Why this Website?
We are Anne and Keith Chambers (Ane mo Kiti). We lived in Nanumea over 21 months in 1973 and 1974.
Almost 10 years passed before we were able to return, this time for 5 months in the first half of 1984 and bringing with us our two daughters Nonu and Kilea. We have continued to visit for shorter stays, in 1996, 1998 and in the early 2000s. On these later visits our son Tavita also came with us.
On our visits we have taken part in village life as fully as possible. This meant joining in Ahiga events, Ano games, Feitu celebrations and weddings and funerals. We spoke with elders and younger people. We wrote down or recorded as much information as we could. On our later visits our children attended Kaumaile school when young, and later our daughters helped teach classes there.
Over these many years we have taken hundreds of photos: the village, people at home and working, children playing, ano (of course), fishing, canoe making, taro and pulaka pit work, and much more. These photos show daily life in Nanumea that was quite different from life today.
This website is our way of sharing with Nanumeans as much of this information as possible — it is an ongoing project. We hope this will be useful to today’s Nanumeans and to their descendants: gaa tama a Tefolaha!
Alofa lahi atu from us, Ane and Kiti and our children Nonu (Lorien), Kilea (Claire) and Tavita (David) and our grandchildren Owen, Dylan, Emerson, Anabel and Cedar!