NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga (Matangi Tonga, Mar. 31) - A recently published assessment of hardship and poverty in Tonga, which was carried out jointly by the Government of Tonga and the Asian Development Bank in 2003, states that 23 percent of the 16 communities surveyed in Tongatapu, Ha'apai, Vava'u, 'Eua, Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou, were living below the poverty line of $28.18 (US$14.72) per person per week.
The report said that living under such a condition these poor families had to make difficult daily choices between "buying food or paying school fees."
The figures were based on an analysis of the Household Income and Exenditure survey of 2001.
To have a clear understanding of the Tongan situation it was necessary for the assessors to define hardship, or Tu'utamaki and poverty, or ‘masiva.’
Poverty, or masiva, is being without or having limited access to land, food, housing, education, health services, and money.
Hardship, or ‘tu'utamaki,’ is living...