Vavaʻu

For Saints scattered across the Pacific, having an apostle of the Lord among them was the chance of a lifetime.

Reaching the apostle meant a long voyage for my grandparents across the largest body of water on the planet to the main island of Tongatapu, but first stopping midway on their home island of Vavaʻu.

The Pacific is known for its fickle weather patterns, and the week of their trip was no different.

The Wolfgramms sailed into a storm.

A journey that should have taken 16 hours to Vavaʻu stretched into two and a half brutal days at sea.

From my grandma's journal, she wrote, quote, "We were completely soaked, battered and sick, too weak to eat.

I held Vilimanulea to my chest until finally arriving to Vavaʻu." Close quote.

Yet their trial was not over.

Seluvaia Ilolahia says it's important that people are ready.

Niuafou'ou, a remote northern island, is still on drought warning, and Vava'u in the central division is on drought alert.

Meanwhile, the CEO of the Pacific Islands Council of Trade Unions says climate change is affecting how work works in the Pacific.

Rugwan Rugwan says extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, disrupting work spaces, hours, and livelihoods.

So yeah, really looking forward to the next few days in Auckland talking about some of that and the context couldn't be more pressing for it.

Yeah, and Dave, as I was telling you offline in preparation for this being Energy Week, I was looking for a little interesting energy story and I did find one in Tonga in Vava'u.

They've put in place or testing out a solar power desalination plant, small scale, but able to produce up to something just over 4000 litres per day of drinking water so that people are not solely reliant on rainwater.

You know, when it's not raining, obviously, that's a problem.

For saints scattered across the Pacific, having an apostle of the Lord among them was the chance of a lifetime.

Reaching the apostle meant a long voyage for my grandparents across the largest body of water on the planet to the main island of Tongatapu, but first stopping midway on their home island of Vava'u.

The Pacific is known for its fickle weather patterns, and the week of their trip was no different.

The Wolfgrahams sailed into a storm.

A journey that should have taken 16 hours to Vava'u stretched into two and a half brutal days at sea.

From my grandma's journal, she wrote, quote, We were completely soaked, battered and sick, too weak to eat.

I held Vili Manulea to my chest until finally arriving to Vava'u, close quote.

Yet their trial was not over.

Ah.

Yeah, but let's go up to, like, Vava'u, 'cause it's co- it's real cool up there.

Mm.

Vava'u.

And then we could, we could go, like, whale watching or-

Yep.

Thank you for tuning in to Pacific Beat.

Now, whales have long been part of Tonga's story and identity, and in the waters of Vava'u, science and traditional knowledge are coming together to better understand these incredible animals.

The Tongan Whale Project is bringing generations of knowledge with scientific research to learn more about a whale's journey and the waters they return to each year, led by our next guest, Dr. Vanessa Pirotta, a Macquarie University wildlife scientist.

She joins us now to unpack this more.

Thank you for having me.

Appreciate it.

Doctor, look, take us to Vava'u.

Like, what did you set out to discover through this, uh, Tongan Whale Project?

In Fiji, we continue to support the great work that Pastor Natha and Likisi are doing there in Suva, as well as some exciting new potential opportunities for us to help with in the near future.

And we're now hopping over to the Kingdom of Tonga, where we support two local churches, one in Vavau with Pastor Haveli and Meli, and one in Tongatapu with Pastor Isaiah and Whale Mama.

And we're excited to be sending a team up to the beautiful kingdom of Tonga in October, where we wanna go and help them with their outreaches into the hospitals and also into local communities.

And who can forget our dear friends in the Philippines, Pastor Fortune and Roslyn.

Ki tētahi ki tōku mareikura, uh, te Kingitanga o Tonga.

Nō Vava'u, Neiafu, Holonga.

Uh, Ngāti Haua ki Tainui, arā Ngāpuhi Nui tonu.

So that's just a bit about [clears throat] uh, my, my genealogical connections, and yeah, that makes up part of who I am.

If you could go into more detail, what inspired you to run for office in Panmure-Ōtāhuhu?

Part of my establishing who I am is talking about my genealogy, and so I'm, I'm of Māori and Tongan descent.

[clears throat] Now, if I talk into my Tongan heritage, uh, my Tongan whakapapa, many of my Tongan family had left the islands of Tonga from Vava'u, from Neiafu, Holonga, and they moved to the bustling metropolis that is Auckland, uh, Tāmaki Makaurau.

Yeah, a lot of our family moved to West Auckland, to, uh, Rānui, Swanson, Massey, Henderson, uh, some to Central Auckland, and the rest of my whānau live in what we call Little Tonga, which is Ōtāhuhu.