Heti Veikune

“I come from a small village called Utulau on the western coast of Tongatapu. I have four children and I am working at USP Tonga campus as an assistant lecturer teaching an English for academic purposes course.

Tonga is a an oral society so I think people have many stories to tell but according to me orality is telling somebody in words the images that are in my head. So, during this workshop selecting images felt part of oral storytelling.

For us and for me to be able to bring the images in my head and transfer them to other people is wonderful.”

Kaloni Kakala Tears

Suddenly the kaloni kakala scent tickled my nose, and at that moment I knew why I was crying.

“My story was part of a larger story that I had written but in the larger story I was not at the centre of it. When I turned it into the smaller story for the workshop it was more personal. I wrote the original piece the year after my mother pass almost 10 years ago. I hadn’t touched it until the workshop. I thought I was making the digital story just for the workshop but as I was doing it I realized I made it for myself and my own immediate family. The fact that other people were telling personal stories made me feel safe to tell story that not even my husband had heard. This was a good opportunity to tell a story that I’d been sitting on for ten years.”