. We have never seen children so thrilled by an exercise book, some biro pens and crayons. There is not much more I can say about the place, best thing to do is just show you some pictures to give you an idea where we are.

JPEG image


The dock - we didn't manage to find out what these buildings behind were they looked quite official and 'officey' but there were no signs to say what they were. They were definitely out of synch with the rest of the village.

JPEG image



JPEG image



JPEG image



JPEG image



JPEG image



JPEG image



JPEG image