Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Price of Bread

I cycle north across the deserted capital. The sun hasn't risen yet, but the sky is light as I reach oceanside West Vuna road. The cruise ship Amsterdam is heading west offshore as it begins it's long approach to our wharf. The thing is huge. As the sun pops up over the rim of the ocean the liner begins a slow U turn that will take it back past town towards the wharf.

It is after 06:00 so I cycle east myself. There is a great little bakery near Peace Corps. I have a weakness for their chocolate buns. It is a roll of the dice as to whether they will have them on any particular day. I am hopeful.

I am in luck! They have them today! I plop my one pa'anga note on the counter and ask for the buns.

There is much confusion. I am the first person to buy the chocolate buns this week. A short discussion breaks out between the two women working behind the counter.

The old woman who begs here shows up. She ignores the conflict but says 'hi' to me. I see her a lot. She sits cross legged against the wall of the small shop.

The bakery help finds a clipboard covered with lines of detail, then looking at me nervously, one announces: "Ua". The buns have gone up to TWO pa'anga! Double!

I stare at them. As a Peace Corps volunteer I have a lot in common with the old woman. Discussions about our monthly allotment are usually met with instructions to get food from neighbors. The potentially unofficial Peace Corps unPolicy (in my opinion - See Disclaimer - Not an Official statement of US Government Policy) is that we should beg for food to make ends meet. Clearly the new prices make this more of a necessity.

The bakery workers point to a letter on the wall about the new price of flour. Flour, bread, fuel, and many other items are price controlled here in the Kingdom. Even price controlled items must be adjusted to comply with the economic laws of inflation.

I buy the buns and cycle out onto a crumbling old wharf near the city center. The Amsterdam slowly passes, it is close enough that I can hear the PA, but not close enough to understand it. As I sit there munching my breakfast I think about the old beggar at the shop. I wonder if I should adjust my 50 sentiti contribution up to a buck from now on. One beggar to another.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I Visit a Mens Club

A men's club in the States usually revolves around nearly naked women. Although I have had the opportunity to place money on the oiled skin of local women as they dance, it is NOT the same thing here. But I digress...

"John, wear your shorts tomorrow. No tupenu. You don't want to look like a Peace Corps. We'll be going to the Nuku'alofa club."

We have a business meeting scheduled with an executive from an Australian aid agency. This is my first exposure to a Commonwealth style men's club.

We pick up our guest and park in front of the Nuku'alofa club. "Don't say Peace Corps. I'll sign you in as a guest from Texas," my sponsor instructs.

The members only club is packed. Some members play snooker. All members have drinks. I recognize a number of movers and shakers from my previous networking outings.

Wednesday night is a big night here. We have a raffle. Everyone is excited.

We take turns buying rounds. We stick with the local Ikali Beer. Since we are promoting Tongan business we always stick to local products if we can. I end up drinking way more than my usual amount - a common occurrence since joining the Peace Corps.

I am told about the club. Men only except for the Christmas party. Then women come all decked out. The men's room becomes a lady's for one night, the men use a local tree. It is reported to be quite a big deal.

We have two cabinet ministers in attendance tonight. The King is absent, but reputed to be a regular.

What is everyone talking about? Business, Business, Business.... The discussions doesn't ever swing towards women.

The raffle starts. There are about two hundred entries. The prizes are late and may not make it until tomorrow, so I don't get to appreciate their richness.

First we draw for three prizes of a whole chicken. Then the BIG prizes. Three prizes of a meat tray. Cool - sorry I couldn't see the prizes.

So did I dress correctly? Of all the attendees I spot three tupenus (men's skirts). And one of those is on a Peace Corps staff member.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Swamp Thing


I walk my language instructor, 'Ofa, back to her house. We wade down the flooded road and laugh at the pigs who gleefully frolic in submerged wallows. This is serious pig weather. I return and snap this shot of the outside of the place I sleep. The white door on the left is the same kitchen door you saw from the inside last week. This is just a corner of a large house, I have a couple of rooms, the rest are occupied by the landlord's family.

No cyclone today, but still plenty of filthy sewage infested water to play in! If only I owned a Kayak!

A young girl (20ish?) runs up splashing through the gunk. "John.... John..."

I have NO idea who this girl is, but everybody seems to know me.

"I called to you last night. Didn't you hear me?" I think - There was a girl downtown calling a waving yesterday afternoon? "No. Here. Last night. I was watching you sit and watch television," she announces.

I correct her. I had been reading a book and listening to Tonga radio. I do not have a television.

It creeps me out that as I sit in the campsite, stranded there by heavy rain, there are people a couple of meters away - standing in the heavy rain - just watching me. This happens every night - all night - even in the worst weather.

