TONGA’S FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY

On October 11, 2019, Tonga’s first public library was opened by Hon Prince Atu. It may be a surprise for some of our readers, but Tonga has never had a proper public library, even though the kingdom is full of keen readers and has a 99 percent literacy rate.

The Kolovai Community Public Library will be the first to operate with a catalogued library system, which will allow books to be issued and loaned using a system set up with the help of Auckland Libraries in New Zealand.

The driving force behind this project are South Auckland couple Kahoa Meimuli Corbett and Brendan Corbett, who have been sending donated goods to the library in the village of Kolovai almost every month for more than a year.

Kahoa and Brendan are both incredibly busy people who have still found time to make this amazing project come to life. Brendan is a school teacher and Kahoa works for Sky TV, they also have six mokopuna, are very much involved in community work and constantly on the go. When Helen Heath from the LIANZA Office spoke to Kahoa she was about to start filming with her daughter for a documentary about the History of Kolovai. The old adage seems true: ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it!’

Q KIA ORA KAHOA AND THANKS SO MUCH FOR CHATTING WITH ME ABOUT YOUR AMAZING PROJECT! SO, WE HEAR THAT THE KINGDOM OF TONGA WILL OPEN ITS FIRST EVER PUBLIC LIBRARY BY THE TIME WE GO TO PRINT AND THAT THOUSANDS OF BOOKS HAVE BEEN DONATED FROM MORE THAN 50 AUCKLAND COUNCIL LIBRARIES TO GO THERE. BUT ALSO BIKES AND LAPTOPS! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND BRENDAN FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK PAYING OFF!

I HEAR YOU WERE PROMPTED TO SEND THINGS OVER AFTER YOU VISITED AND SAW THE IMPACT OF CYCLONE GITA? CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW AND HOW YOU DECIDED WHAT TO DO? WHEN DID YOU START SENDING DONATIONS OVER?

A We started sending books in May last year after the Cyclone Gita hit Tongatapu (the main island of Tonga). In 2017 my nephew got shot in the USA while working in a warehouse and I went to the funeral in Tonga. While I was there I saw that our family house (which was looked after by a family member) wasn’t well maintained so I came back to New Zealand and let other family members know that the house needed work.

My husband wanted to go back to Tonga and see what it could be done and work out how much we needed to spend on it. It took us 10 days to clean out the mess in the house but we left the house totally empty and ready to renovate. We came back to work and then planned our next trip to go back to start renovating the family house.

However, before we got back to start renovating, Cyclone Gita hit the main Island in February 2018 and 85% of residential houses were badly damaged

– so, our plan got delayed. The day after the cyclone we heard that our family house was badly damaged. When we arrived back in Tonga to inspect the damage we saw the family house had no roof and water was going straight in.

Then, we went next door to have a look at the local primary school. Their roof was only just fixed, the floor was still damp and the whānau were in classes with their teachers. I was so shocked to see the conditions of the schools and my heart went out to the children. I was very sad and really, really wanted to help them. I turned around and said to my husband ‘OMG. I really feel for the whānau.’ There were no books and they were sitting on the floor with nothing to learn from apart from teachers talking to them.

In our village of Kolovai there was an abandoned community whare. A few days before we came back to New Zealand I went to see the Town Officer to see if we could use the abandoned community whare to set up a library. He agreed. I came back and called Auckland Libraries to find out who to contact about books that they don’t need anymore. I was determined to go hard out and try to get books for the library.

WHAT SORT OF RESPONSE DID YOU GET FROM AUCKLAND LIBRARIES?

After a few months of phone

calls and emails I got an email back from Tricia Alexandra saying that she was happy to let the 57 library branches in Auckland know that they can donate any unwanted books to me and my husband. Anyways, our first books were on the first ship to Tonga last May with generous help from the Pacific Island ex-all Blacks – as their contribution to helping the people of Tonga affected by Cyclone Gita.

