Batch 7: Thank you letter

1821 E. Covina Street Apt 144

Mesa, AZ 85203

sfaasolo@asu.edu

480-842-1706

November 25, 2015

Mr. Andrew To’imoana

Director

Ministry of Information

MEIDECC

Sanft Building

NUKU’ALOFA

Dear Mr. To’imoana,

The opportunity provided for me by the Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga to intern in Tonga was extremely rewarding. The chance to work for the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster, Environment, Communication and Climate Change (MEIDECC) was an eye-opener for me. The information department under your leadership supported Arizona State University’s internship program which allowed me the good fortune of working for the Tongan government, and for this I am grateful.

The independent researched that I was allowed to conduct stipulated learning processes with some of the things that I was hoping to learn about Tonga and its governance. The freedom to freely ad hoc under your guidance bequeathed me the chance to comprehensively wrote the in-depth policy guidelines for the information department.

Please sincerely accept my gratitude and appreciation for allowing an international student to be the first intern in your ministry and for the Government of Tonga. This might provide further opportunities for future Arizona State University students interning in the near future in Tonga. I hope my representation will convince King Tupou VI’s and his government and Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva and his administration in developing a closer relationship between Tonga and Arizona State University.

Once again, a big thank you and MALO ‘AUPITO.

Yours Sincerely,

Semisi Faasolo

ASU INTERN 

Batch 7: Internship Experience

As I have mentioned before I actually made this arrangement on my own with the Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga. He attended my mother’s funeral in early January of this year to represent the government in paying their respect. This was a great opportunity under the circumstances to actually secure my internship opportunity.

Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni whose portfolios include the deputy prime minister position as well as the minister responsible for seven of Tonga’s largest governmental departments met me on my first day. The Honorable Minister informed me to pick whichever department that is appealing to me where I would be interested in learning as part of this internship. Although he gave me that opportunity, however he specifically requested that the information department needed help with its current policy.

The internship was a pathway for me to fulfill three goals that I initially hoped to achieve and they were;

a)      Learn Tonga’s Constitution, Acts and public policy pertaining to how the government is being run

b)      Gain maximum knowledge from experts and politicians during my tenure as an intern in the Government of Tonga

c)      Learn hierarchy system of monarchial ruling nation with the new government and the amendments to the Constitution

At the end of the internship, one discovered that the goals were successfully accomplished. There were other educational discoveries that one came across as well. The acquiring of online sources for the Constitution, Acts and some of my interested public policies were extremely important for educational purposes. The maximum exposure to various political agenda settings, policy formulation process with the public enterprises of Tonga, and accessibility to government statistics and files were pretty awesome. Tonga’s hierarchy system and amendments to its Constitution though run down by the Commonwealth’s report, nevertheless Tonga is working with due diligence to make it work. The democratic changes had only been five years and with optimism Tonga will successfully see to this change with due diligence.

I personally think I was very successful with my goal settings because I was able to provide a 55 pages’ comprehensive policy guideline. The most important goal achieving from this internship is being a great ambassador for Arizona State University.     

Happy Thanksgiving

In preparation for another class with a difficult task at hand on a final paper decided to complete the requirements for this class.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Batch 6: Free Write 2 – The Other Side of Paradise

There were many opportunities that I was able to tour some villages in order to collect information on one of my researches during internship. The methods for collecting data and information on a research project was interviewing sample population of elderlies on selected villages outside the capital. Although the research and interviews of the sample population were successful, however I was actually heartbroken with a new discovery.

 

Tongan people are living in paradise but the other side of paradise, people are living in poverty with little access to running water. I never realized that some people in my country live like this which was extremely despairing. I remembered visiting my paternal grandparents back in the eighties in a very far island called Hunga located in the Vava’u group of islands where families were poor. I didn’t realize that the main island of Tongatapu now there are some people who still live like this.

These people need my help and one day I would return to help. These pictures maybe disturbing to some, but I had to take these pictures to remind me that there are some people in Tonga who needs my help.

During my three and half months in Tonga there was this one particular man who really touched my life. He was the most amazing individual that I had ever met, and although his living condition was heartbreaking nevertheless he was always happy. I was touched that his Christian faith was extremely strong, his optimism was always spot on, and his positive attitudes were pretty remarkable. I actually visited him so many times after our first initial interview for my research project. The reasons why I kept visiting him was to get his permission without offending him to allow me to build him a house.

