Jim the boatman gently eased the small outboard motor towards land. We had been ploughing through the beautiful warm, turquoise waters of the Ha’appai for the past 20 mins. We had left the wharf behind at Pangai, the main village on the island of Lifuka, and turned south to follow the islands palm strewn coastline. Daiana, our host had arrived with Jim at the wharf to greet us and now lay dozing at the bottom of the boat beneath a small shelter. There was a beautiful cooling breeze blow over us as the boat rushed through the water relieving us, for the time being, from the hot, humid air of Tonga. We were in the Ha’appai islands, a group of, perhaps, 60 or so islands just over 100km north of Tonga’s capital Nuku’olofa. Jim brought us past the southern tip of Lifuka and we saw the causeway which leads to Uoleva, the small island to which we were now headed. During low tide you can cross between these two islands on foot.
Beyond the causeway Uoleva’s low jungle covered form beckoned. Jim directed the boat halfway down the island and then gently nudged the boat’s nose towards a point of land where two beautiful palm-lined bays met. Hidden behind a line of coconut trees lay Daiana’s resort. This would be our home for the next few days. On the beach awaiting us stood a short lean man with graying hair. He jogged into the water as we came through the breakers and steadied the boat in the surf as we dropped over the sides into the water. He was a jovial fellow, beaming a bright friendly smile, and greeting each of us as we unloaded our rucksacks onto the beach. At the time I wasn’t sure who this man was but very quickly it became apparent that he was Daiana’s husband. His name was Kelafi. Together they ran the resort. Little did any of us imagine, as we walked from the beach, what a magical experience awaited us among the trees on this small, isolated point of land.
Uoleva is a virtually deserted stretch of island. There are no villages here, no roads, no shops. There is another resort a few hundred meters up the beach from Daiana’s but you would hardly know it was there. Almost nobody went there during our stay on the island. Daiana’s resort was a very simple, basic accommodation. It was set amongst a coconut grove on a point of land where two gently curving, crescent bays met. You could sit in Daiana’s and look out across both beaches. In each direction you could see soft golden sand backed by dark green vegetation which covered all of the island, and warm turquoise waters. To the west, sitting low on the horizon some 40 miles away lay the volcanic islands of Kao and Tofu, one dormant, one active. The famous Mutiny on the Bounty took place over there. In the evenings the sun set to the south of these islands and as we sat each evening on the beach watching the sun lower, we wondered how beautiful would tonight’s sunset be.
Daiana’s consisted of a collection of small traditional fales, a kitchen/ common room, and a toilet and shower. A cyclone hit the island two weeks before we arrived and high waves caused damage to some of the fales. During our stay Kelafi was busy building a new replacement. There was nothing fancy here, the fales was small, simple mats covered the ground and mattresses were laid on the matting. Mosquito net draped from the roof. There was no electricity. A full moon and hand held oil lamps provided light after the sun went down. Everything was simple, there were no frills yet Daiana’s resort was full of comfort, warmth and character. Over the next 10 days we swam on the reefs, we watched the sun and moon, we heard the constant sound of the surf only metres from where we slept and we listened to Kelafi as he told us tales of his island life.
Those of us who stayed on Uoleva were fortunate enough to meet a remarkable character. He was short with a lean, supple physique. His graying hairs betray advancing years yet his fit physique belies the fact that he is over 60yrs of age. Typical of most Tongans, Kelafi is friendly. His smile was one of the first things that greeted us each morning and it was usually there when he bid us goodnight as he walked with oil lamp in hand to the hut he and Daiana shared. Kelafi was a natural storyteller. He enjoyed an audience. His eyes would light up and his face became gently animated as he recounted a tale from the past. In his tales he could be a flamboyant extrovert yet he has a very quiet, reposeful character. During the blazing heat of mid-afternoon he could be found sitting quietly with Daiana under the shade of a tree outside their hut. Sometimes he would sit with his son-in-law on a pair of deck chairs and gaze north over the bay towards Lifuka as they waited for the heat to cool down so they would return to building their new fale. In the evenings after dinner as the sun dipped on the horizon and before the moon rose Kelafi struck out to fish on the edge of the reefs. His skill with a harpoon was evident as he would present to us at breakfast or dinner the following day an impressive array of fish and lobster to compliment Daiana’s delicious cooking. We marveled at Kelafi’s fishing skills not least because he had to swim in the dark while he fished but also because he had to swim with a harpoon, torch, and fishbag and manage all of this with only one arm!! He lost his right arm over 20yrs ago in an accident.
