NUKU'ALOFA, TONGA
Sitting in a traditional Tongan fale, built over water on a shoreline just minutes from downtown Nuku'alofa, Tonga, President F. Sitiveni Fehoko talks about his dream.
"This is how the Tongan people stayed before," he said, looking over "Old Tonga," a replica traditional Tongan village.
Among hand-carved artifacts stands a canoe house, the bones of a whale, and traditional Tongan homes. President Fehoko of the Nuku'alofa Tonga Stake built the village on his land to teach his family a "lesson of self-reliance and work."
Entering the village is like going back in time. Young men row a canoe on the water near the village. A sea turtle swims near the shore. President Fehoko, an artist by trade, looks at a hand-carved canoe and speaks of forgotten Tongan traditions.
Looking over the village, he simply says: "It will be better in the future. I dream to do it. I have a plan to do it."
The dream started when a cruise ship — filled with tourists from all over the world — landed at Nuku'alofa. "Someone said, 'Can I go to a Tongan house? Where do I see a Tongan house?' "
But there weren't any.
President Fehoko said Old Tonga "is the only place in Tonga of its kind."
After visualizing Old Tonga, he went to the bush and gathered supplies and returned to build homes with hand-woven roofs.
President Fehoko learned the trade from his father, Devida Fehoko, a tufunga or master craftsman, an artist, a boat builder, a home builder.
In addition to being a place where tourists can come and take pictures, Old Tonga is also a place they learn Tongan traditions, such as weaving, fishing, wood carving, and canoeing, said President Fehoko.
He hopes school children will visit the village on field trips.
President Fehoko also hopes the village will help youth of the Church. Already two youth conferences have been held in the village. The youth slept in traditional Tongan structures and awoke early for a sunrise devotional. The setting provided a place for reflection and direction, he said.
It took President Fehoko 18 months to built Old Tonga. But for him the real satisfaction came when a group of Tongans living in America visited. An older lady stood in the replica village with tears running down her face. "I grew up in a house like this," she said. "I never forget my family when I see a place like this. I remember my family."
Sometimes when President Fehoko feels the stress of his Church calling or business responsibilities, he walks to the village, sits down and reads his scriptures. "I feel the support of my great-grandparents, my great ancestors," he said. "The love was very strong in the Tongan community, among the Tongan people.... This place will always bring you a spirit of peace."
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