A Tonga Anatomy Lesson and Eye Boogers

I was walking along the dirt road the other day and I ran into this older woman who lives in the village near Namumu. I don’t really know her well because she speaks zero English, but we at least greet each other and have basic Tonga conversations. My Tonga is getting better and so I struck up a little chat. Keep in mind this woman is probably around 60 or 70 years old.

I asked how she was. She said she was fine, but feeling a little sick. I told her that I was sorry and asked what exactly was wrong. I asked if it was her head or her stomach, pointing to each as I said them (most of my conversations like this include a fair amount of sign language).

No, neither one of those, she said. She then proceeded to say a word I’ve never heard and reach down, grabbing her you-know-what right in front of me, telling me how much it’s paining. Wow. TMI. I was nauseated for a good 20 minutes, but hey, at least I learned a new Tonga word.

On a less disgusting note, you know that part in Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” where Tom is whitewashing a fence and he dupes a bunch of kids from the neighborhood into doing it for him by pretending that whitewashing is really great and fun and something that he probably shouldn’t let them do? Well, I’ve pretty much done exactly that and have the two younger girls next door sweeping off my front and back porch every day or so. It’s awesome. It’s like I’m doing them a favor by letting them take the job from me. So, thank you for that insight into human nature, Mart Twain, thank you very much indeed.

Finally, I’m happy to report that the nicknames at Namumu are getting out of control. I’m proud to say I’ve contributed to the nicknames of no fewer than 15 Namumu children. As of right now, my two favorite nicknames for kids are “Mabisi” and “Mabboli”. Both are Tonga. “Mabisi” means spoiled milk. “Mabboli” means eye boogers. Yes, they have a word for eye boogers in Tonga. For those who have been to Namumu and have met some of the children, Lucky is “Mabisi” and Kabuba is “Mabboli”. Needless to say, Lucky and Kabuba are no longer speaking to me.