The King of Tonga, Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho are on their first official visit to New Zealand. On Sunday they attended a service at the Wesley Methodist Church on Taranaki St in Wellington Local pastor, Reverend Viliami Finau, said the children had been excited about the visit for weeks. “It is very exciting Read more
A tetraplegic man under threat of deportation will reluctantly leave New Zealand next week. Semisi Ma’afu Samiu lost the use of his limbs after injuring his spine in 2006. But Samiu had defied Immigration and remained here, his family fearing he would not survive a return to his native Tonga where facilities for disabled people are Read more
Immigration New Zealand says it is in the public interest to deport a tetraplegic to Tonga. Semisi Ma’afu Samiu is wondering how he will get off the airplane once he gets there. He tripped over a child’s plastic bike in Auckland in May 2006, crashing on to a concrete surface and injuring his spine, leaving him Read more
In Tonga, the ancient ritual of “Uiui Tevolo” which means “calling up the dead” or more literally “calling up the devil”, has been regarded as something of pagan origin unacceptable to churches and Christians in general. However, in recent weeks there has been a sort of revival of this ancient ritual among some villagers in Read more
Tonga’s auditor general, Pohiva Tu’I’Onetoa, is urging Liufau Saulala, a Auckland Tongan church leader, to resign after he invested Tokaikolo chuch funds into a failed investment scheme run by a New Zealander. Church members had been told by Saulala to raise more than $1 million to invest in a scheme organised by Nelson man, David John Hobbs. In Read more
A documentary, “Tongan Ark”, about the Tongan philosopher Futa Helu will be screening at Mangere Arts Centre in Auckland on Saturday. Futa Helu, who died aged 75 in February 2010, was a Tongan philosopher. He studied philosophy, literature and mathematics in Sydney in the 1950s. His particular inspiration was the pre-Socratic thinker Heraclitus. When he returned Read more
Police believe people as far away as the South Island may have been subject to a scam when 100 Tongans turned up at Auckland Airport last week to collect airline tickets that never existed. The group paid a fraudulent immigration adviser $250 each for return airfares from Auckland to Tonga. Waikato police today said they Read more
His Majesty King Tupou the VI has urged Tongans to make their church feasts healthier and use traditional, local produce. Opening the 89th annual conference of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Nuku’alofa, the King also said he supported the idea of halving the number of daily meals during conference from 4 to just Read more
A Tongan immigration scammer is targeting South Auckland churches selling fake New Zealand residencies for almost $300. Thousands of Tongans living in New Zealand have been caught up in the scam, prompting the community to call for urgent Government action. The scammer, Fetongi Malupo, has also travelled to Tonga to lure in people, claiming to Read more
Family members wept as the body of So’saia Paasi was pulled from the water and brought ashore. The Tongan community is rallying around the grieving family of those lost in the Manukau boating tragedy. Family members cried out when the bodies of 45-year-old So’saia Paasi and his son were recovered by police divers yesterday. The Read more