Death of a Puppy (and other puppies, and a dog…)

When we first arrived in Pangai, one of the greatest discoveries was the fact that at Kate and Brett’s house there were 3 litters of puppies, all of whom were adorable and lived in their yard on the beach. The mother of one of the litters was Nala, who had been the dog of a PCV who left in August, so it seemed as if the dog world had come full circle. When things were going really poorly with my site and I was upsest, all I had to do was go over to Kate and Brett’s and sit on their steps for a while playing with the puppies. No one can be sad while surrounded by puppies! At one point there were 11 puppies: 2 older litters of 3 and 5, and a much younger litter of 3.

And then, the puppies began to disappear. First to go was an adorable gray and white fat little puppy- we woke up one morning and he was just gone. It was then we first heard of a common crime in Tonga: puppy theft. The fact that most Tongan don’t really take care of their dogs much less let them in their house doesn’t seem to be an issue- cute puppies are just prone to being stolen.

Then, the youngest litter began to die, and there was an unfortunate accident involving searching for one of them during a storm and an accidental stepping on and squishing. Just like that, we were down to 7 puppies.

A few weeks later, we had pretty much picked out which puppies we were going to claim from the bunch: Kate and Brett chose a fluffy brown and black puppy, the sister of the disappeared grey one, and I picked out their brother, a fuzzy black little guy who was very laid back and chill. Walking with them to their house one day, I decided today would be the day I took him home- he was about 8 weeks, old enough to leave the mothers, and I was so excited to have a new friend at home. However, when we arrived at the house Kate came in from around back with a look of horror and sadness: my puppy was dead, lying out in the sand covered with flies. The neighbor children helped us burry him and make a proper Tongan mound grave, which they decorated with shells and stones, spelling out PUPPY.

I slept over Brett and Kate’s house that night because Eric and Melanie had made it in to visit (a wonderful and exciting event that I will write about, along with the complete frustration that accompanies traveling by boats in Tonga) and we’d been waiting up for the boat to come most of the night. We were awakened at sunrise by cries from the children coming from the backyard, “Mate e Nala! Ana, mate! Osi mate e Nala!” (Translation: “Nala’s dead. Ana (their mom) she’s dead! Nala’s already dead!”) I woke up Brett and Kate, and sure enough, there she was, poor Nala. Ana told us she though she and the puppy had gotten into some poison, and her family took Nala off the beach and dug a grave for her off the sand. It was so sad, and we really began to realize how slim the dogs’ chances of survival were on this island.

Almost a week later, the puppy Kate and Brett had picked out disappeared, just like her brother. We searched and searched for her, but our common belief was that she was out wandering and someone stole her since she was adorable. We’re still determined to pick out puppies for our home from the remaining 5, but we are a lot more aware of the challenges and possible outcomes of keeping a “pet” in Tonga.

Health Update

As some of you know, I have been having a few health problems since arriving in Tonga. Aside from the omnipresent fakaleilei (faka = like, leilei = to run, apply to bowel movements…I don’t think I have to explain) that has crippled everyone in group 74 at one time or another, I have had parasites (along with 7 other people during the same week)- delish, and most frustratingly, some form of strep/tonsillitis since the end of October. The first time I was sick during PST the incredibly sore throat was accompanied by a fever, chills, blinding headache, and swollen glands. After a dose of antibiotics the pain went away for about 2 weeks, and then came back. This happened 4 times over the course of PST, and I took 4 doses of antibiotics (and thusly had 4 yeast infections in a topical climate in summer- not fun) up until swearing-in. One of the medical officers strongly thought I needed to have my tonsils taken out, as did the one Tongan ear, nose, and throat doctor in the whole country. Since there is no PC doctor in Tonga and the hospitals here leave lots to be desired, it’s PC policy to medically evacuate volunteers with critical health problems/ those who need surgery to either Brisbane, Australia or Fiji. However, due to PC policies and red tape and it being a government organization, if a trainee needs to be med-vaced before they swear-in then they are medically separated and sent home. Boooo. So, a few weeks before swearing-in the Tongan doctor prescribed a double dose of strong penicillin-based antibiotics to hold me over until I was officially a volunteer. I’ve been feeling a lot better, but my throat is still constantly sore, so PCMO flew me back to Tongatapu last week to do some tests and put in a field consult to DC asking to send me to Brisbane to get everything checked out and possibly remove my tonsils. We did some strep tests and cultures, but in the end, DC denied my request to be med-vaced. So, I’m back in Ha’apai and we’re going to keep monitoring everything and see what happens. On the plus side, I got to stay in the medically apartment at the Peace Corps office for a few days with air conditioning (!) and hot showers (!!!), hang out with a lot of group 73 who were back for Mid-Service Training, and eat vegetables- they have veggies year round at the market in Nuku’alofa! All in all, not a bad trip. I will make sure to keep you all posted on any health updates that may arise. Until then, I hope all of you are happy and well, and fully enjoying and appreciating the selection of produce available at your local supermarket!

