Ovaka

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get to go along on a Peace Corps site development visit to the island of Ovaka. Ovaka is one of Vava'u's outer islands. The people of Ovaka are interested in having a volunteer in the future. The purpose of the visit was to discuss their needs and also let them know what would be expected of them if Ovaka was chosen as a placement for a future PCV. The visit was led by Amanda Rabinowitz, a programming and training manager for Peace Corps Tonga. Also along were Amanda Strickler (fellow PCV that also works at the VYC), King, and some guys from Makave.

You can see Ovaka in Google Earth with these coordinates:

18°44'36.33"S, 174° 5'44.30"W

Anyway...

We left Neiafu around 11am. We took one of the boats that travels back and forth to Ovaka a few times a week. I sat on the top and got to take some pictures of the islands on the way out. The weather was great for the trip and I think most of them turned out well. You can see King was excited to go.



We reached Ovaka about an hour and a half later. We had a meeting at the village hall and as far as I could tell it went pretty well. Amanda did all of the talking because her Tongan language is near perfect. I'm not exactly sure what all was said but everyone seemed to be in good spirits after the meeting. My language just isn't there yet. Afterwards we explored more of the village and island.

We left Ovaka and headed back towards Neiafu around 4pm. On the way back the guys chopped up a bunch of fish that had just been caught and we ate them with manioke (tapioca). We "cleaned" the fish by dipping it in bloody fish water. The raw fish is growing on me. Six months ago I'm not sure how I would have handled that situation but yesterday I just chowed down with everyone.

I took quite a few pictures and will try and get them all up soon but here are a few until then.

- All pictures are up now, check out Picasa on the right -