Tongan Take-aways : A Tongan Fale

September 26, 2012

So they are building a Tongan fale (Tongan House) right next to my home stay house. The cool thing about this specific type of house is that it is almost completely made out of different material from the coconut tree. The inside ground is lined with coconut tree fiber made from the dried leaf fibers and then special mats are weaved with the leaves to make a type of soft carpet! My host mom was even telling me that when she was young they lived in a Tongan Fale and used to take it apart and fold it up during Tsunami and storm warnings! They would just wait for the weather to clear up and then put the house back up! These types of houses are now made when construction needs to be fast or there is not enough money to make a more modern house. Even though these houses are basically built out of all free material, I could just image them (or parts of them) being re-marketed by some big company like Ralph Lauren, I could imagine they would say how it is a traditional Pacific Island design and make thousand dollars be selling them to rich white people… It is always funny how a lot of things here in Tonga are made out of the coconut tree (mats, kiekies, tau’ovalas etc.) all for free, but if they were to be sold in the states they would cost a fortune…. I think I may try and bring back a few things and see if I can swing them for a hefty price…

Beside how cool the actual structure of the house is, I also enjoy all the gossip that surrounds the house. I have heard from people in my house that it is being built because a young couple had to get married fast and they will be moving into it soon with their baby. I have also heard, from a different source, that it is being built because there was a family fight in the main house and one of the sons is being kicked out. The best is that everyone gossips about it and the other day there was some arguing going on during the morning building and my entire home stay family gathered around our backdoor (which faces the Tongan House) and tried to listen in on all the fighting. It is pretty funny how when shit goes down you have to imagine that every house within a 100 yard radius has an ear pressed to their door trying to eavesdrop on the action!