Show —VT1 I f - The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday November 4 1979 Halaufia's preserve traditions husband Kaleti live across the street They are here all the time By Cindy Ford staff writer “Yeah” Selu interrupted "There's so many of us we’re going The Toogan Islands are more than miles from Logan but the Halaufia family who came from the island of Koloa in 1958 has almost made a Tonga island of their own here "Families in Tonga are very close" father Ivin said "The parents are usually very close and the family works together well They prepare food together they fish together they sing together If what Halaufia says is true the home in which he lives is an example of the Polynesian tradition of warmth and hospitality Four days in advance I had set up my interview appointment with one of the daughters but when I went to the house the rest of the family wasn't expecting me I didn't matter The welcome was warm and the whole family just returning home and resting from work was nearby As I walked up the driveway said hello Kaleti Otulha a as he lay on the grass playing with his nieee Lynsi Lynsi's mother Seln welcomed me with a big smile “What can we do for you?” she asked and hugged a grocery bag tighter as her two younger sisters Vonda 14 and Natalie 11 whined by ehasing each other with a garden d and half hose disgusted with their antics Selu said "Ignore them They’ve been at it all day long" I told her that I had come to interview them so I could do an article fbr The Herald Journal Her reply was the proverbial "Who us? Why? My parents are shy about things like that but if you want to talk to them they are in the to name this area Tongan Island 3000 Ivin grins at Selu's pun and Kay and the younger girls laugh Ivin said Sunday night is one night the whole family is together As in Tonga the family doesn't do anything on Sunday but attend church After church the whole family gathers at Ivin's and Kay's home to watch television "They stay very late” Ivin said as he picked up Lynsi who bad just fallen and bumped her nose "Mama and 1 finally go to bed and I don't know what time the rest of them Anally leave” Although Tonga is far away the family maintains a lot of their native culture At one time the older girls Emma Tupou and Selu performed Polynesian dances and their eldest brother Tuifila and their uncle provided the music on string instruments But that is all changed since “Tui” has left for New York and Tupou now dances in Los Angeles The younger girls Vonda and Natalie are now training for performing jobs Marcia daughter number four is also dancing with Tupou in Los Angeles The family also provides meals and entertainment for luaus at church and civic gatherings “We don’t do as much of it as we used to because Tui is gone” Kay said Holidays births and 21st birthdays are special for the Halaufia family On those days the whole' family has a big feast of pig potato and coconut bread roasted together in an “umu” a large pit with hot coals "We like Christmas best” Ivin said "The whole family is together in this house In Tonga the whole village regardless of religion went to a protestant church and had a big feast It was fun but we like being here together as a family Although family life in the US is comfortable for the Halaufias their traditions began in Tonga “We come from the highest ranking people of the island” Ivin said "My grandmother was the Tahama The Tahama was the eldest daughter of sister of the Tui Tonga the father of the island and her position was so high even the Tui Tonga paid homage to her” Ivin remembers'his wife as very young girl before he courted her But the little girt grew up and it wasn’t long before Ivin and his friends were visiting her home In the original Tongan tradition of feasting all night and serenading the girl The boys as custom dictated provided the food and a drink called "Kava” which was made from a root extract The serenading and feasting would go on until morning and to show she was interested the girl provided the eating mat for her boyfriend son-in-la- w Half-please- house” Within a minute we were in the bouse Come in sit down” Ivin said and when he found out he was being interviewed he clasped his hands behind his head leaned back in his big chair and said "I’ll tell you anything you want to know” As he did he played with Selu’s daughters Lynsi L and Chani 2 Next to him sat his wife Kauiniatia (Kay) making sure he got the dates right Natalie and Vonda soon tired of their water game and plopped down mi the couch to make themselves comfortable their strands of long dark hair falling over their n shoulders The questions were short the answers were long “Yes this place is like home to us” Ivin said It's home like Tonga would be I miss Tonga but the kids grow up here and most of them live dose to us — just like they would In Tonga My son Willie (Villiami) lives next door with his wife Patty and little boy Brandon Selu and her husband Steve McOmber live about a block away Emma and her olive-brow- iynt‘"ir'1 C At the time Ivin and Kauiniata were married Ivin was working for the Tongan government as a teacher in the primary (elementary) school But a conflict developed when he took a day off to attend an LDS priesthood meeting in another town and he quit to teach at an LDS church achool Liahona High School "They couldn't pay me much so I worked on my own” Ivin said “As a family we were able to fish and grow our own food It wasn’t too expensive Unlike this place it doesn’t take much to live in Tonga” While in Tonga Ivin and his family enjoyed the customs including hunting sharks Ivin likes to tell about when he caught a pregnant shark which had 31 babies in it He and his friend saw the shark from the beach of the village and went out in the water in an open boat "We followed the shark and I speared its side” Ivin said "I missed lost my balance and fell down in the water I felt the tail of the ahark hit the side of my head and I got back into the boat quickly The shark left for a while and came back I speared it a second time and the spear stuck out of its back It swam around for a long time and when it came near the boat again I jumped out My legs were wrapped around it and it spinned with me on it Just when I was about to run out of air I felt the sand of the ocean bottom and knew I was in shallow water I called for help and it took five men to lift the shark into the boat When we cleaned it we found that it had 31 baby sharks more than h any long in its belly” In 1158 at the age of 33 Ivin left his wife and five children to attend Ricks College on an academic scholarship There he studied agriculture After two years at Ricks he returned home to bring his family back to the US while he continued his education at Utah State University The family couldn’tfind housing in Logan so for a short while they lived in Rexburg and they all Ivin said "They kept saying he was going to eome and give them lots of presents but when Christmas did come there weren’t lot gifts because there wasn’t any money They would look at the other kids and feel bad” In 1951 the family moved to Logan and lived next to Wilson School They lived there until 1971 when they moved a block and a half away Ivin continued his schooling and finally finished a degree in physical education at USU in 1984 Now that he had finished the family could go home but Kay and Ivin saw the Tonga” remember that first winter "People must have thought our kids were crazy” Kay said “They were so used to going barefoot and when the snow eame they were playing in it in their bare feet I don’t think they realized it was cold until they eame in” Ivin recalls that Christmas those first few years was very hard because there was not much money "The kids were so excited about Santa Claus There wasn’t one in i children were making friends and decided they wanted them to have a good education too They stayed By 1189 the hoys had entered college and were playing football for USU Emma Tupous and Selu had beeome quite the hula dancers Now 21 years after the family arrived by boat from Tonga Ivin and Kay are pleased with their decision to come to Logan "Someday we hope to go back and serve a mission in Tonga” Ivin said Tm glad we stayed I learned more here in 24 years than I learned in over 38 years in Tonga WAKE UP YOUR WINDOWS WITH WINDOW TREATMENTS FROM DRAPERIES BY BRENDA Draperies Woven Shades Window Shades Blinds Louvored Blinds Also Featuring Wall Coverings Fine Upholstered Furniture arm-lengt- Your 541 N MAIN 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