Kelafi was a very genial, hospitable host. He was a loving husband and father of three children. More than that, he was a storyteller, a fisherman, a champion boxer, a whale rider. From the happy tales Kelafi told us beneath the shade of a coconut tree or by the light of an oil lamp I began to realise Kelafi had woven a remarkable picture of his life in the Ha’appai. He told a compelling story and, in trying to piece together scraps of his tales I hope what follows does justice to his story.
Kelafi was born on Feb 23rd 1945 on the main island of the Ha’ppai group, Lifuka. The 4th child of 13 offspring his father was a preacher of the Weslyan church. The family lived in Pangai, the principal town on Lifuka. They had a house on the edge of town beside the church where Kelafi’s father preached. There was a shortage of preachers in the Weslyan church. Kelafi’s father was the only one in the Ha’appai so he was away a lot traveling by boat to preach on the other islands where there were villages, Uiha, Hafeva etc. Tongan society was very close knit. Other members of the extended family lived on Lifuka. The grandparents lived nearby. An uncle, who worked in the fisheries, operated in Pangai.
As a child Kelafi went to the local school with his siblings. He liked school but his mind frequently roamed elsewhere. He was fascinated by the sea, by the adventures he heard from fishermen down at the wharves. Looking across the water from the pier at Pangai he could see the volcanic cone of Tofu on the horizon. Tofu towered over 1,000m above the surrounding seas. People lived on that island and on its neighbour Kao. The fisherman often set sail for those waters to hunt big fish and whales. The tales of hunting giant fish on the high seas electrified the young Kelafi. His grandfather was a fisherman and, night after night, he would recount tales of life on the water, of exploits with fish, sharks and whales. Kelafi was captivated. He was very close to his Grandfather. Much closer it seems, than to his father. After school he would run down to the wharves to see if there was any activity. He would wait and watch for boats to pull up to the pier and unload their catch. He was a curious, inquisitive child. While the other children played games Kelafi pestered his Grandfather, following him around, learning to fish with spears on the reef, helping to feed pigs and harvest copra oil on some land the family had down on the neighbouring island of Uoleva.
During the winter there was always great excitement when fishing boats returned to Pangai with a whale strapped to the side. Whalemeat was a delicacy popular with the islanders and which Kelafi craved. The islanders didn’t hunt whales commercially but they provided a very good store of meat for the families. Now, over 50yrs later, he assures us “It tasted so very good”. Any whale that was caught was brought back to the island, cut up and shared out amongst the families. It could feed many. Surplus meat was hung high in baskets from the top of coconut trees, away from pesky little fingers and other scavengers. Returning home from school when there was whalemeat to be had Kelafi would look up longingly at the family’s store above in the trees and salivate until dinnertime when the basket was lowered and the meat prepared for the family to feast on.
As the years progressed the family grew large. More and more babies arrived in the household. In all 10 boys and three girls would be born to Kelafi’s parents. Kelafi moved to live with his grandparents. As he grew a little older his fascination with adventure on the high seas led him to try to experience these adventures for himself. On occasions, particularly if the men were going to hunt whales Kelafi stowed himself on board and hid in some quiet corner until they were a sea. On one whale hunting trip Kelafi hid himself beside the coils of the harpoon cable and he was only noticed after his grandfather had speared a whale and the cable was being played out when the injured whale made a run. The grandfather was angry with Kelafi because of the danger he had placed himself in had he become entangled in the cable but he lifted him up on deck and allowed him to watch the excitement of the whale hunt.
The injured beast was allowed to run as it tried to escape its hunters but the harpoon was lodged deep and the cable held. For 4hrs the whale ran before finally exhausting itself. The young Kelafi watched as one of the men dived into the water and swam to the whale’s mouth with a length of rope. Braving the presence of sharks attracted by the whale’s blood the swimmer tied the rope around the whale’s jaws to hasten the death of the great animal. Finally, when the whale expired it was lashed to the side of the boat. A black flag was run up to signal to other crews that a catch had been made. The job now was to get home a quick as possible. On the return journey Kelafi remained by the side of the boat looking at the great body of the whale. If he reached down he could touch the skin of the beast but he didn’t do it too often as he could see sharks hovering and every so often they would try to take a chunk of blubber from the whale’s body.
