"Manatu 'Ofa ki 'Api" (Remembrance of Home in Love): Home and Diaspora - Leimatu'a Remittance Fundraising

• Main Author: Tonga, Sylvester (Author)
• Other Authors: Milligan, Christina (Contributor)
• Format: Others
• Published: Auckland University of Technology, 2020-11-23T21:11:47Z.
• Subjects: Remittance Fundraising; Anga faka-Tonga (Tongan way of life); Manatu 'Ofa ki 'Api (Remembrance of home in love); Motivation; Sustainable Tongan economy; Second generation Tongans; Thesis
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 Observers and scholars have claimed that remittance giving should decline over time due to weaker ties between overseas-born Tongans and kin in the homeland. Despite such claims, the magnitude of remittances that flow every year into Tonga's economy exceeds the income that Tonga receives from exports or the tourism industry. This is due to the increasing number of overseas Tongans in the population who are living particularly in New Zealand, Australia, and America, together doubling the total population of Tonga. The individual and organisational fundraising in the diaspora is very active and vastly supported by overseas Tongans. This study explores the concepts of 'Manatu 'Ofa ki 'Api' (remembrance and reverence of the love at home) in the context of the remittance fundraising efforts of the Leimatu'a community in South Auckland. It is interested in the motivations for and the processes of gifting back goods and money collected for community projects and village development. The research involves twelve interviews with members of the Leimatu'a community inquiring into their motives, perceptions, and practices of remittance funding. The study employs talanoa as its leading methodological approach in order to honour the cultural values of the community, which are trustworthiness, reliability, validity, and respect of the Tongan culture. The thematic analysis of the interview data produced an understanding that the kalapu kava-Tonga became a cooperative fundraising platform for the Leimatu'a community in South Auckland due to its increased popularity, its customary importance, and the change from traditional concert and floorshow fundraising to a kalapu kava-Tonga fundraising approach. Money is not the overriding issue for the Leimatu'a community, as their fundraising success is motivated by the unique culture of the anga faka-Leimatu'a (Leimatu'a way of life/culture), the anga faka-Tonga (Tonga culture), and their manatu 'ofa ki 'api (remembrance of home in love). Remittance fundraising is significance for a sustainable remittance economy that strengthen by transnational ties and connections between the diasporic Tongans and the kin at the homeland. The upbringing of the overseas-born children can influence the future of remittance fundraising in the diasporas