French Polynesia '08: First summer school in Tahiti

I had the opportunity to return to French Polynesia this summer to serve the Baha'is there. The Baha'i group in Papeete, Tahiti's capital is growing steadily. There is also a Tahitian family that has become Baha'i on the island of Taha'a, a beautiful vanilla island mentioned in a previous post.

The first part my trip was to be a part of their first summer school. It was held in a schoolyard in Tipaerui, a neighborhood in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. Robyn White, an artist from New Zealand who serves as a Counselor in the Baha'i Faith, meaning some who advises Baha'i communities in an official capacity, and Uileiuluwehi Pimental(Ui for short), who serves on the National Spiritual Assembly of Hawaii, the Baha'i governing body of Hawaii, was there as well. I mostly taught songs, translated and provided some materials.

Here are some pictures and videos from the first Baha'i summer school in Tahiti:

Birthday of one of the children. Tawhi, the mayor of Tipaerui, in green, leaning in.



Robin from Tipaerui prepares fafarou, the national dish of Tahiti--raw fish soaked in sea water and dunked in coconut milk--for the old timers, there's some additional fafarou juice, which is sea water with fish bones soaked in it for that special old fishy salty extreme taste.



Kids leading the devotions, Edward from Tipaerui, and Matai Rea from Taha'a:



Here is a video of Toromona from the Vanilla island of Taha'a. He is the 4th person in his family to become a Baha'i. He is a small farmer. Taha'a is in the same lagoon as the Polynesian holy island of Raiatea. Bora-Bora is on its horizon. Taha'a has very deep bays which are dark and mysterious.



Robyn Whie arrives in the evening, seen seated here with Poereva Dubois, the Auxiliary Board member for French Polynesia on the left, and Marie-Christine Curieux on the right:



One of the major challenges to teaching people in the islands about the Baha'i Faith is that the territory functions with two languages--French and Tahitian--both of which are now taught in school. As the Baha'i community is an open community, there is also the issue of varying levels of literacy. Here is a picture of Jean-Claude Hauatua seated with Robyn White. Jean-Claude is a teacher of Tahitian and very involved in the preservation of Maohi culture. He has also been one of the most active Baha'is in the last 17 years. He has translated Baha'i prayers into Tahitian--no easy feat given the enormous difference in the languages. Here he is holding Book #2 of a course on the Baha'i Faith which he has just translated:




Dance night

The adults and children organized an evening of traditional Polynesian dance. Robyn welcomes everyone with Marie-Christine translating into French and Jean-Claude then translating into Tahitian:



Here are some group dance scenes from that evening--Poereva is in light blue, Jianni my host from Paea is in a black t-shirt, Ui is in the back with a red print skirt, Bea from Tipaerui is all in black, Marie-Christine is in a white t-shirt and her little daughter is in yellow:




Marie Christine shows how it’s done—she is the first Baha’i from the Marquesas Islands, an archipelago in the northernmost section of French Polynesia. She is a former professional traditional dancer.




Here is a video of the “band”—those are log drums that the men are playing called ‘Toere’ and are the main percussion instrument. That is Pascal in the red shirt--he is a vanilla farmer from the island of Taha’a and a new Baha’i:



During the summer school, the Baha'is gathered to talk about the growth of their groups in the coming months. Here is Teura making a presentation:



Here are Pascal on the left and Robin on the right listening to Jean-Claude emphasizing the importance of Maohi culture in the development of the Faith in the islands and the power that the Faith can bring to the reawakening of the culture:



Sunday program

On the last day, Sunday, a special dance program by the children--and some adults who wanted to have fun is held.

Mararereva, anew Baha'i from Papeete, and her family prepared food--which included smoked veal which was smoked by the men from 4 a.m. until 11 a.m..



Here is the audience that morning:



Here is Robyn White singing a beautiful Maori song. Her grandfather was part Maori.



The kids and some adults got into a circle dance, calling different people into the middle to dance. It was a lot of fun. This video is hilarious—little Teura jumps in the middle (at 1:00minute) but, as her dance partner is missing, she is rescued by another little boy who jumps in to help her. Ui shows that she was raised in Hawaiian and Francis and Poe show how it’s done Tahitian style.

(if you click the little square right to the left of the Google symbol at the bottom of the video, it becomes full screen)


Here is little Teura from Taha’a showing how to really rock. The two kids behind her—Hiti and his sister Gwen—are from the Tipaerui section of Papeete.






Here is Tawi, the mayor of Tipaerui, saying hello:



Picture of most of the summer school participants: