Vava'u

We spent the last week in Tongatapu, going to the hospital for clinical.  While I think it is “fun” to learn about another culture, we did additional fun things like an island tour, and a dinner and show (dance) at the Tonga cultural center on Thursday night.  I didn’t eat, though—I have had Tongan food before and didn’t want to spend the money for dinner.

On Friday we went by plane to Vava’u.  We will be here for a week.  Saturday morning we did blood pressure and glucose screenings in the market place.  In 2010 when we came; we did 92 screenings in the market place.  Saturday we did a198.  It was the day before mother’s day and the market was PACKED!  I wish I would have thought about that—we are going out to the islands on Wednesday and I only brought 250 glucose test strips—we only have 50 or so left for our island testing.  The rest are on Tongatapu.  I will have to bring more next year, even if we don’t use them.

Saturday afternoon we went kayaking to Tonga Beach.  It is about four miles away.  It was a beautiful day, and we had a good time.  There were not enough double kayaks to rent, so I ended up on a single kayak by myself.  On the way back, two of the girls got really far behind on their kayak.  The girls on the kayak behind me asked if they were okay, to which they yelled “NO!”.   I rowed back and found their kayak capsized and full or water, out there in the ocean.  My little kayak would not hold them, and to make a long story short, they ended up swimming at least a mile with me right by them, rowing, towing their upside down kayak, and at times, having them hold on for a little rest.  When we finally got to a beach after an hour of this, the owner of the kayak rental FINALLY came looking for us.  It turns out that they forgot to put the plug in, causing the kayak to fill with water. 

One thing that was good was that the girls who this happened to were our strongest swimmers, and also girls who did not panic.  We also all had life jackets, if needed (they thought it was harder to swim with life jackets, than without, but I was right there with them if needed).  I was also really thankful to be back there far enough to “rescue” them, and I was one of the better rowers.  Although it was a difficult situation, we got through it.

Yesterday was mother’s day here in Tonga.  We went to church at the ward here, and the girls made Debbie, the other instructor at I, dinner.  Today we had our first day at the hospital.  It was good to see all of our Tonga nurse friends again; I feel so close to them, and am glad to be there again.  We did get to help with the birth of a baby, a little girl.  Tomorrow we are going back to the hospital, and in the afternoon, to a school to do eye exams, physical assessments, and lice checks on the kids there.