Heinrich Mokofisi

MKTG 1960-003
#10

Journal
The person I interviewed that grew up in another culture was my mother Pele
Mokofisi. My mother grew up in Tonga in a small town called Mua and later
moved to another town called Nukualofa. Born on January twenty-second
1967, Pele was the only child of her mothers first marriage. Pele attended
Catholic school like most children her age, and also grew up a pretty strict
Catholic. Religion has a huge influence in Tongan culture, more overtly than
even most places here in the states. Tonga was a monarchy well into the end
of the 20th century, the last kingdom in the south pacific. With the monarchy
came a state religion but other forms of Christianity were actually accepted,
it seems as though only Christianity.
Peles daily routine started off with getting ready for school, typically without
breakfast. For lunch my mother typically had some bread the nuns would
bake and if lucky butter to go with it. After school my mother would go to the
beach with her friends to play and like the older women there they would
gather seaweed and jellyfish to eat. Nowadays Tonga is so overfished by
other countries that you cannot wade in the water anymore for food. In the
evening for dinner with her family Pele would usually have a piece of taro or
yam. Meat was something special to have for dinner which was usually only
eaten on, typically it was pork.
My mother worked in her uncles shop and then as a secretary for the local
church. My mother was considered lucky for the opportunity since most
Tongans, especially women had to travel to New Zealand and Australia for
work which was typically in factories. Peles mother, my grandmother,
worked in a copra factory (a coconut processing factory) and subsequently
lost a finger during her work there. There are a lot of farmers in Tonga, like
my father, who worked land that was passed down to them for generations.
Other than farming and tourism there wasnt a lot of opportunity back then,
and nowadays it is not so much different. Back when my Mother was living in
Tonga however it was possible to be self-sustaining and live off of the land,
today not so much. Most familys move to Australia or the United States for
more opportunity. My mothers story was a little different, she converted to
the Mormon Church and was able to secure a student visa to study at BYU
Hawaii. Later she slowly was able to move her immediate and some
extended family to the states with her.

When my mother grew up in Tonga, and I am sure it is about the same now,
there were very strict rules in how you acted and treated your siblings of the
opposite sex. If you were a male and your sister walked in the same room
you were in you were obligated to leave. Women were held in high regard,
even after Christianity was introduced to Tonga, I think that is true for most
eastern cultures. The eldest woman in the family made all the final decisions
for the family, she was called the Fahu.
My parents always told us kids how lucky we are to grow up here in the
states, every time I talk to my parents about how they grew up it definitely
makes me appreciate it more that much more. I always thought I had kind of
a rough childhood, It definitely is hard at times to realize how good I have
had it until I talk to people that have come from a place where most people
cannot even imagine something more for themselves.