1961

I had returned to ‘Atele in January for my sixth year. Things were going well and all of a sudden I had a very painful groin. I ended up in the Vaiola Hospital. The doctors thought I should go home to Ha’apai. ‘Inoke came to take me home where I went to the doctors at the Niu’ui Hospital. They could not find anything wrong with me.

‘Inoke thought I was just faking it to have an excuse to leave school. He devised a plan for me. He took some time off from his carpentry job in Pangai and started me working on the plantation. We got up early in the morning and went to work in the bush. We worked all day until sundown and then we went and did all kinds of other chores at night. We went through the same routine the next day and the next after that. He kept the pressure on me for about three weeks. It made me think it would be better for me to go back to school. That way I would at least have the weekends off!

School was a welcome relief and I was very happy to see my friends again and even go to classes.

That was my first experience at hospitalization and, boy, they didn’t do anything to help me there. Later we went to see a medicine man in the village of Te’ekiu. His name was Amato. Hundreds of people went to see him and would pay him with money, food or Tongan crafts. He did not help me one bit. He told me that I may not have any children. Boy, was he so far off the mark. I had five beautiful children and a beautiful palangi wife, thank you!