Scrubs and Heels: Tonga

Malo e leilei! I just spent the most amazing month in Tonga and here are some pictures and updates from our exciting adventure.

First stop, New Zealand! We flew to Auckland and stayed for a couple of days. Thank goodness there weren't very many people on the way there and we got a whole row to ourselves - so comfy.

After the very long flight (13 hours and 10 minutes), we arrived bright and early for a day of touring Auckland. We stopped on a small island (I think it was called Raingototo or something) and the ferry only stayed for 10 minutes before it whistled for us to come back. Some of the group didn't make it back on time and we were separated for a couple of hours, but they were ok. Oh, did I forget to mention that there was no shelter on the island and it rained while they were stuck? Ya, they were ok, wet, but ok.

Kelsey, Danielle, Emily, and Me on the island

Downtown Auckland . . .
(beautiful picture courtesy of Emily)

. . . to Tonga!

This picture is from a hike we took to the highest point on Vava'u

We started the next morning working in the Prince Ngu Hospital. The different "wards" were Pediatrics/Obstetrics, Medical/Surgical, Outpatient, Antenatal, Dental, and Community. We rotated through the different areas of the hospital and got to know everyone very quickly. We were really excited to learn and to get involved and the nurses really appreciated it. By the end of our 2 weeks on Vava'u we had developed some great friendships with the nurses and learned a lot about how the medical system works in such a small place. They have so little and do so much with what they have. Nurses are involved in everything from "womb to tomb". They deliver babies, care for patients (although I don't think there were more than 10 at this hospital during our stay), and care for bodies when someone has died. Everyone on the island knows who the nurses are and really respect their opinion and advice. I really appreciated how hard the nurses worked and how innovative they were in caring for patients.

We got to help deliver babies . . .

. . . ate "labor cake" when one of the nurses offered a little treat.

We had been assisting with labor support when one of the nurses brought in cake. They don't have a lot of gloves so we often just wash our hands a lot, but the nurse was very insistent that we take the cake. So, we ate cake! Something I never would have done (ever, under any circumstance), but I did and I lived!

. . . we bathed babies

. . . and taught children at primary schools how to brush their teeth!

Don't get me wrong, we definitely had a little fun too! The nurses took us to an island, Taunga, on a little tiny boat and we had lunch with them. When we saw the boat we were a little concerned. It fit 8 nursing students, 2 instructors, 6 Tongan nurses, an entire Tongan feast, and a driver. After we made it to our destination (about a 1 hour boat ride), the driver had to take a bucket and empty some water out of it, but hey, "it's ok"! (This was a common phrase in Tonga. If you ordered dinner and they didn't have half of the ingredients, they would make it anyways and say "it's ok". Oh well!) On the way there we passed a huge cave with bats all over the ceiling, it was really cool. The nurses tried to tell us that if we jumped in the water the cave would light up. Ya, like I'm going to jump in dark water in a semi-creepy cave crawling with bats. I don't think so. So one of the nurses took off her shirt and jumped right in! I'm not sure if the cave lit up or if we just wanted her to get back in, but it sure was funny.

Here is the beach with the little boat we traveled in.

These two islands were so close together that we could walk from one to the other and the water was barely knee-deep!

Meleame (the charge nurse) with our Tongan feast-including the roasted pig! We had sweet potatoes, yams (surprisingly there is a big difference between the two), fried rice, crab, coconut, watermelon, pineapple, fried fish, cassava pie, taro with corned beef, clams, and much more! Yum!

Playing on the beach

Being white, or a "palangi" in Tonga, everyone knows you and where you came from and where you're staying and how long you will be there and a whole bunch of other facts that you have no idea where they heard them from, but they know things about you. They also love to give you gifts once they feel like they know you well enough. This was one of my gifts:

What is it you say? Why it's Tongan soap of course! When I was in the antenatal area of the hospital, I got to know some of the nurses pretty well. One of them brought me Tongan soap and told me she made it herself and even chewed it with her own teeth! It smelled awful but I couldn't go without trying it, out of courtesy. I just used it to wash my hands, thought it was the most disgusting thing ever, and promptly washed it off. Surprise-after you wash it off it smells really nice and it makes your skin super soft! I definitely won't be including this into my regular hygiene regimen, but it was worth a try!

This is a high school rugby game-they were so good! Some had socks and shoes, others had just socks, and some had neither! It was a lot of fun though.

Just as we were about to leave Vava'u, a plane crash landed on the big island, Tongatapu. Because of this, all the planes were grounded for about 5 days. Considering we were ready to go, it was hard not to be antsy and ready to head out, but hey, marooned on a paradise island for a few extra days? It wasn't so bad. This is a picture of when the planes were finally cleared to go and we packed our bags and hurried to the airport and the flight was cancelled-back to the Pua!

We did arrive safely in Tongatapu and began clinical the next day. On our first day the princess was coming to the hospital for the demolition of the old part of the hospital. We got to line up with the Tongan nursing students and show respect as the princess came to the hospital for this ceremony. You can also see a huge tapa cloth in front of the nursing students-this is considered a big deal in Tongan culture and a show of respect as well.

At Vaiola Hospital on Tongatapu with one of the staff nurses (in pink) and a nursing student (in blue)

While we were touring the lovely island of Tongatapu we came across trees full of Flying Foxes. Our taxi driver was so great and got out of the car and started making noise to wake up the flying foxes and try to make them fly around. As we were all looking up watching them fly around, Tami got a little too close and was hit with some Tongan Flying Fox treats! Yes, Tami's face was pooped on. It was gross, but really funny too, thanks for letting us laugh with you!

Tongans LOVE to have their picture taken and will ask you to take their picture. This is a group of students from the Liahona School (the Church school in Tonga) with their marching band uniforms - they were so good!! They performed at the parade celebrating the opening of parliament and did a great job.

This is the house we stayed in at the Liahona School . . .

And the Temple . . .
(right next door!)

One of my favorite parts of Tonga was the trip we took to Eua. It's a little island off of Tongatapu that takes about 2 hours by ferry to get to. It's beautiful and we had an awesome tour of the island.

This is a natural land bridge and it's much bigger than it looks here-it was beautiful . . .

And on the way home there were tons of bags on the deck of the ferry and we weren't quite sure what they were, but then they started moving and one had a nose! People were transporting their pigs from Eua to Tongatapu! Here is one of our little friends . . .

Here we are on the front of the ship on our way home. We got to see the sunrise and everything, it was great.

In Tonga I learned a lot about how to make good use of what you have, that family is most important, and that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. This experience was such a blessing and I will never forget what I learned, saw, and felt. In conclusion, these are a few of my favorites . . .

The blowholes, you can just sit and watch the waves forever . . .