Tonya Toi remembers when she was a little girl growing up in Tonga in the Pacific Islands, her family had Mango, Guava and Custard Apple trees planted by her late grandparents, that she would share with all the families in her local community.
“I would have mango all over my face, 100% organic, and we would share them among maybe 12 neighboring families. Back then the fruits belonged to the whole village – we didn’t have fences.”
Her family lived on residential land on the edge of Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa where her father was a retired navy captain. She says her parents instilled care and respect for the land and nature into her and her siblings, as well as educating them on how to properly harvest certain crops.
“Saturday was our family day. We would travel maybe 10kms from the city to our farming land to gather everything from vegetables to pineapple, taro leaves, coconuts to prepare a nutritious meal for our family and community of friends.”
Tonya has brought that same community spirit to Melbourne’s western suburbs, where she is President of the Pasifika Community Garden in Tarneit, a project that connects Pasifika youth and families to their heritage through organic gardening, providing fresh food and fostering community.
The garden, located beside the Tarneit Penrose Community Centre, has been supported by the local Wyndham Council and Victoria Police to offer local youth structure and a therapeutic outlet in their lives.
Tonya describes the garden as a ‘million-dollar space’ because of the value it holds to all who pass through. “For me personally, it’s my self-care space. I get lost there. It’s humbling, it’s gratifying, connecting to nature and to see young children embrace it also and learn that it is a significant space to them.”
“The young people who come here often troubled youth from broken homes, people from the Pacific. They have never been given this opportunity to help manage a community garden. The only weed they know of is what they have inhaled illegally. It teaches them things we take for granted but they have no flaming idea about. What we are doing here is building strength and community through the garden.”
Tonya says many of the young people and families who come to the garden have directly experienced the impacts of climate change and sea level rises in their previous lives before moving to Australia.
“For them, climate change is not just something you read about in a newspaper – it’s something that connects with their heart and soul. Families that have migrated from Pacific Islands experiencing sea level rises being able to walk into a garden and see plants they identify with their homelands – it’s huge. It brings them hope.”
The garden also provides the opportunity for Pasifika community members to proactive their culture through shared fires and smoking ceremonies, and to break the cycles of oppression that have traditionally faced their community members.
“Our people have often been looked down at in Australia. We were told our strength is all about cheap labor for fruit picking and itinerant work. So, for a lot of our people, when they come here, we gather them around a fire and sometimes have shared meals, and it has that welcoming feel. We don’t have a bag of gold; we have to seek grants and funding to have that ongoing ability to support our people. But we’re resilient.”
Reflecting on her own journey, Tonya says she never imagined she would end up managing a community garden in Australia, but it is a journey on which she is still learning as she goes. “When I first migrated, I had no idea what recycling was and its importance. We just put everything into the ground, and it became soil. Now I teach it to my children, grandchildren and vulnerable communities. Once we realised we could provide them a place to live we could also start contributing to this wonderful nation.”
“The youth that come here, they are on 6-month diversion programs to turn their lives around. But one day in this garden and guess what – they’ve gone back to school and got a job. I sometimes run into them months or years later and they want to buy me a meal and tell me they are studying. This is a therapeutic space – the strength and positive change we see – there’s nowhere else that offers this cultural therapy.”
