More Problems with my Site

When I got back from Tongatapu, things at site had been looking up. My principal, Seluini, had returned to Pangai and is living next door to me, and seems to be a wonderful person. Additionally, school started on the 26th, and I felt sure that with work to do, and someone at my school here and looking out for me, and the issues with the community would be done with. I wish that was true. A few days before school started we had “planning days” with all the teachers from all the schools at Taufa’ahau: the kindergarten, the primary school, and the high school. They were boring and useless 8 hour days, along with a good 2 hours of eating thrown in (oh Tonga), but I did get to meet the teachers from all the school who live on the compound with me. The principle and assistant principle of the high school came up to me at one point and asked if I would be willing to help out with the high school English at all: their test scores from the previous year were the lowest they’d been in 30 years. We talked about night classes, and I told them that I needed to settle in at the primary school, but I would be happy to help out after school.

The first week of school in Tonga is a joke: teachers sit around and do minimal work, while the kids are made to clean the yards and the classrooms. A few “lessons” sort of took place, but the syllabus had not yet arrived from the Ministry of Education, so no planning or work was being done. But, the kids, as always, are awesome, and as there was nothing for me to observe and teachers kept leaving when I came into classrooms, I ran a few mini lessons with some of the classes and tried to just get an understanding of where the classes were English-wise. I tried to explain to my teachers and the principle that PC and other volunteers had told us to observe for the first few weeks so we could figure out how the school ran and what page everyone was on. I should stress that the emphasis of the PC Education program in Tonga is on co-teaching: working and planning and teaching with local teachers in an effort to promote sustainability, rather than just doing work for them. This really isn’t understood at my site.

Last Wednesday we had a cyclone day and school was canceled. The storm wasn’t too bad (we’ve had much worse in January) but it was nice to have a day off. My principal stopped by and asked if I was willing to help out in the high school and to find out if PC would let me. I explained that I was here to work in the primary school: that this was my primary assignment, but that we were allowed to have secondary projects as long as they didn’t interfere with the primary jobs. He said the high school had been talking to him and made it sound as if, instead of night classes, they wanted me to come up once or twice a week during school. I told him that would be alright, and that I was happy to help, as long as it didn’t interfere with my work at the primary school.

Then, on Friday, Seluini took me up to the high school to meet with the deputy principal. He handed me a schedule and told me I would be teaching an English class every day and two on Thursday for Form 6, the last year before college. When I asked who the English teacher was he said that it was me. I told him that I would not teach the class by myself and tried to explain that I was here to co-teach. I also told him that I have absolutely no experience teaching high school and even less idea how a Tongan high school runs, what level of English each class should have, and what the current teaching methods and styles are. I said that I would be more than happy to help out and tried to explain that I would not and could not do this alone and that my primary job was supposed to be in the primary school. He said I should go ask this other woman about teaching with me, and I told him that the school needed to have an English teacher and that I would help them. Then, my principle and the other teachers at the primary school wanted me to teach at the high school and then teach classes 3, 4, 5, and 6 every day. I told them that it was too much, especially with the high school class, and that I wouldn’t be able to make up 5 lesson plans and run 5 classes everyday. They all seemed upset and disappointed with me and kept telling me that I should be a strong American. According to PC, we’re not supposed to work full time, because the work is only 1/3 of the reason why we’re technically there, and we’re encouraged to develop secondary projects and get involved in the community. Also, 5 classes every day is too much for any teacher: Tongan teachers don’t do this, there is no reason why I should. I feel like they just want me to do everything for them, and that’s not why I’m here. I’m excited to work with the teachers, but, I can’t do it for them; it’s just not at all sustainable.

Sites are supposed to be screened and developed to ensure that communities not only want a PCV, but also that they want to do the work to change: to try new techniques and develop lesson plans with native English speakers. In short, the Tongans need to want change, not just for someone to come in and do it for them, or throw money at them. A good example of this is the books in the schools: tons of books are donated to Tonga through a variety of different organizations. Since books are not printed in Tonga, one would think that these books, especially in schools, would be prized. In my school, as in many many others, the books are thrown all over the floor or in large book shelves, bent and unorganized, left in disarray, and often covered with dirt, mud, termite nests. Teachers use them as fans, and kids use them as building blocks and to hit one another with. Yet, each year, countless schools apply for grants to get more books, because that’s what they want- someone to give them money or goods and do things for them.

In addition, after the meeting at the high school, my principal brought me back to the first shack house they put me in and told me I had to look at it. The outside had been painted, but the door was locked so we didn’t have to go inside. I had thought that all of this was resolved…I was wrong. Essentially he told me he was on my side, but that the fifekau has the final say, and there would be another meeting this month or next month to decide whether or not I could stay in my house. I was shocked, and I just felt so betrayed and upset: I thought this was over, and I’ve put a lot of time and money into the house I’m in now over the past month to make it a home.

The combination of everything just made me so sad and upset, and after talking to Phil for a while, who was a huge help, I called Viliami, by PM, and told him everything that was going on. He told me he would come down this week, and we would figure out what to do, but that he was nervous that Seluini, my principal, wouldn’t have enough power, and that even if we resolved everything, the high school and fifekau would probably still be mad at me, and the community part of all this just will not get any better. He said that there are 3 sites that he is now thinking of switching me to, including Koulo, that site I was initially supposed to be at.

I told him that it was fine that he wanted to move me- I’ve been so unhappy here, and I did not come here to play politics and power games with a church. As I told Thom last night, if I had wanted to do that, I could have easily stayed in America. I came here to learn a new culture and to work, and thus far, I’ve been able to do neither at my site. If the community doesn’t want me to be here, then I really do not want to be here. I know some people might think I should stick it out, that PC is supposed to be hard. I agree, but it’s not supposed to be hard in this way. It’s not supposed to be about me fighting with the community for months and months to let me do the job I came here to do and getting stuck in the middle of local politics. And as much of a pain as moving and trying to break into a new community will be, I think the chance to have it be better will be well worth it. And I know PC is definitely partially to blame for failing to develop a site, and just sticking me here when my first site fell through. But being angry with them isn’t really going to get me anywhere right now. We need to find a solution, and then I will make sure I work with them and get angry to make sure this does not happen to anyone else next year.

Hopefully, this will all be resolved in the upcoming weeks, and I will be sure to post again as soon as I know where I’ll be. And, to all of you who have asked for a more permanent address, I apologize for not responding: I just wanted to make sure I was settled before I gave that out, and as of now, I’m not. Wish me luck, and I promise I’ll throw in more happy posts along with these not-happy ones, because in between all of this crap, I’ve been having a great time with the Japanese volunteers, a Swedish woman who owns the bar/restaurant in town, and a couple from Ireland and Germany who are opening up a dive shop, and mostly, the other PCVs.