Kainga (families) experiences of a Tongan-Indigenous faith-based violence-prevention programme

Abstract

Christianity is an embedded value system within Pacific cultures that is now being employed to inform efforts to address social issues such as family violence. This article chronicles a Tongan woman’s cultural immersion with 49 Tongan church kainga (families) who participated in the Tongan faith-based Kainga Tu’umalie (Prosperous families) family violence programme. Talanoa (Pacific-Indigenous way of engaging families in research) with three kainga is drawn upon to highlight the impact of the programme in re-awakening the need to rebuild positive familial relationships based on core Tongan Christian values. More broadly, accounts from the kainga foreground the importance of interweaving spiritual faith and Indigenous knowledge in efforts to address family violence. This research also speaks to the importance of leveraging collaborative partnerships between community-based agencies and faith-based communities in addressing social issues.