I'm nice to her though. I grab my bike and I'm off to work. By the time I get there I'll be soaked to the skin for the 3rd time today!

I get to my posh office and power up my PC. I look beneath the desk and there is a cloud of bloodsucking insects converging on my fast food delights. The mosquitoes that I fed during last weeks cyclone can announce success - they have bred a new generation.

The Internet is working again! We were down yesterday. Seems we were eight months in arrears on our Internet bill. Don't they have a sense of humor at the ISP?

I check my usual disaster sites. As Tongatapu Emergency Coordinator I check continuously for Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanic Eruptions etc. I even check the local papers for announcements of demonstrations that we should all avoid.

Today we have a new cyclone, Funa. It's just getting going up around Vanuatu. I check the surface water temps - pretty warm. I pull up projections - it is expected to turn in our general direction this weekend as it strengthens. Still too far off to worry about, but I'll keep my eye on it.

I read an email from the USGS. A 6.4 earthquake overnight about 244 miles from here. Again no worries. Earthquakes around here all the time. Didn't even feel this one.

I check our Peace Corps newsletter. The medical office reports a lot of botulism cases. Canned goods from Chinese Shops are blamed by the Tongan Government. There is a lot of prejudice here against the Chinese, so I take this with a grain of masima (salt). I note that it is not canned goods from china, but from Chinese shops. Subtle.

Oh well - No worries.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Transportation 103

As you know I travel everywhere by bicycle. Unlike the other aid agencies (Australia, Japan, EU etc) PCVs are not trusted to drive a car or even a scooter or powerboat. Even if we are on vacation in Fiji or Samoa. Really, I am not making this up.

Since I live in the bustling capital of The Kingdom I haven't needed to travel around on business yet. And the Peace Corps does not trust volunteers to travel for their own purposes for 6 months.

Other volunteers who have made it past the 6 months do travel away from their island. As many have asked me about tourist promotion here in The Kingdom I though I'd share some of their issues as the PCVs return here to Tongatapu from Christmas holidays, then attempt to get back to their own islands.

In the beginning of January all ferries between the islands were stopped by the Port Authority. The ferries had not paid their warfage fees. Some of the ferries have now paid, but along came Cyclone Elice. No travel by Ferries. I think they may have started to run now although the seas may still be too rough.

No worries, this is the modern age. We can simply fly between the islands - right?

Not for the past week due to the cyclone. But that is gone - so...

The radio reports that "due to technical difficulties" all Tonga Air flights are canceled "until further notice". We don't know what the technical issues are - one guess is lack of payment to Fiji Air, the carrier that Tonga Air contracts with for all of their flights? Who knows? And 'until further notice' is a bit ambiguous.

These are inconveniences for PCVs, but it is really not a big deal. We are a self reliant bunch and can adapt to a changing environment. But a tourist here for a limited amount of time might not see the humor in it. Tourists currently come through this island (Tongatapu) to get to the tourist islands - usually Va'Vau. Any who came to Tonga in 2008 may find they have a challenging holiday.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Beachfront Property



As you know I have been camping outside of Nuku'alofa in what I hope to be a very temporary housing situation. The town I live in is built on a swamp. This is common around Nuka'alofa and considered an urgent urban planning problem by the Kingdom (see their website).

I've (hopefully) included a couple of photos I took this morning from within my living room/kitchen. I stayed at the campsite late this morning so I could take a picture after the sun came up. These were taken around 06:30.

You will note two things:

1) There is a road right against the house (a little over a meter away).
2) The road and everything else is under water.

These conditions are not conducive to the bicycle commuter, but I digress.

A few more assumptions:

The septic systems in the neighborhood are all under water. So don't expect me to go swimming out there.

The drains that normally back up in my bathroom if I try to use it are definitely not in the best of shape this AM.

If you zoom in on the kitchen photo you can see my rice cooker on the stove. It is really a Kapa Pulu (Canned Meat) can. It works great.

You'll also notice all my toiletries. I shave and brush in the kitchen. The sink drains through the wall right onto the ground so I don't worry about backups. As you can infer the bathroom is not a user friendly environment.

Aren't the floors beautiful?

We are currently watching a tropical depression near here. It is starting a bit of rotation so it may turn into a cyclone. If it does I may be able to open a beech resort!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

When it Rains it Pours - 2 Packages in one day!

I wake early. The bells are ringing. The Tongans have become nocturnal for Uike Lotu (prayer week). Church activity including Choir, brass bands, etc goes on all night. My neighbors sleep during the day.

Another molokou (venomous centipede) is running across the floor. It keeps going for my feet. It is only a small one, perhaps four inches long, but this bugger is fast. I assume it is looking to hide in the dark beneath my feet, but it may just be trying to bite me.