In 1958 when Kelafi was 13 his father, Osai, died. He left behind 13 children. This tragic personal loss must have posed immense difficulties for Kelafi’s mother. As the family of the local preacher they would have enjoyed a relatively high social standing within the very devout local community. Osai would have received a decent modest income from the congregations he attended amongst the islands of the Ha’appai. However, this income was now gone. Kelafi’s mother had many young children. Most were attending school, some of the older kids were at secondary school which required fees. Having lost her husband how would she now find an income to support such a large family? Kelafi, now a teenager, decided to leave school and harvest copra oil which he could sell in the market in Pangai. The oil was sold for export and picked up by ship sailing north. Kelafi’s mother argued against this notion wishing him to remain in school. But Kelafi, seeing the strain his mother was under, wanted to help. He could get decent prices for the copra oil down in the market and this money could be put towards the school fees for his other siblings. He felt it was the right thing to do. His arguments prevailed over his mother’s objections and she assented. Kelafi returned to live with his mother and helped around the house. In addition to copra oil Kelafi looked after the pigs on Uoleva. These would provide an additional means to supporting the family. Young suckling pigs were a delicacy in Tonga. With 20-30 female pigs he could bring a sizeable litter of young piglets to the market each year. There was a big market down in the capital, Nuku’alofa on Tongatapu. He could get good prices down there. Most families were self-sufficient in growing food. And with assistance from the extended relations the family did not go hungry. For food they would have garnered plentiful fish from the sea. Yams, guava, sweet potato, cassava, banana, watermelon and coconut were all grown on Lifuka. There was enough to go around.
He wanted to be like his Grandfather. He wanted to become a fisherman and skipper his own boat. Throughout his years he’d had to content himself with occasional trips on the water, accompanying his Granddad and uncle. Usually the fishing trips were short and simple. The men would load up in the evening and sail out to a nearby fishing ground as darkness fell. There they would set their nets. Once this was done they returned to shore. In the morning they would sail back to retrieve the nets and haul aboard whatever had been caught. Sometimes he went on longer 2-day trips to the deep waters around Kao and Tofu. Here they would try for the bigger fish. They brought boxed ice with them to keep the catch fresh until they returned to the wharves at Pangai. This was more exciting. He had gazed towards the volcanic cone of Tao all his life now he was sailing towards it on the open water hunting big fish.
Every winter the whales came. Swimming up from the cold Antarctic seas they always returned to these warm, shallow breeding grounds to mate and to nurture their young. It was exciting when the whales appeared, their great black tails rearing out of the water. Some came very close to shore through the reefs and the hiss of their breathing could be heard by those watching from the shore. By his late teens Kelafi was a strong swimmer. He had no fear of the water and as he grew strong he gained confidence of his abilities in the water. Something of his extrovert tendencies began to show at this time. When the whales came he would go into the water and swim with them. Others warned him of the dangers of sharks following the young calves but Kelafi enjoyed the notoriety he got from his exploits in the water. He was a bit of a dare devil. Then one day he went a step further. Swimming alongside a whale resting on the surface he clambered up onto its back. Others looked on aghast as he sat on top of the great beast. He enjoyed the rush of excitement, the danger, the uncertainty. He had no fear, he was drawn to it. Kelafi became a whale rider.
Whale riding is part of Polynesian lore. Each country shows examples from its myths and legends of great leaders and mythic figures climbing on the back of a great whale. In New Zealand tribal chiefs were acknowledged whale riders. In the Tongan legend ‘The journey of Kae’ a servant of the Tongan chieftain Loau returns from Samoa on the backs of two whales from the house of Sinilau. In more recent times in Samoa young men proved their valour by riding the backs of small sharks which had been ritually called from the deep. Kelafi had shown his daring, his valour by climbing on top of a whale but whether this act was celebrated or scandalized Kelafi didn’t elaborate.
