1948-1954

I didn’t have many clothes when I grew up. I might have a pair of khaki shorts, one white or colored tupenu (lavalava) and a white or colored shirt, that’s all. Later when I attended boarding school, I had a little more because of the school uniform requirement. My school only allowed two colors—khaki and white.

One of the biggest feasts in the islands was the Faka Me (May Day). This was a Methodist church feast only, and it was held on the first Sunday in May. The children and youth of the church had to run the complete Sunday program by themselves except the preacher’s part and the choir. We did the litany which could take an hour, then we’d quote the hymns and the congregation would sing them. Sione, Hala and I used to memorize a lot of hymns, scripture verses and much of the Sunday service program.

We used to make a big pola (feast) for this occasion with good food like fish and lobster, pork and chicken along with many desserts.

We usually had new clothes for this special day in May. My family used to get me a new shirt and a new lavalava. These clothes were sewed a little larger than a perfect fit for me because after the program they were mailed to Sione to wear at Liahona High School (LDS boarding school in Tongatapu). At Liahona HS dress standards were different than at government schools. They could wear any color clothes that they like before and after class. They could even wear long pants. The school colors were green and gold. They had green and white uniforms to wear to classes. School uniforms are standard across Tonga. My future school ‘Atele’s school color was red. Toloa, the Methodist high school and our school’s greatest rival had blue for their school color.