October 1st Moroni High School

       Today is General Conference, I got up at 4:00 am to watch the morning session on the computer and the Saturday session started at 6:00 am. It is Sunday here and we had fast and testimony meeting, things started slow but toward the end of the meeting, students were lined up to bare their testimonies. I love it when they say the ‘Church is very, very True’ or the ‘Church is ‘So True’ in their broken English. I also began watching conference at 4 am on Monday (Sundays sessions). We are 18 hours ahead of the Mountain West time zone. So when it is 6 pm on Saturday in Utah it is 12:00 noon on Sunday in Kiribati.
       It has been an interesting and rewarding week, Sister Thorne taught her two institute classes and I taught two College Classes. As part of the Fundamentals of Education class we are having teachers learn how to conduct oral history interviews. Their assignment is to invite Pioneers of the Church in Kiribati to talk about the early days of the Church here. 

MORONI HIGH SCHOOL A HUMBLE BEGINNING

In October the Stake is celebrating the 36th anniversary of the first missionaries coming to Kiribati. Our first speaker was Stake President Tune (pronounced ToonA). We video taped his 90 minute presentation and class members will prepare a written history. Several DVD's will be made for the school, Mission, Pacific Area Office, BYU Hawaii, and the Church Historical Department
     Other pioneer Church members will speak during the next six classes. In addition the stake is having a pioneer fireside later this month which we hope to video tape for future generations. It probably will be in the Kiribati language, so hopefully we can have an interpreter help understand what is being said.

Pres. Tune a Kiribati LDS Church Pioneer

         Pres. Tune told the story of the beginnings of Moroni High School which started July 21 1969 when Mr. Waitea Ataria, a former government teacher, started a school called AKAS to provide education opportunities for the 95% of young people who would not have been able to attend school beyond the primary grades. Under British rule the number of students allowed to attend secondary schools was based on the number of available jobs on the island.
      AKAS is the abbreviation for (Auriaria Kokoi Ataria School). The name that Waitea chose for the school had sacred significance. The land on which the school was located and which Moroni High is presently situated was part ( a section known as Tabuarorae (the sacred place). Tabuarorae is considered sacred; visitors to Tarawa atoll were brought here to drink of the well before they did anything else.

         The AKAS classroom was a simple hut with a thatched roof and 4 large coconut logs to hold the roof in place. Inside that humble hut, which served as the only classroom for the school, there were no desks or chairs. Students sat on mats woven from coconut leaves and their desks was a log with the top planed to a somewhat flat surface on which the students wrote. There were no textbooks or school materials. President Tune was one of the first students at the school, but spent the next two years in a hospital. After his lengthy recovery he again enrolled at AKAS.
         With the creation of AKAS in 1969, the precious gift of education became available to a few more I-Kiribati children. During the early years enrollment at the school was between 49 to 70 students. In order for his students to have an opportunity to attend secondary education Head Master Waitea began writing letters to secondary school through out the Pacific and all over the world. Some of his students were able to attend high schools in many other countries. One of his letters was sent to a Church School in Samoa, but because it had no dormitories it was forwarded to Liahona High School in Tonga. Eventually CES Church representatives visited AKAS school in 1972 and reported back to Neil L. Maxwell who was serving over Church Education.     (Alton Wade has given talks at BYU and BYUH on this early visit, it can be found with a google search)
         The major concern of the Brethren was that their were no members of record in Tarawa and if some of the students joined the Church at Liahona High, what would become of them when they returned to their homes with no Church organization there. Finally 12 students were approved to attend Liahona High School in 1973. All 12 joined the Church as did the 12 who attended the following year. Pres. Tune was with a group of 7 students selected to attend the school in Tonga following year. He was the first of the seven to join the Church.
      Of the first 12 students selected to attend Liahona High, upon graduation 6 were called to serve missions in the Tonga Mission. After 6 months they were transferred to the Fiji Mission and sent to Tarawa as the first missionaries in what was then the Gilbert Islands. Approval was given for the Church begin in Tarawa, but on the condition that only Gilbertese citizens could preach. They thought this would be impossible for the Church to begin because there were no Gilbertese members. The Lord was several years ahead of local government officials who didn't know about students at Liahona. Upon the arrival of the missionaries, Mission President Eb. Davis dedicated the land to the preaching of the Gospel at a site where the Battle of Tarawa was fought.

          President Tune served his mission in Tarawa from 1969-1971. When he completed his mission there were only 500 members. One of the first converts was the AKAS Principal Waitea who became the first branch president. When other churches on the island found this out, the ministers pressured parents to withdraw their students from the school. Enrollment dropped to only a few students and it appeared the school would have to close.
          An appeal was made to the LDS Church to provide some financial assistance to the school. A teacher from Liahona High, Grant Howlett and his large family were sent to teach at AKAS. The Church purchased the school at Mr. Waitea’s request and in 1976 it was renamed Moroni Community School. Under Brother Howletts leadership the school grew to 85 students and began to prosper; eventually it became Moroni High School. There is an Ensign article Dec. 1990 entitled "Seabirds over Kiribati, much of the article is about Pres. Tune - a true Church pioneer in Kiribati.

Basketball Court w/ School in background

There are 8 apartments for
School employees and Missionaries

Girl Dormitory - There is a cafeteria
 between girls and the boys dorm

One of three wings of classrooms

Maneaba at Moroni High School

The traditional maneaba is the centre of the village and next to the war canoe, it is the masterpiece of Kiribati (Gilbertese) culture. Like the houses, it is built in a rectangular shape and the architect is normally a village elder who has learnt his trade through experience and from tradition in his family. The construction of the maneaba is undertaken in strict accordance with rites and rules which are always carefully applied.

The maneaba is well adapted to the island climate and to its function. Its roof is supported on shoulder-high stone pillars and all who enter have to stoop. The Gilbertese are very comfortable in the maneaba. It is wide, cool and airy and in it the people feast, dance and sleep - sometimes all at the one time. There are no constraints in the maneaba. Here, you might even see a Gilbertese bringing in his grandfather's mummified body to honour the dancing and the skulls of defeated warriors were traditionally lined up.

       
Villages and districts both have their maneabas. They are divided into two groups with different names for those in the south and the north. Some names, such as Maungatabu - sacred mountain - clearly indicate a Samoan origin. Each maneaba has a name, traditions and a personality. All the way around, the maneaba is divided into places and each family has a set position in official gatherings. A stranger who is guest in another maneaba enters it under the same beam as he would in his home maneaba. Anyone, who belongs to several families, chooses the least cluttered place to sit. As far as official feasts are concerned, there is a strict code of etiquette to observe. One clan supplies heralds who announce what the shares of food will be; another family is responsible for distributing the food. The portion of honour belongs to such and such a family and in sharing out the food a fixed order of precedence is strictly followed. The least mistake for the slightest forgetfulness is taken as an insult.   

**Information from: www.janeresture.com/ki33/culture.htp