I crush it and leave it outside for the chickens. They love these things.

It is another rainy day. We are in the rainy season and it pretty much rains every day. Sometimes hard, sometime misting, but rarely dry. By the time I drive around town, get some coffee, and unlock my workplace I have a trail of mud thrown up my back from the bike tires.

At work I have an email from the PC Office. Something about a parcel.

I cycle over, dodging water filled potholes and swerving cars.

I do not have a parcel. I HAVE TWO! These are the first parcels I have received so it is a big deal. Both my sisters, Ann and Jeanne have sent boxes and they finally arrived.

Ann's looks a bit tired. The box is soaked and falling apart. One of the postal services has added an additional layer of packing tape to hold it together. I open it and find a smashed jar of jam. Dang - it is hard to find good jam here, but there are 3 surviving jars. I also find a couple of big jars of real organic peanut butter, some crackers, and a bunch of natural healthy stuff. Lots of nuts. Good things. I wash everything and now I need to find a way to get this stuff back to the place I sleep. Quite a haul.

I pack Jeanne's parcel into my backpack and fill around with Ann's stuff. It all fits but the pack looks like it will explode. I ride back in heavy rain, carefully dodging the potholes that realistically could be fatal in this traffic.

The molokou is still squirming when I arrive. Although it hasn't made it to the next life yet, ants are cutting it up and hauling the pieces to their pad. Life is tough in the tropics. It will be all gone by the AM.

I unpack Jeane's stuff and find lots of little candy bars, some business magazines, tons of gum and some smokes (for gifts and trading). Plus some working bic pens.

I have a 3 musketeers, open the peanut butter and pack the magazines to read over coffee in the morning. It doesn't get any better than this!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Bang!

BANG! A woman by the road screams!

A red car has just hit me as I cycle down the road. Since I am on the left we are both traveling in the same direction. Thankfully this is a road in town so the differences in our rate of travel is probably only ten miles an hour.

The car's left wing mirror hits my wrist then the right horn on my bikes handlebar, thereby creating the noise that scared the woman (and yes myself).

I do not crash. I will have a bruise but I'll be OK. I see that the wing mirror has broken and is hanging from the side of the car. That's all I see since the driver has decided to boogie. Not an unexpected outcome. The only time I've seen drivers stop is when they hit a dog. Then they sometimes stop to grab the available meal.

By the way. I was on that road checking out the only store in Tonga that reportedly carries bicycle helmets. No luck, all they carry is kids skateboard helmets. I kinda liked the pink one with the ladybugs on it, but it didn't fit.

Quiet Start to January

It is Monday the 7th here. We have started Uike Lotu - Prayer Week.

To me this means that the tolling of the church bells that normally help prevent me from sleeping M, W and F will be occurring every day (at about 3:30, 4AM and 4:30AM.) Lots and lots of church this week. The radio continues to play Christmas music, especially reggae versions of familiar carols and lots and lots of hymns.

I hang around Nuku'alofa. I am happy to be anywhere but the campsite where I am supposed to sleep. I find that if I sit and read then in ten or fifteen minutes a small group of Tongans will sit down with me and we'll have a good chat. There are a lot of unemployed youth here. Youth means unmarried adults up into their 30s so it is a widespread issue. These guys (mainly I talk to men, lots of gender issues in this society!) are reasonably smart, reasonably well educated and bored out of their skulls. They would love to find a steady job.

Since I am a business guy I talk to them about opportunities and naturally about Tonga.

I also spend a fair amount of time getting to know local business owners. There is a class of successful Tongan business owners here. My experience has been that they have spent a lot of time overseas and operate with a mix of western business attitudes and Tongan cultural sensitivities and pride. For them there are a lot of opportunities to expand as there is little local competition and there are many (very small) under served markets here. They tend to focus on higher end customers and palangis.

I also chat with less traveled locals. One gentleman is planning to build four houses near the ocean overlooking Eua. He is using recycled building materials from Australia and has a thorough budget and business plan including anticipated rents for the four houses. Seems to be on the ball.

Then there are the followers. It is common to see a business here and want to copy it. There are way too many tiny neighborhood stores and video shops. I try to help introduce the concept of competitive mapping and roof counting. There are opportunities here, but not for additional me-too knock offs.

According to the World Bank we are one of only 3 countries (Fiji and Zimbabwe are the other 2 I think) on this planet that have contracting economies. Not an admirable attribute. All three have remarkably similar issues with capital acquisition, retention and growth. These are largely related to political stability and the perception of their rule-of-law. Tonga further suffers from her tiny available market size.

Perhaps I'll do an entry on Branding in Tonga soon. This is perhaps the only place left on Earth where a Coca Cola is exactly on par with a Shasta Grape drink.