Manatu Mahimahi Melie ki Tonga High
Faa’i Mata ‘Oe Tau’ataina
I was a lousy human being but an okay student at THS, Class of 1957.
I spent most school days daydreaming of freedom from the shackles of scholarly pursuits. I wished THS was a beer garden, as Mr. Beer used to yell at us when he returned to the classroom from a bathroom break or something.
Decades later, a colleague told me that teacher Miss Siu Tonga called me “the cheekiest student in my classes.” That’s okay Miss Tonga, I know you’re married and all now, but is it okay to confess that I thought you were the most beautiful teacher at THS?
As a tiny kiddo growing up in Ha’avakatolo, I fell in love with all my female Sunday School teachers in succession. We once briefly had a male teacher and (tulou atu) I was beset by the most unBiblical thoughts and, frankly, I hated his guts.
The girls at THS were angelic beings, and I hated every boy in my class like Faha’ivalu Taumoepeau because of his formidable size and naughty wit, Paula Tupou for being athletic and slim and vocalizing like Elvis, or Litili ‘Ofanoa and Saulala Mafi whose life ambition was to challenge me to a fistfight, all of which I declined for good reason — I was the ki’i pe’e of the school.
I’m ever grateful to Tevita Fakalata for inviting me to his nearby home for lunch several times a week.
Then there was Malcolm Cocker who came from a rich hafekasi family and rode a bicycle to school. This bicycle was our getaway speedmobile when Litili and I would ride into town to steal donuts from Vamani Ramanlal’s roadside lunch stand.
I gamely participated as a Sangone turtle, coming in last in every race. I was the ki’i pe’e who was chosen last by team captains, if at all. I became the lowly waterboy.
Young minds wrestled to come up with a title for the first Tonga High School magazine, **Faa’i Mata ‘Oe Tau’ataina **(Four Faces Of Freedom.)
Mr. Walsh launched a competition to find a worthy name. After all, Tonga Hai was the school for the crème de la crème.
Competition was deadly from true scholars like Konai Helu. I won only due to the midnight prayers of my grandfather Tapani.
By the way, it struck my maturing eyes that Konai was a rather comely young lady from the distant seas.
Lo and behold, when she spied the saucy twinkle in my eye, she exclaimed for all to hear: “Go away, ki’i pe’e, we are related. We are close cousins.”
This is the sort of succinct remark that catapulted Konai to the elite scholar status of THS and beyond.
In my boyish imagination, I died a thousand deaths not only over Konai, but several other angelic girls at THS. None of them knew this. I’m not sure I’ve quite recovered from the awful rejections in my mind. I lacked the courage to speak up. Boomshakalaka!
I’m grateful for the wonderful contributions of my classmates on the magazine committee and to Mr. Walsh for cutting me down to size on occasion when I thought I was just it. Ahem.
I also appreciated the intermittent behind-the-scenes creative juices from Sefita Hao’uli.
How did I coin the phrase “Faa’i Mata ‘Oe Tau’ataina” which has become much more than the name of Tonga Hai’s first magazine?
Easy. The tower had Four clocks representing the four directions of the compass.
- **Tau’ataina **reminded me of the freedom granted to all Tongans by Tupou I – the great grandfather of our founder, Prince Tungi at that time.
- Fa also appeared in ‘Uluaki Fa, Tapa Fa, Vai Fa, Fo’i Fa Hina, etc.
How did I get to be editor of the THS first magazine, Faa’imata ‘Oe Tau’ataina?
***Well, I bribed Mr. Walsh with 12 dozen packs of the national bubblegum of that era – Pulu’i Mei. Most of them wound up stuck under the desks in every classroom.
*I keep a child’s crayon drawing of a hand on my wall. To remind me of all my classmates, teachers, administrators, all students, tutors, cleaners and landscapers (actually EVERYONE) …who gave me a hand in everything I attempted and did at THS. Malo.
I’m grateful to Tonga High for keeping Faa’imata all these decades and for elevating its elegant symbolic nuances. Tonga Hai, I truly love you. I’m less of a lousy human being than when I entered your portals. I will always love you. Not just today. Not just tomorrow. Forever. And evermore. Fakamalo moe faka’apa’apa lahi atu,
Siosaia Matu’u Lafoa’ina Mangisi, Class of 1957, July 2021
PS: I decided my birth name was much too cumbersome and trimmed it to Sio Mangisi. To confuse my classmates further, I’m known on Facebook as Master Sio (Master of Medical Qi Gong and a Hawaiian Kahuna Healer.)
RoadToFaaimata 