We recently finished our first school term break holidays in
Tokelau. It was a shaping and revealing experience for us as a family to put it
gently. Average temperatures night and day in the thirties (i.e. read: too hot
to go outside), five children aged 3 – 12, living in a one room house on a
small and isolated island, far from family and friends, no personal form of
transport and a very limited number of family activities. And oh boy when everyone wakes at 6:30am the day can seem to drag on and on in a painful way.
We found that we could kill and hour or so at the lagoon and Chrissie and the
kids are super creative with creating fun out of nothing (see our other school holiday photos in previous post) but given the limits
to our material resources these activities often were only enough to buy us
another hour or two – lots and lots of day left to kill – and did we mention –
five kids, one room house, too hot to be outside! Most of the week felt like it
consisted of heated and strained discussions about which movie to watch next –
given that they’ve all been watched before and typically there were five
different movie preferences from each of the five children! We all found the
days loonng!
Of course this type of school holidays is normal to the
people here in Tokelau (except some don’t even have the movies to help pass
time), and we continue to be simply amazed by how chilled out, go with the
flow, and contented people here are. We’re also ever so grateful for the huge
privileges and blessings of our life in NZ.
By about day five we were all starting to feel like we were
hitting a wall. Chrissie and I had reached that point of praying Psalm like
prayers. “God rescue me from this I can’t do it any longer”; “God help me
resist strangling my children – when it was me who brought them here in the
first place”; “God help us”. It’s hard to accurately express the feelings, but
we were really reaching the end of our wits and tolerance.
And then we experienced another answer to our (somewhat
selfish) prayers. Just when we felt like we could hardly do another day,
through the generosity of others, God met our need so beautifully. So the real
point of this post is to share that experience of generosity and alofa from
others, through which we experienced the providence and goodness of God in our
family’s time of need.
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| Stoked to be out of the house! |
Lihe and Pale invited us to come with them on a “picnic” on
Friday with their granddaughter and friend. In Tokelau, picnic means trip to
the outer islets of the atoll to swim, eat traditional Tokelau cuisine, (and be
eaten by ravenous mosquitoes but that’s beside the point thanks to Bushman’s
Insect repellent!) This was hugely exciting to all of our kids, even just for
the prospect of going across the lagoon on one of the small aluminium boats
which go a lot faster than the school boat they mostly have travelled on. (I
should add that Pale and Lihe had already taken us night fishing earlier in the
week which was a wonderful experience too).
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| That's Fenua Fala our motu in the background |
So we were picked up by Pale and Lihe on their boat and set
off across the lagoon. Lihe had brought with her all manner of treats,
including a couple of huge containers of Tokelauan donuts (Puta – a favourite
that I’d been introduced to back in Cannons Creek). Pale got out the fishing
lines with lure’s for the kids to troll for Trevally while we motored across.
We were shown some phenomenally beautiful spots, getting out
of the boat briefly for Pale to collect some “uto” for us – a delicious foam like heart of the coconut that forms where the milk normally is as the nut begins to germinate.
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| The colour of the water is astounding |
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| Looking east from the northern tip of the lagoon |
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| The first place we stopped to get the uto |
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| Little 'picnic' shelter that people would stay over in. Very hungry mosquitoes. We saw three small sharks swim by not more than a metre from the shoreline within the space of 15 mins - very cool. |
We then carried on around the perimeter of the lagoon giving
us all our first really good look around the other parts of the atoll. This
peacefull cruise was interrupted gladly when first Meli and then Lihe and Ruana
pulled in reasonable sized fish – pretty exciting for fishing amateurs that rarely
catch anything bigger than a spotty fish under the Paremata rail bridge back
home!
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| One of our fish |
After perhaps an hour of motoring round the lagoon (which is
deceptively larger than you first think), Pale began looking for an appropriate
place for us all to have a swim.
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| Our little islet to swim at |
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| Dead coconut palms |
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| Starting to cook |
We settled on a very small islet with only a
small amount of foliage – meaning no mosquito habitat Pale explained. Kids and
adults alike had a wonderful time plunging into the cooler waters where the
seabed dropped away very steeply. As we all swam and paddled, Pale set about
finding some dead coconut palms to make a fire with in order to cook fish for
us in the traditional Tokelau way to enjoy with the uto. Half the coconut palms
were laid on the coral stone beach, on top of which large tuna fillets were
placed. The remaining palms were placed on top and the whole pile lit – quickly
becoming a roaring fast burning fire. While the fire was burning, Pale set
about weaving a basket using a green coconut palm, something that everyone can
do here with astonishing speed creating a very beautiful, not to mention versatile
basket that is used in every part of life here. Believe me I’ve had several
efforts at weaving them and it’s harder than they make it look. The basket is
so that the cooked, but complete charcoaled fish can be placed in to it and put
in the sea – washing it, and salting it lightly too. The resulting meal is so
tasty – a sort of smoked flavour that is even better than the other ways we’ve
eaten tuna (including raw, raw and marinated in soy and garlic, pan fried,
floured and pan fried etc.) With such protein rich food, you’re full and
satisfied very quickly.
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| The basket starting |
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| I had to be quick with my photos because it comes together so fast |
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| This is the bit if find tricky - plating the bottom together |
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| The cooked Tuna |
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| Nearly done |
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| And in the fish goes |
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| Washing away the charcoal and other debris |
We continued to swim and play, explore the island, and make
Pale and Lihe laugh as the watched me – a crazy palagi guy plunging around the
shallow waters with a machete attempting to cut these long translucent blue
fish that are attracted by the scent of the other fish in the water. All were
entertained as each of the kids was keen on their own “pipe fish” as we call
them, not their real name.
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| Pipe fish as we call them |
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Sunsets are never the same in the photo -
but we are treated to some amazing ones |
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| Heading home |
As the sun started to drop low in the sky, we packed up and
headed home – literally into the setting sun – cheesy but true and idyllic! Nga,
Meli and Rainy got to go home on a faster boat - 30 horsepower instead of the
15 horsepower of Pale’s boat so they were stoked and Rainy’s holiday wish of a
boat ride jumping waves came true!!
We were discussing as a family the deep sense of gratitude
for the day – our best day in Tokelau so
far. Gratitude for the alofa and care of Pale and Lihe and the way God uses
them to bless us so much, gratitude of the phenomenal beauty of the place we
are living, and gratitude to God for the revelation we had of His providing
perfectly for our needs on that day when we were all so in need of it.
There was a profound sense of indwelling a Psalm like experience
which, as in so many Psalms starts with the cry like the prayers above, only to
be entered into by a loving father who delights in meeting our simple, frail,
human needs because that’s who He is.
That day the morning prayers Psalm in the lectionary, Psalm
138, was very appropriate.
That day we could give praise to Jesus (Psalm 138:3, 8):
3On
the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul.
8The
LORD will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not
forsake the work of your hands.
