REEFS OF TODAY IS AN ISLAND OF TOMMORROW

By Siosifa Pole in Articles

a Tongan concept of valuing children

REEFS OF TODAY IS AN ISLAND OF TOMMORROW - A TONGAN CONCEPT OF VALUING CHILDREN
Tonga is made out of 176 islands and only 26 of them are inhabited. Some of these islands are made out of volcanoes and others are made out of coral reefs. Those islands that are made out of volcanoes are above sea level. However, those islands that are made out of coral reefs are in a verge of danger posed by the rising of sea level. Despite this inevitable threat, people have lived in these islands for thousands of years. These islands have become their home and their inheritance. Furthermore, their roots and their identity formed in these islands. They travel and migrate overseas but they always found these islands as their home. Apparently, this is where life began and nurtured. It was obviously started in those islands that are made out of coral reefs.
Coral reefs are formed by small sea animals (coral polyps) that they live in colony. Hard corals formed the coral reefs that produce limestone skeletons. Amazingly, they do this with the help of tiny, microscopic plant that actually live inside them. These corals from the coral reefs eventually evolve in millions of years to create the coral islands like many of the islands of Tonga including the island of Tongatapu where I came from. These coral inhabited islands give the people of Tonga a land to live and to cultivate for their sustenance. Hence, the land they live was not able to form without a long period of nurturing and protection. It certainly took considerable amount of time and care for these coral reefs to evolve into these islands. Generations have been benefiting from products that these islands produce for them. Without the coral reefs there were no islands for the reefs of today will become an island of tomorrow.
The development of reefs into island denotes the notion of child development from a Tongan concept of child rearing. Children are like reefs that are untouched and innocent in their natural environment. Yet they are vulnerable like the reefs for exploitation and abuse. They are expecting to be looked after and nurtured to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy for the future of families and the nation are depending on them. Children are the treasure of the nation and if they are not protected they will obviously loss and no monetary term could compare the cost of it. If we want a nation that has a hope for the future we need to look after the children of today. We can't afford to wait under the cliff with an ambulance to heal their wounds and to mend their scars. We need to act know before is too late.
During the Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, the President and Vice-president launched the Connexional theme for the next ten years, which is "Let the children live". How can we implement this vision? What are our strategies to address this important issue? Where could we find the resources to handle this issue? Do we have the energy to do it? We might have different responses to these questions but the bottom line that we must act now before is too late. The Commissioner for Children reported to Conference that 25% or 270, 000 of our children population are living in poverty. Surely, there will be life-long consequences on children's health, education and well-being that will definitely have an impact on the security, economy, and welfare of this land. The government policy doesn't help to ease the problem of poor and low income families, which eventually affects the wellbeing of their children. Child Poverty Action Group reported, "New Zealand's most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of the Government's punitive sanctions against beneficiaries, with solo parents making up the majority of those with children having their benefits cut." If the reefs of today will be an island of tomorrow and if the children of today will be the leaders of the future then surely the government and the whole of New Zealand society have a responsibility to nurture and care for their personal development. While I am writing this article there is a case in the court of a man accused of killing his step child. Child abuse and violence against children is an appalling social issue in New Zealand and I believe it is a side effect of poverty. Children who grow up in families who live under the poverty line are likely to go through tough times.
Let the children live should not only be the theme of the Methodist Church but a theme for every parent in this land of Aoteroa, New Zealand to ponder because it is God's will that all children should live. In Psalm 127 verse 3 says, "Sons [daughters] are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." Children are portrayed in this verse as heritage and fruit from God, which are important metaphors for our future survival. We can't afford to lose our heritage and our fruit. If we lose both of them then there is not much hope for our future. In Tongan context those who do not have heritage, namely the land, definitely have no hope for their future. We are depending on the land for cultivation and for accommodation. Evidently, the land was not formed without a period of careful nurturing of the reefs of the past. Thus, our mission is to look after the reefs of today for one day they will form an island, which will give land for people to live and cultivate for their welfare. Similarly, we are called to invest in our children today for they are the future of families, of the nation, and of the church.
Siosifa Pole