Volunteer Status

School in Tonga
After middle school, the students go on to attend a private college or high school. The private schools are usually run by religious organizations. The students are required to wear uniforms. The males: a white shirt with a skirt. The females: a white blouse with a dress. The male skirt and female dress are the same color, each school having a color, green, blue, light blue, apricot, maroon, etc.

Volunteer Work
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been volunteering with one of the schools here, Saineha High School. I am the only foreigner on campus, so I do stand out – just a little. I have been working with the drafting teacher, Tony, and his students. The principal wanted me to train them to use the software program called AutoCAD, but my computer died on me after a few days so I lost the necessary tools. I work with the students on the whiteboard giving them drafting exercises instead. A week after the computer died, Tony and I were able to work out an agreement with a real estate office that had a boot-legged copy of the program. The owner, Nasha, is a Yugoslavian. After school we meet at Nasha’s two-man office and I train Tony on the program. He has zero computer experience, so I feel like I have a lot of work to do.

The students and Tony have been very grateful. When I get back to the states, I would like to see if I can get at least once copy of the program donated to the school so they can continue to train on it.

Track Meet
Starting tomorrow all of the high schools on the island will be competing in a track and field competition. Training is only for one month and there is only one competition each year, although, I think a few of the winners can qualify for another competition at the capital city, Nuka’alofa. The competition lasts for 3 days, Wed, Thr, Fri., and all the students are let out of class to attend. It’s a big deal around here.

Winnie, our Tongan neighbor, is the girl’s team captain at Saineha High School. Last night I helped her write a 5 minute speech she is delivering today at their pep rally. I gave her a couple electrolyte packets I had bought at the pharmacy so she could put it in her water she drinks between races… she had never heard of Gatorade. We plan on watching the competition just on Wednesday.

Pics
I keep forgetting my camera; I will post some new photos soon.