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English version
In English, this story by Oli Heve is:
The Inati
page 2
I travelled with my parents to Tokelau. We flew to Apia. Then we went by boat to Tokelau. It took two days by boat. It was a very long journey! We stayed at my cousin Lēpeka’s house. Lēpeka’s father is my father’s brother. I was born in New Zealand and Lēpeka was born in Tokelau. We are the same age.
It was my second day in Fakaofo. Lēpeka and I were playing tīuga beside the cookhouse, watching our mums talking and cooking on the open fire. It was the hurricane season, and it was wet and rainy and windy. It was also really hot. Thirty-four degrees! Phew!
page 5
I heard a man calling, “Come to the inati! Come to the inati!” I looked up and saw a young man walking around the village calling out the announcement “Come to the inati!”
“What’s that man doing?” I asked my cousin, Lēpeka.
“He’s calling the people to come to the inati,” Lēpeka replied. “He walks around the village calling ‘Come to the inati!’ because the inatiis for everyone,” she said. “See, the people are starting to go to the laulau.”
“What’s the laulau?” I asked Lēpeka.
Lēpeka smiled. “The laulau is a kind of table where the men put all the food for the inati. Then they distribute it to the village. You see, it’s over there. Then all the families come to the laulau to get their share of the food,” she said.
“Really? I wonder what’s for today’s inati?” I asked, as I watched more people going to the laulau.
page 6
“It’s fish. It’s really windy today. All the men were net fishing early this morning,” Lēpeka said. “They caught a lot of fish. Come on, Hione, let’s go and get our share of the inati,” said Lēpeka.
“Fresh fish! Yum!” I said to Lēpeka. “OK, let’s go. I want to watch how they do the inati.”
“Hione, please help me carry this container for collecting our inati,” Lēpeka said.
I helped Lēpeka carry the container and we walked towards the laulau. We joined the people walking that way.
“Look! ” said Lēpeka. “People can take any container they like to collect their inati. It can be a basket, bowl, or a plastic container,” Lēpeka explained.
page 9
We came to the laulau. “Wow! Look at all the fish!” I said. I heard a man calling “Hamuelu! Hamuelu!” I looked around. I saw a man walking around calling out Hamuelu’s name. “Lēpeka, why is that man calling ‘Hamuelu’?”, I asked.
“That man is the tauvāega. He shares out the inati for each family. One family has the name Hamuelu. They use that name when they come to get their share of the inati,” answered Lēpeka. “See that boy running with the basket to the tauvāega? He’s from the Hamuelu family. He’s going to collect his family’s inati,” Lēpeka explained.
“Lēpeka, is that why the fish are grouped that way?” I asked.
“Yes, it is,” agreed Lēpeka. “The tauvāega has shared out the fish, with enough for each family. See that paper the tauvāega is holding? That’s the list of all the families living in Fakaofo. All the families get a share of the inati,” Lēpeka explained.
page 10
“Hey! Lēpeka, look! Some portions of fish are much bigger than others. Why is that?” I asked Lēpeka.
“That’s right. The inati is shared out according to the numbers of people in each family. Remember, some families have more people than others,” Lēpeka told me.
“How many people in our family? Umm, there are eight of us.” I was counting the number of people in our family in my head.
“Hani! Hani!” The tauvāega was calling out this name. I saw a little girl walking towards the tauvāega with a bowl.
“Hione! Hione!” the tauvāega was calling out. I was surprised to hear my name called out. I looked at Lēpeka and she smiled back at me.
“Hione, the tauvāega is calling you. Go and collect our inati,” Lēpeka said.
I walked over to the tauvāega with my container.
page 12
“Hello, Hione!” the tauvāega said, and he put the fish into my container. Everyone looked at me. I walked back to Lēpeka. I was very proud that my name had been called out.
“That was awesome! I was surprised to hear my name called for our family’s share!” I said to Lēpeka.
Lēpeka laughed. “I knew you’d be surprised,” she said.
