Fisi'inaua 'i Vaha – a Tongan Migrant's Way by Siosifa Pole

Author:Siosifa Pole [Pole, Siosifa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Tonga culture; Tongan migration, Methodist church, New Zealand, cross-cultural understanding; love of nature; the ocean reefs; nurturing children; personal theology
Publisher: Philip Garside Publishing Ltd
Published: 2020-06-19T16:00:00+00:00

Femolimoli’i & Fetoliaki:

Reciprocity: a Way for Survival

Thoughts about the impact of inequality upon society.

I have read a thought-provoking and informative book entitled, The Spirit Level, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. The authors deal with the impact of inequality upon society and its people. They look at how inequality affects health, environment, crime, human behaviour and the status of individuals. The authors claim at the end of the book that in order for society to be healthier, more economically sustainable, with less crime, and peaceful, there should be equality.

The authors write,

“Modern societies will depend increasingly on being creative, adaptable, inventive, well-informed and flexible communities, able to respond generously to each other and to needs wherever they arise. Those are characteristics not of societies in hock to the rich, in which people are driven by status, insecurities, but populations used to working together and respecting each other as equals.”

(p. 263)

Both writers argued that if we work together to address inequality in our community we can resolve some of our social problems. But can we be equal? Can everyone be equal? How do we see and understand equality?

Equality for me as a Tongan is about reciprocity. Reciprocity is defined by the dictionary as, “to give and receive.” In order for equality to exist there should be a desire to give and to receive. Those who have more than they need must have a generous heart to give, and that the same is expected of the recipients. They are expecting to give back whatever they can offer as part of their commitment to equality. They receive freely and so they have to give back freely.

There are two Tongan words that identify the meaning of reciprocity in a Tongan context, which are; femolimoli’i and fetoliaki. Femolimoli’i means, “to share your smallness” and Fetoliaki means, “To lift one’s burden.” On one hand femolimoli’i denotes the reality that we don’t have or know everything. Therefore, we need to want to receive as well as to give. On the other hand, fetoliaki refers to the willingness to share someone’s burden. Because everyone has burdens it is therefore the responsibility of everyone to help share each other’s burden. Both words explicate the understanding of reciprocity. The important thing about giving is not the quantity but the quality of the giving.

What matters is not how big or how small your gift is but the heart that goes with the giving. Every gift or contribution, even a very small one, will have a positive impact on someone’s need, and that is what femolimoli’i means. The same will happen to a person’s burden, whether a financial burden or a health burden. It will be lifted when there is a willingness to share and that is what fetoliaki means.

John Wesley advised his followers about the significance of giving as a way to minimize inequality in his society. In a letter he wrote in 1770, he writes,

“The dangers of prosperity are great... if poverty contracts and depresses the mind, riches sap its fortitude, destroy its vigour, and nourish its caprices.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.