I had saved some money in the bank in Tonga for future emergencies. A very dear friend of mine who lives in San Francisco of whom I called for his help to help me with my project.

Here’s some pictures of before and after;

 The total amount for this project was USD$2500.00, with half of it from my dear friend who lives in San Francisco. My savings actually paid for labor and some of the materials. A high school mate of mine owns a quarry who donated the rocks, sand and bricks for this house. The whole project was done in two weeks and I was honored that I was allowed to make a difference. 

Batch 6: Career Services Write Up

In preparation for 2016 spring semester, I met Nicole Boryczka the graduate counsellor to finalize my education plan for the master’s program. I am finishing off my undergraduate’s degree this semester as well as starting courses for the master’s program under reservation. Officially next semester is the commencement of my graduate studies even though I was granted the opportunity to pick up graduate courses fall 2015.

We finalized the courses for 2016 with anticipation of graduating December 2016.

SPRING 2016	SUMMER 2016	FALL 2016
PAF 501 (3 units)	PAF 502 (3 units)	PAF 509 (3units)
PAF 505 (3 units)	PAF 504 (3 units)	PAF 506 (3 units)
PAF 507 (3 units)	PAF 541 (3 units) elective	PAF 540 (3 units) elective
PAF 508 (3 units)		PAF 573 (3 units) elective
PAF 574 (3 units) elective		PAF 591 (3 units) elective
TOTAL – 5 classes (15 units)	TOTAL – 3 classes (9 units)	TOTAL – 5 classes (15 units)

I will be doing the master’s program full time and I am optimistic that I can do it. During the meeting with Nicole, I asked her about the doctorate degree program here at ASU to further my studies. This year I decided that I would pursue my education all the way to the doctorate program. I was a bit disappointed though that I was informed that I must apply elsewhere for the doctorate program. If I remembered it correctly, the academic requirements for a teaching profession one must graduate from at least two colleges.

Ever since that meeting I had been tossing between three universities namely University of Arizona, University of Kansas and University of Indiana. I don’t really want to move out of Arizona though so I would hope that University of Arizona would accept me this time next year. The career services that Nicole and I worked on seemed feasible though extremely difficult but manageable. Wish me luck!

Batch 6: Organizational strengths and change

Tonga’s Ministry of Information is the newest addition to its governmental portfolios, and additionally combine with six other ministries under the portfolio of the Deputy Prime Minister. MEIDECC which is the Ministry of Meteorology, Environment, Information, Disaster, Energy, Communication and Climate Change, each has a department head. The information ministry is under the director of information with four staff members. Although the staff members of the information ministry are overworked and overloaded, however they all seem to be enjoying what they are doing, and are working with due diligence.

During my tenure as an intern, I actually observed a lot of times to see how each of them copes with the challenges and issues. They seem to be coping well and never once that I ever hear any complaints. This is the strongest strength that I encounter with this ministry and its staff. Their work belief “God, King and Country” is an excellent work ethic  

The information ministry can become the most powerful department in Tonga should it designs its policies and roadmap for Tonga’s information to be consolidated into one. There are many areas that can make a lot of changes to Tonga’s current information policy. Tonga’s population is very little and changes can be done effectively and efficiently. The current government is planning to shift everything to e-government which is a very good thing to do. Medical and dental records can be obtained online and that will eliminate a lot of paper work, filing and cabinets. It is more efficient by doing so. Tonga’s 103,000 people is a very small number, and I’m sure the current files in most ministries could be easily done in six months.  The information ministry will be able to spearhead changes in areas to develop and buildings to be built in order to house and preserve Tonga’s monuments and archives.