Kava is the great national drink of Tonga as it is of most of the Polynesian islands. It is made from the ground root of the pepper plant. It’s not alcoholic but it is intoxicating when drunk in large quantities. Kava drinking can last through the night and as dawn breaks the kava drinkers stagger home unsteadily, their eyes bloodshot, tongues and gums numb from the Kava. A full day was required to sleep off the effects of the drinking. The strongest kava in the Ha’appai and, indeed, the whole of Tonga comes from the pepper plans grown on Tofu. Today the strain is reserved for special occasions but down through the years the Kava drinkers of the Ha’appai were proud of the fact that they were the hardiest Kava drinkers in all of Tonga.
Kelafi never took to Kava. He didn’t enjoy it so he avoided it. Instead, in his late teens, he developed a taste for alcohol. He liked the way he felt when he drank it. He was happy, it felt good. Kelafi had always been somewhat removed from ‘the crowd’. By nature he was relatively shy. While he enjoyed cavorting in front of an audience he was something of a loner and when the show was over he liked to return to his own pursuits, to find his own space. When he drank he felt he could become on e of the crowd. Around the time he turned 20 Kelafi went to a dance hall in Pangai. He had been drinking. He was enjoying himself and appears to have become the centre of attention. At some point the police were called. They approached Kelafi and asked him to leave the hall. Once outside they attempted to put him in the back of the police van. Kelafi relates that he didn’t want to go into the van. He was having fun. He didn’t know why he had to go in the van and decided to put one of the police men in there instead. A scuffle ensued and Kelafi was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He was convicted and served 6 months in jail in Nuku’alofa. The year was 1965. During this time Queen Salote, beloved monarch of Tonga who had occupied the throne since 1918, died. She had charmed the public in England when she attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.
When Kelafi was released he seems to have avoided alcohol. There were no more episodes at the dance hall and today he drinks very little if any at all. He took up rugby one of the nations great sporting pastimes. Like everything Kelafi seems to attempt, he took to it with vigour. He trained alone, with his dogs. He trained hard and regularly. He used his time tending the pigs on Uoleva to run on the beach. He ran with his dogs, dodging and weaving, trying to outrun them. When they caught him he tried to run faster. He played on Saturdays and found a regular spot with one of the junior teams as full back. He played for a couple of seasons but rugby didn’t suit Kelafi. He was a loner, an outsider, happy to do his own thing. While he trained hard and played hard he became frustrated. Rugby is a team game. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you try or how well you play you have to rely on the other members of the team. Many times, despite your best efforts your team will lose. Around this time one of Muhammad Ali’s fights was screened in Pangai. Kelafi watched the fight and was hooked. The fight was spectacular. He loved the grace, athleticism and power of Ali. He loved his showmanship. He began too train for boxing. Here was a sport where he could be self-reliant. In the ring the audience would focus on him. He didn’t have to rely on others. He would win or lose by his efforts alone. It was dangerous, one against one. He liked the odds. He was drawn to it. It was the mid-sixties.
Kelafi found a book that had pictures of training drills. He copied these. Again he trained alone and, as before, his training was intense. He always seems to be very focused in what he sets out to achieve, very singleminded in his endeavours. He became very fit. He was naturally fast, very agile. Rugby had helped to harden his body. He had taken the knocks and came back for more. In the ring he was dogged, fearless. He would try to overwhelm his opponent with speed and power. He reckoned ‘if your opponent can’t hit you back he can’t beat you. If Kelafi kept punching his opponent then his opponent couldn’t hit him back and there lay his secret to success. And he found success in his early bouts. He won more than he lost. He began to think about winning competitions.
As he improved, Kelafi began to focus more on what was required of him in the ring. He began to think more about how he trained and how he could improve his preparations. He refined his training. Each round was 3 mins long so Kelafi prepared so that he could box intensely in three min bursts. He worked on his stamina. None of his opponents could bring this kind of preparation into the ring. Nobody else brought this intensity to their game and so they suffered when they met him. Kelafi worked on his power. He was a middleweight but he trained to punch like a heavyweight. Speed and power prevailed. Kelafi doesn’t elaborate on any of the defeats he may have endured but 6 yrs after watching Muhammad Ali on the screen in Pangai he was challenging for the middleweight championship of Tonga. In 1972 Kelafi defeated the reigning champion. The wayward whalerider was now a king. In Pangai he was a person of note, the local champion. There was respect. He could walk around town and hold his head high. In the years that followed he was challenged many times for his crown and each time he prevailed. He reigned undefeated as middleweight champion of Tonga for 7yrs. Kelafi enjoyed having an audience. Performing in front of a crowd of people excited him. He loved the adulation, the notoriety. The thrill of impressing people with his skills seems to have inspired him. Sometimes he played to the crowd, toying with an opponent, prolonging a bout longer than he might have before finishing the fight. Once, when he was asked why he didn’t stop his opponent in an earlier round, Kelafi replied, “The crowd came to see a fight, they didn’t come to see it end in the first round”. He retired from boxing in 1979 because nobody would challenge him.