Happy 2009!

To celebrate the start of 2009 our Christmas crew plus Grant’s brother, who is here visiting, decided to go to Uoleva, a small uninhabited island to the south of Lifuka. There are a few resorts on Uoleva, including one where you can camp on the beach very cheaply, Diana’s, which we chose to patron. The other cool thing about Uoleva, aside from the peace and quite uninhabited islands tend to exhibit, is that during low tide you can walk from Lifuka across the ocean to the island. It’s about a 30-45 minute trek that gets a bit tough in spots, but it a lot of fun, and really surreal. Once on Uoleva we hiked another 30 minutes or so, about ¾ of the way down the island and set up a mini camp on the beach at Diana’s Place. Some people were smart enough to bring tents to Tonga, something I may have to work on getting, so we pitched those, and immediately jumped in the water. It’s times like this I’m so glad I’m in Ha’apai; the beaches are indescribably beautiful. We also gathered up a fair number of green coconuts, opened up the tops, protected them from the fire ants, poured in some rum, and settled ourselves in the ocean with our beverages, and began to celebrate.

When midnight arrived, I finally went skinny dipping in the Pacific under the stars to celebrate. Grant and his brother were awesome enough to join me, and if any of you make it over hear, I promise this is something we can do again. Post swim, we walked down the beach to where Diana’s husband had built a fire, and stayed up for a few more hours while he told us some traditional Tongan legends, including one involving a shark, a pufferfish, and an island that has lifelong immunity from shark attacks.

After a short nap, we got up around 5am and walked back down the island until we could cross over to the other side just in time to watch the first sunrise of 2009. Since Tonga is the first country in the world to see the sun each morning, and I highly doubt many Tongans were hiking around to the liku side of islands to watch the sun, there is a pretty good chance that we were the first people in the world to see the sun rise on 2009…

Diana’s husband gave us a small tour of the island that included showing us one of the man-made pigeon hills: back in the day, nobles lived on Uoleva with their slaves, and had them construct giant hills out of rock and coral dragged from the sea just so they could shoot pigeons off of them for sport…sometimes the cultural similarities are eerily disturbing.

We had to wait for low tide, so we lounged around on the beach for a while and then hiked back up to the ocean. Crossing was fairly uneventful until a few of us missed the path by a few feet and were literally swept out to sea: the riptides off the reef were so strong. After an eventful half hour of struggling against the ocean (the ocean was totally winning, although I had figured out how to climb back on the coral underwater) two Tongan teenagers on horseback appeared. They were on their way across to feed the pigs on Uoleva but were kind enough to stop assist us. The horses were able to stand where I couldn’t and one of them threw me a rope that was attached to the horse’s saddle and I was able to pull myself the rest of the way in. I know it’s a common fantasy to be rescued by a mysterious person on a white horse: in my case, apparently, my “prince charming” is a 13 year old boy…go figure. Despite the more dramatic than desired finale, it was a wonderful New Year’s and a great way to welcome 2009. Let’s hope the rest of this year keeps up!