Cultural Learning

Wycliffe students experience Tongan hospitality and Tongan food. It is important for students to become used to staple foods such as root vegetables as well as bananas in their cooked rather than uncooked form.

Somewhere during their visit students are likely to have some experience of Tongan feasting.

Sunday has special significance in Tonga. Not only is it a quiet day of rest, our students join their Tongan hosts in dressing their best for church services.

Part of the success of the Wycliffe Tonga CAFE program has been the seriousness with which the teams have approached anga fakatonga ("the Tongan way").

One aspect of this is the regular adoption of Tongan dress by the team. Girls wear long dresses, whilst the boys wear a tupenu wrapped around the waist. On more formal occasions, including many school ceremonies, boys wear a ta'ovala (a woven mat) over their tupenu, while females wear a kiekie.

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