Kelafi’s final fight, the bout after which nobody would challenge him, was against a Tongan professional heavyweight based in New Zealand. A fight had been arranged between this boxer and the reigning heavyweight champion who was based on the main island, Tongatapu. The fight was supposed to take place in the capital, Nuku’alofa but for some reason there was a delay in the fight taking place. Kelafi is unclear as to how he became involved. Apparently the New Zealand based fighter had arrived in Tonga and, because of the delays, felt he needed a warm-up bout to keep thing ticking over. The boxing authorities approached Kelafi to see if he would oblige. Kelafi accepted the challenge and the fight was arranged for the Ha’ppai and took place in Pangai.
The heavyweight expecting, perhaps, to have the advantage over this middleweight may have underestimated his opponent. Kelafi loved the odds and relished his new role as the underdog. From the first bell he came out all guns blazing in his own inimitable style. Kelafi had the power to this slow heavyweight and he was fitter and quicker. The bigger man was overwhelmed and a one-sided fight came to its conclusion with Kelafi declared the winner. Having beaten all challengers he had now beaten a professional heavyweight. Nobody in Tonga wanted to face the whalerider. Kelafi was now 34 yrs old. He had achieved all he could in his boxing career. It would be a while before anybody would rise up to challenge for his crown. He decided to retire.
After his retirement from boxing Kelafi bought a fishing boat and became a skipper. He continued to raise pigs on Uoleva. He was still a bachelor but he began to fell it was time to find a wife. These were new, untested, waters for him. His search brought him away from Lifuka and south to Uiha, an island some 20km away on the far side of Uoleva.. One day a young lady caught his eye. She was a fine catch from a respected family on the island. Kelafi knew his search was over. He was in love. Daiana was a lot younger than Kelafi. She was only 16 at the time. Though his heart desired her there was no guarantee he would be able to wed her. Kelafi approached Daiana’s parents to announce his intentions for their daughter and asked permission to marry her. They sat down to discuss the marriage proposal. If Kelafi was ambitious in his boxing career he was no less ambitious in his choice of wife. Some generations earlier the mother of the King of Tonga settled on Uiha. Her descendants remained on the island. Daiana was related through her mother to this line and so is a distant relative of the royal dynasty which has remained on the throne. Daiana’s father was chief of Police in the Ha’appai and later on her brother became governor of the island group. This was a family with status. What could Kelafi bring to the table? They would at least have been familiar with the well-known former middleweight champion. He too came from a respected family. Kelafi’s father, Osai, would have been known throughout the Ha’appai as he traveled from island to island preaching the word of God. The family was noted for its fishers. Kelafi’s grandfather was a respected harpoonist on whaling trips. A match was made for the following year when Daiana turned 17. Kelafi had found a wife.
Daiana and Kelafi married in 1980. Daiana left her family on Uiha and the newly weds found a home on the edge of Pangai and settled down to married life. Kelafi worked hard on the boat, stocking it with ice boxes for 2-day trip to Kao and Tofu. He returned with catches, storing them in his uncle’s refrigerated unit in Pangai until the ferry came to bring them to the market in Nuku’alofa. The pigs were tended and each year the young pigs were sold for cash. Daiana was kept busy. She managed the house. A baby was born, two more would follow. They would have two sons and a daughter. Island life wasn’t easy but Kelafi was happy. He was a father. His wife was a fine cook. He had good food on his table.
Kelafi took on extra work when he could to supplement the fishing. In 1982 he worked for a local contractor on a building project. Louvered windows were to be installed on the upper storey. Kelafi took an armful of glass and started up a ladder to fix then in place. However before he reached the top the ladder slipped and Kelafi fell. Hitting the ground the glass sliced his arm to the bone, severing muscles and ligaments. It was a serious injury but with prompt medical care the use of the arm may have been recovered. Kelafi was rushed to the local Doctor who worked on the arm. The wound became infected and gangrene set in. The arm had to be amputated just above the elbow. It was a terrible loss for Kelafi, a fit man in his prime. The arm needn’t have been lost. There were bitter recriminations and the doctor was blamed for botching the treatment. He was removed from his position.