If I were in charge of a similar organizations I don’t think I will be able to change anything at all given Tonga’s resources, current financial challenges, and scarce resources. As previously mentioned Tonga survived on generosities of the United States, European countries, New Zealand, Australia and China. There were so many things that I think can be changed but they all depend on finance in order for me to make those changes, however I would write up grant proposals in these specific areas;

a)      Grants for desk top computers

·         currently staff members bring their own laptops to use

·         all files of the ministry are not safe – they are being risked if the employees’ laptops are misplaced

·         need to setup network and large computer filing systems

·         there are no computers at all in the office which puts a lot of work by the ministry at risks

·         the unsafe procedures of the current existing computer issues at the ministry, I will deal with immediately

b)      Staff support wages

·         increase budget to include staff wages in the next fiscal year budget

·         hire an additional four more support staff at minimum wages to support the current staff members and promote them to senior executives

·         write up a grant proposal to the Government of Japan who funds this kind of manpower support – where the additional support staff can assist the current staff to avoid burnt out and stress escalation that might lead to voluntary termination of employment

·         the four staff at the ministry are paid $15,000 a year which is about USD$7,500 and I will increase their salary as well hiring new staff and pay them good wages

·         I will establish an internet radio where revenue from this internet radio will be used for staff wages by selling advertising and radio programs to other governmental ministries

c)      Grant for scanners and manpower support

·         the need for consolidation of all files into e-files is necessary not just the information ministry but to provide assistance to other ministries such as ministry of health, ministry of justice, statistics departments and so forth

·         the scanners and the same manpower support who had been trained to do this can actually start with the information ministry then continue on to other governmental ministries as well

·         it will be more cost effective and more efficient if the same company from either New Zealand or Australia to do this with their own equipment and support staff paid by this grant

·         hire a company to look after all the e-files and governmental documents, perhaps ask the Government of India or Singapore for assistance

·         other countries are willing to help out Tonga and the Ministry of Information and I will jump at the opportunity for assistance with this initiative

d)      Large grant for renovation to an existing building

·         China funded 10 million dollars to build King George V Palace to house the Prime Minister’s office, Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and Trade

·         Grant is needed to renovate existing Prime Minister’s office to house Tonga’s New Museum and Archives

·         I will spearhead change to push this project through to completion, it is essential for Tonga to have a museum and a place to house archives and monuments

e)      Government initiation of free internet for the information ministry

·         There was a multi-million-dollar project to have fiber optics run from Fiji to Tonga

·         The government awarded the management and operation to Cable Tonga Ltd as one of the public enterprises of the government

·         I will fight to have a percentage of revenue from this fiber optics internet administration awarded to the information ministry to assist with its daily operations

·         I will also fight to have powerful internet sources for the information ministry to rely on for its governmental core functions on e-government where it is also free for the ministry

Batch 6: Free Write 1 – Once a Bully, Always a Bully

During my internship in Tonga I saw and witnessed high school rivalries taking it to the streets with physical fist fighting, bullying and physical abuse. To make the matters worse this was actually caused by church schools. Apparently every year during the rugby season these school fights had challenged not only police officers, ministry of police, school administrations but also the government. A lot of times students were hurt severely from this causing death and hospitalization due to injuries. 

I am so done with this so called Tongan culture and Tongan family respect. The abuse and bully had gone far too long. Do you really think that you can bully people and get away with it? The abuse whether physical or verbal will no longer be tolerated. I am going to spearhead advocating for change. Although it is going to be a very tough job campaigning for this type of behavior to stop nevertheless my passion to make a difference will supplant.

Do you really think that all your physical abuses in the past didn’t leave a trace? Do you really think that though it happened in the past that you are protected due to Tongan families’ forgiveness and also due to cultural influence? Let me say this, these criminal acts of physical cruelties don’t have that protection under the statute of limitations. Please dig deep down and try to remember dates when children were admitted to the hospital with physical injuries. Accessing medical records can be done if ordered by the court. Think about it Mr. Bully/Bullies! Please stop picking on innocent children in town because they attend a particular school, maybe it is time that the law picks on you.    

This is one of the extreme social issues in the Kingdom right now, and it is very disturbing indeed that this happens year after year. It should be stopped. Rugby sports shouldn’t be suspended or taken away from high schools because some of the students who excel in rugby are picked for international schools overseas under scholarships. A lot of people are pointing their fingers at parents to whom they believe should start the discipline. But then the corporal punishment still exists in Tonga from home which is controversial. There is need for government intervention there. I know advocating for change will be extremely difficult, but somehow I will find a find a way.