Books were coming and coming from Auckland Libraries nonstop! Luckily we have a van to collect all the books from Whangaparaoa to Warkworth and all over the North Shore. Tuakau was a bit far from me to travel so they’re directing them to Mangere Bridge. Now we have shipped over 20,000 books to Tonga. I got to know most of the librarians and they are the friendliest, hard working people. They always smiled at me and offered me a cup of tea when turned up to collect the books.

I talked to Bunnings and they gave us paint. Onzo bikes sent us 20 bikes. I then approached my work Sky TV for some laptops and got about 30 of them. Sky TV staff also offered to install the windows and just donated 14 brand new umbrellas.

They are amazed at what I do to get the first public library in The Kingdom of Tonga started. The library sign was done by DE Group in Penrose, the CEO is our neighbour on Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf, where we have a bach.

WOW, THERE ARE A LOT OF DIFFERENT GROUPS THAT YOU’VE INSPIRED TO HELP OUT. I HEAR YOU HAD HELP BUILDING THE SHELVES AND PUTTING THE SPACE TOGETHER. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT?

My husband was teaching trades at Southern Cross High School in Mangere and he wanted to get his students to help build the shelves as part of their school assessment. He paid for all the materials and got the students to build them. Once they built them Lion Internationals Ellerslie/ Onehunga sent a container to Tonga. Brian the secretary is a good friend of my husband (they both used to teach at Hillary College) and offered us a space to put our books in the container they were sending.

We also got 200 chairs donated from the council and they went on the container along with thousands of books. The government signed off the consignment in Tonga so that it was free as well. The container was officially received by the Government of Tonga, including the Minister of Education and his office of the late Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva.

Our garage was getting full – out the door to the carport. So, when I bought more paint to send to Tonga for the library I called the local shipping company in Onehunga to find if they deliver to Tonga. They asked me ‘What are you sending?’ I said ‘Just a couple of 10 litres of paint coz I am starting up the library in Tonga.’ Well, they told me to drop it off and they may be able to send it for free but pop into the office to see the boss, so I went and met up with him. I told him what I was planning to do – to start up the very first public in Tonga. He offered to do it for free whenever the books and other stuff for the library are ready just drop them off.

I have been blessed, about 12 months ago CFR line CEO Harald Harmans offered to ship everything for the libraries free. I got shelves from Auckland Music Libraries. Thousands and thousands of books just keep on coming and I drive all over the place to pick them up. I pack till 1am - 2am in the morning

sometimes, I’m so determined to have the library started.

THAT’S AN AMAZING COMMITMENT KAHOA! HOW DID THE LOCALS REACT TO THE IDEA OF A LIBRARY?

The reaction that I got from the community was that some disagreed and some agreed but the majority agreed with the Hon Prince Ata who is our noble. Prince Ata is the youngest son of the current King and 100% agreed to the project. He told us that he is very happy with the library and thought it was a great idea to just take over the abandoned whare and go to ahead with it.

We were in Tonga in May and we met with the King of Tonga Tupou the VI and the Queen Nanasi in Kolovai at their sons place. They were very, very happy with the library and couldn’t wait to get there and borrow some books. Even when we got back to do more work in May some of the locals still didn’t want us to go ahead with the library but the majority of Kolovai wanted us to go ahead.

So, they all agreed and now the Wi-fi is up and running. We transformed the abandoned whare into an amazing library and it has a different look with new lights, new water tanks for the toilets, all painted inside and the kitchen done.

THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. SO, DO YOU HAVE A LIBRARY BACKGROUND?

I am not a librarian but I am determined to have the kids well educated because they don’t have books at home apart from reading the Bible and hymns. It was the same when I grew up in Tonga. We never had books and I hardly read a book while I was at school, apart from the Bible at home.

HH: ARE YOU DOING ALL THE CATALOGUING BY YOURSELF? THAT MUST BE A HUGE JOB. IS THE CATALOGUE DIGITAL? HOW WILL THE BORROWERS SEARCH FOR ITEMS?