This was the biggest crisis in Kelafi’s life since his father had died some 24yrs earlier. He had to stop fishing. He couldn’t work and the healing process was slow. Unable to go to sea he lost his boat. The mental scars were equally difficult to cope with. All his life Kelafi had been a very active, vigorous individual. Losing an arm seriously curtailed his abilities. Simple tasks suddenly became difficult. When the arm had healed sufficiently Kelafi looked for other avenues of employment. The resolute stubborn determination he had displayed during his boxing career was again on display as he attempted to overcome his injuries. He refused to allow the loss of an arm to incapacitate him. It would appear if a challenge presented itself, regardless of the obstacles, Kelafi was prepared to meet it undaunted. He had to find the resolve to overcome this injury and rebuild his life for himself and his family.
Some months after the accident Kelafi left the Ha’appai to find work down on the main island, Tongatapu. He found it in the most unlikeliest of places, as a luggage handler at the international airport. Despite the obvious handicap of handling luggage with only one arm he surprised his employers and delighted the passengers with prompt delivery of their luggage. Kelafi thrived most when he was surprising people with his abilities. A one-armed luggage handler was indeed a sight to behold and Kelafi, once again, pleased the audience as he always did.
Until now Kelafi only ever spoke Tongan. There was no need for another language. During his time at the airport he learned English. He enjoyed meeting the travelers he met passing through the airport but in order to talk with them he needed to speak English. Slowly but surely he picked up the vocabulary. Working with the heavy luggage Kelafi learned to make best use of his one good arm. He found he could still use what was left of his right arm. He adopted. He remained on Tongatapu for a number of years. It’s not clear if Daiana and the children accompanied Kelafi to Tongatapu or if they remained on Lifuka. All things considered he had done very well on the main island. He had found that, despite his handicap, he could still do regular physical work. He had learned English and the travellers he met had introduced a whole new world to him. But the work wasn’t in his heart. He was a son of the Ha’appai, a child of the sea and that is where his heart remained. If Daiana had remained in the home back on Lifuka then it meant his desire to return home was even greater still.
By the end of 1986 Kelafi was back home. Although no longer a skipper he went back to what he loved most, fishing. Despite the loss of his arm he remained a strong swimmer. He could still swim on the reefs and he could still handle a harpoon. At night he would swim out to the deeper water at the edge of the reefs and hunt fish and lobster. His fish bag rarely remained empty for long. For three more years Kelafi worked the fishing boats but by 1989 he was finished on the water. Why? I don’t know. He still had his flock of pigs on Uoleva. There comes a gap of 10yrs in the story and that, unfortunately, is due to my own failure to ask the relevant questions.
Kelafi’s story resurfaces in 1999. By now tourism has become a feature of the Tongan economy. The annual visit of the whales to their traditional breeding grounds has begun attracting vistors to come and watch them as they frolic in the warm waters around Tonga. Tourist facilities have begun to appear in the Ha’appai. When ferries docked on the wharf at Pangai backpackers descended the gangplanks alongside locals. On Uoleva an American investor leased some land from the King and set up a small tourist resort adjacent to Kelafi’s land. Kelafi was taken on as a handyman after the resort opened. As well as helping to look after the resort Kelafi helped entertain the guests. He brought them out on the water, showed them where the best reefs were. He went fishing at night for lobster and fish and he provided pork from his own flock of pigs. Things appeared to be going well. Visitors were coming to the island. Kelafi enjoyed entertaining the guests. The guests enjoyed loved their visits to Uoleva. Most of the visitors saw the small, deserted island was as a little paradise. The water was clear, the beaches, pristine, the hosts were very friendly and the food was good. However behind the scenes a dispute arose concerning money. Furthermore an issue of honour created irreconcilable differences between Kelafi and his new employer. Kelafi stopped working at the resort.
