March 2020 – Tonga 2020

Home, sweet Home?

“Time in the South Sea Islands – different from time elsewhere. There are no seasons to mark the progress of the year. There is no winter to prepare for, no spring to long for. There are always crops to harvest, fish to catch, and hibiscus blossoms to put in one’s hair. Every day begins at sunrise; every night at sunset. Life loiters through undistinguishable uniformity. There is no yesterday to regret; no tomorrow to worry about.”

VSA Team Tonga ready to depart in Nuku’alofa at three days’ notice

Our hearts reverberate with these words as we fondly and thankfully think of our amazing time we had on the island of Tonga. – Tonga has now closed the borders to all incoming traffic, air and sea, and we hope and pray they will remain free of the Covid-19 virus.

Returning Home

Good-bye to Tonga and its beautiful stress-free lifestyle…

We are nearly half-way through our assignment, but now, it looks like it could be the end of it. – The NZ government is ‘urging all New Zealanders living abroad to return home as soon as possible’. –

A Piece of Paradise

After spending three days on the island of Ha’apai, it felt like coming back to the ‘big smoke’ when I landed back in Nuku’alofa. Ha’apai is a group of 51 coral atolls an hour’s flight north of Tongatapu.

Negative! That’s Positive!

Just a quick one to say that the test result of the suspected COVID-19 came back NEGATIVE! – We are very glad and were able to go back to business as normal today.

Back to business as usual (consent obtained)

We just want to clarify that we are less worried about getting infected with the virus (though we certainly try to avoid it), than about the big disruption it would mean to our assignments if we were to be repatriated, followed by the uncertainty of time of return. By now, both Rolf and I feel we are starting to make a real difference in many people’s lives and are able to reach into new territory. – So, we just hope and pray. It’s out of our own control, but for now, we soldier on!

Thank you for your continued support and interest!

WHAT IF?

I wasn’t going to join in with the rest of the world and talk about the current global topic number one. I was going to stick my head in the Tongan sand and pretend that the Corona virus will never reach us, or just go away by itself. Looks like it ain’t going to happen that way.