We have a librarian there now from Auckland Libraries (based in Panmure) who has been cataloguing. She has been in Tonga since the 7th of September and we offered to pay for her ticket back to New Zealand this Thursday. We’ve been using ISBN barcodes for cataloguing with CLZ library software. We are doing a lot of cataloguing ourselves and have trained up some of the local school students who are interested in learning how to use the digital scanner. Once we have completed the electronic catalogue borrowers will be able to search via the library website.

FANTASTIC! WHO WILL RUN THE LIBRARY? DO YOU HAVE VOLUNTEERS HELPING?

We have three key people. Mele Kamoto, who just retired from the government, is managing the library – looking after all the books that arrived from here. Mele Tupou Sina offered to look after the lawns and the garden. They will both be getting help and training from an Auckland librarian, Loni Fifita, when she is in Tonga. I also have a driver picking up books from Nuku’alofa who is my nephew. He goes with Mele Kamoto to pick up the books when they arrived from New Zealand just about every month. He also

offered to help Mele Tupou with the gardening and lawns as well.

I have also picked some of my relatives that graduated from university to help out with cataloguing when they are free and Loni will train them when she is in Tonga. The school kids are always going to the library after school and they are helping with shelving, painting, scanning and cleaning as well.

HH: WHAT SORTS OF BOOKS ARE PEOPLE ASKING FOR?

We have some avid readers of adult crime fiction. John Grisham is the most popular at present Kids are reading about dinosaurs and high school students are choosing Chinese texts, historical fiction and graphic novels. Sports books are very popular, especially rugby, league, basketball, tennis, netball. Cooking books are very popular too, locals love to just go through different kinds of books – spending hours at the library going through page by page. One person is using library books to teach himself how to play the guitar and make cocktails.

WHAT ELSE, APART FROM BOOKS, WILL PEOPLE BE ABLE TO BORROW?

We have a range of DVDS, which are very popular. Some households have DVD players and love watching movies. Magazines are also popular and listening books. We have laptops for anyone to use, which are very popular and we’ve got the internet up and running already. Also, we have the landline and mobile phone for the manager to use for any emergencies and for business use. In addition to that we have the 20 Onzo bikes to hire out, which helps cover the running cost.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES AND FUTURE PLANS FOR THE LIBRARY?

The library is in a very good location and tourists are around all the time; beaches are not far – a 15 to 20 minutes bike ride. We hope the Kolovai Community Public Library will be successful and that both the community and tourists will make use of the incredible recourse that they haven’t access to before.

Hopefully, our relationship with Auckland Libraries will continue so we can keep refreshing the library with new books. In the not too distant future, a building in Nuku’alofa may become available to establish another branch of Kolovai Library and we would also like to extend to Tonga Prison.

We have also donated hundreds of books direct to schools in Tongatapu including two Kolovai Primary Schools. We have also donated books to Tonga High School, Tonga College and Tupou College. Tonga’s Ministry of Education asked us for books for the government schools as well and we’ve got them all covered. Their books are locked away in the library and ready to be picked up once we get to Tonga for the opening. We also donated hi-vis jackets and torches to the local security team and Hon Prince Ata.

We are both happy that we have done this and really, really amazed with the generosity of loving and caring people of Aotearoa, especially Auckland Libraries, CFR Line Shipping Company etc. We wouldn’t be able to do this without their support.

WHAT SHOULD OUR READERS DO IF THEY WANT TO HELP?

More books would be awesome even though we’ve already shipped over 20,000. My husband and I still have to pay for customs duties at Tonga.

Donations of books can be sent to us C/o Mangere Bridge Library as they were happy to receive them and I can pick them up from there, or our home address is 46 Kiwi Esplanade, Mangere Bridge, Auckland 2022.

BEST OF LUCK FOR THE FUTURE KAHOA! PERHAPS YOU MIGHT FIND SOMEONE TO PAY THE CUSTOMS DUTIES FOR YOU NEXT?