However new ideas had taken root within Kelafi’s mind. The budding tourism industry in the Ha’appai interested him. His job at the airport when he first began to meet tourists had sparked his interest. He had enjoyed working at the resort. He now spoke English and he found he could easily relate to people. Daiana was a good cook. It would be easy for him to replicate what was taking place in other resorts. The family already had land on Uoleva and after some discussions with Daiana’s brother who was now governor of the Ha’appai the King leased Kelafi an attractive plot of land which sat on a small point between two beaches adjacent to his farm. It was a nice location for a resort. To finance the purchase of building materials for a kitchen block, toilet facilities and a number of beach huts Kelafi sold half of his pigs. He sank a well above a fresh spring which supplied water for the site and construction of Daiana’s resort began in earnest.
By early 2000 the resort was up and running. Daiana and Kelafi worked well as a team. In fact the whole family became involved in the new business. They charmed their guests with good hospitality, delicious food and a beautiful location. Of course, with a guaranteed audience, Kelafi’s extrovert antics periodically surfaced. On one occasion in 2002 he took some of his guests snorkeling, telling them he would show them some reef sharks. The others watched from the surface as he dived down along the reef edge and gently pulled out a sleeping shark from its lair. Without waking it he held it in his arms giggling to himself as he thrilled and terrified the guests in equal measure. Soon Kelafi found he was building more fale until they had 8 huts available for guests. Kelafi enjoyed entertaining his guests. His fishing was appreciated and word got out that Daiana’s resort was a place worth visiting.
During these years Daiana’s place received one frequent visitor who fell in love with the place. An American named ‘Leftie’ from Delaware would come to stay on the island for some months at a time. After one prolonged stint on the island he sat down with Kelafi to discuss the future. Leftie planned to return to Daiana’s and, next time hoped to stay for a year. However there was no boat at Daiana’s. Leftie suffered from ailments and was concerned at the lack of transport between Daiana’s and Pangai. A boat would facilitate his movement between the two islands and give him more immediate access to the medical facilities on Lifuka if a situation arose. Leftie supplied Kelafi with a sum of money to buy a small boat and he took the ferry down to Tongatapu to find a suitable craft. A boat was obtained but a problem arose when it came to transporting the boat back to Uoleva. The ferry company was demanding too high a price to transport the boat. Kelafi found himself in a bit of a predicament. He couldn’t afford what was being charged. After mulling over the problem he decided there was only one solution. He filled up the fuel tank, brought along a spare canister of petrol, started the motor, opened the throttle and set off northwards in the direction of the Ha’appai. Four hours later, after navigating the boat from island to island he moored the boat by the beach in front of Daiana’s. They now had a boat. Leftie returned to America with the promise that he would return to Uoleva in some months. However Kelafi never heard from Leftie again.
By 2004 the Daiana’s place appears to have been going well. By now it was an established feature of the backpacker scene. Kelafi was invited to attend an eco-tourism conference in the Cook Islands. He had never traveled outside Tonga before so, for Kelafi this was a major adventure. There were no direct flights between Tonga and the Cook Islands so it was necessary to fly to New Zealand before connecting with an onward flight to the Cooks. The conference went well. Kelafi enjoyed his time in the Cook Islands, mixing with the other delegates and not missing an opportunity to entertain his colleagues with some of his antics.
On his way home from the conference Kelafi stopped off in Auckland to visit members of his family who lived there. All of his brother and sisters had emigrated to New Zealand and had found new lives there along with many other Tongans. They tried to encourage Kelafi to join them in New Zealand but he wasn’t at all impressed by the big city. It was too large, too busy, too noisy. Kelafi was used to the quiet, slower tempo of life in the Ha’appai and was content at home. No, he would not be moving to New Zealand. He was quite happy to return home to Daiana. Just how impressed Daiana was by that resolution she hasn’t elaborated but she has said she would have liked to live in New Zealand………
Life was set to continue in the pattern which had developed over the past number of years but in 2005 Kelafi’s life took another major, unexpected twist. Some construction work began elsewhere on Uoleva and a group of local workers were contracted to do the work. According to the story these men went on a bout of drinking either on the island or on Lifuka, it isn’t clear. Wherever it was they started drinking they got drunk and decided to go to Daiana’s place. A group of 4 arrived in a drunken state and Kelafi confronted them. They wanted to meet up with either Daiana or with a woman who was helping them on the island. Kelafi had seen them approach, reckoned they were up to no good, met them on the beach and refused to allow them in to the huts. An argument developed. It became heated. While there were four men in the group confronted by Kelafi, it was one guy in particular who was driving the dispute. The men felt they could face down Kelafi. Kelafi was adamant they would go no further and had to leave. They argued they had every right to come over here. Kelafi argued they were coming onto his land and were therefore trespassing. He told them to leave or he would get his gun. They wouldn’t so he went over to his hut and did, indeed return with a loaded gun. The incident was beginning to turn ugly. Violence was threatened on both sides. Kelafi warned if they didn’t leave he would shoot. They indicated what they might do to him. Kelafi pointed his gun at the ring leader and shot him in the leg, wounding him. The other men panicked. They dragged the injured man away. A boat was obtained from somewhere and he was taken to Pangai where his wounds were treated. Kelafi returned to the hut. He knew what was coming and, soon enough, the police made an appearance. Kelafi was arrested, the case came before the courts and Kelafi was sentenced to two years in prison.
