Taranga, the Polynesian Sea-God(dess)

Taranga is my best friend in all of French Polynesian. She is the feminine namesake of Tarangoa, the Polynesian sea-god, who separated the sky from the earth. He is the son of the earth-goddess Papa, who had so much water in her body that it swelled one day and burst forth, becoming the ocean. Taranga's mother loves to tell the story of her birth in the middle of the rainy season. She explains that each contraction coincided with violent lightning and loud claps of thunder and with each push to free Taranga from her womb the winds blew harder shaking walls and rattling the windows of the midwife's tiny office. Moments after Taranga was born and she let out her first cry, the storm settled, the clouds cleared, the sun came out and a rainbow appeared. How much of this is true and how much of it is embellished with a mother's love is up for discussion, but I choose to believe that the whole story is fact.

To know Taranga is to experience first hand the human equivalent of the eye of the storm. She has more energy, strength and presence than any person I've ever met. All of this wrapped up in a tiny body standing five feet three in flipfops with long black hair shiny as an oil slick and honey-brown eyes that look right through you. Taranga is the first in her family to go to college and attended the Université de la Polynésie Française where she majored in education. For almost 20 years, she taught at a primary school in Papeete. Taranga never liked Papeete and describes living there as "a tropical version of New York City with all the crowds and congestions but none of the culture." At the age of 42, she found her true calling and now runs the tiny atoll school. Taranga is the person who hired** me to teach English and Art to the 102 students at her school. The best job I have ever had.

**The term "hired" is used loosely due to the fact that work visa's are not granted in the islands by the French government. Unemployment is a huge problem--though in my case, Taranga has been looking for someone to teach Art and English for three years. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

More later...