For the second time Kelafi was incarcerated in the jail in Nuku’alofa. He accepted his sentence. He acknowledged he was wrong to shoot the man who was known to him, a neighbour from Pangai. But he also pointed out he had been threatened by the group who were trespassing on his land. It was a terrible blow to Kelafi, and to Daiana. Apart from the stigma and separation from family and friends a lot of work had gone into Daiana’s place. Now Kelafi was worried what would happen to the place in his absence. After some months of his time had been served in the capital he requested he be transferred to the Ha’appai to see out the remainder of his sentence closer to home. This request was granted.
By the end of 2006 Kelafi had left the jail in Nuku’alofa and was back in the Ha’appai where he could have closer contact with Daiana and his family. After the death of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in September Pro-democracy groups who had been calling for free elections and democratic reforms began to agitate for change. The king’s son and successor Siaosi Tupou V, while in favour of change didn’t appear to be doing anything to implement these changes. In mid-November civil unrest broke out in the capital and rioting laid waste to much of the city centre in protest at the lack of democratic progress in the country. Eight bodies were found in the burnt out wreckage of the city centre.
A state of emergency was declared in Nuku’alofa which was not lifted until August 2008. By then Kelafi had served his sentence. He was released in January 2008. It had been a long two years and Daiana’s place had suffered. There was much work to be done. He returned to Uoleva, to his pigs, to managing Daiana’s place and looking after the guests. There was to be no long lasting bitterness between Kelafi and the man he shot. They resolved their differences and remain on good terms, happy to chat to each other when ever they meet. The new King, Tupou V has since promised reforms which will make way for a democratically elected Government. His coronation took place in August 2008 with five days of celebrations. Elections will take place in 2010 replacing the old system of representation by hereditary nobles and appointment of a prime minister by the King. Kelafi retains a strong sense of loyalty to the monarchy. He maintains a sense of pride in the fact that King Tupou I who unified Tonga for the first time in 1852 was reared in the Ha’appai. He was the hereditary King of the Ha’appai after his father but was born on Tongatapu. His mother brought him to the Ha’appai as an infant and it was on Lifuka where he grew up. It was in the Ha’appai he found his power base from which his warriors first dominated Vavau before taking Tongatapu to become undisputed King of Tonga.
On February 23rd Kelafi celebrated his 64th Birthday. Looking to the future he wants to increase the number of huts at Daiana’s place and replace those which were damaged during the storms in January. Presently there are four huts available to guests. He feels he could increase this number to eight. He would also like to work in tandem with some of the whale watching tours and dive outfits which are operating in the islands. In another year he will have been operating Daiana’s place for ten years. After working this leased land for a decade he hopes that he will be granted outright ownership of the place by the King. If he could achieve this in the next while he would be happy to lease Daiana’s place to interested parties who would manage the place. He and Daiana could then retire. However, for a man who seems to thrive on activity and trying new ventures….. and adventures it seems unlikely that Kelafi will walk away from Daiana’s place in a hurry.
, with a population of around 330,000. The centre of town skirts around a sheltered bay overlooked by low hills. Its a pleasnt enmough but it can't compare with Christchurch which has to be one of the prettiest towns I've seen on these travels. There's a lot more life here, though, than in either Christchurch or Auckland. It a vibrant place, there seems to be a lot more of a buzz around the town. At least thats the impression I've taken from the two short stopovers here.
