"The dream is to one day manage a vanilla weigh-in business", Ms. Malia Kakala Vakapuna – Vanilla Grower

Figure 1 MALIA KALALA VAKAPUNA (28 years of age) – Vanilla Grower

​My name is Malia Kalala Vakapuna, I am 28 years of age, and I hail from a village called ‘Lapaha’, Tonga. I have seven siblings and I’m the second youngest, but the youngest out of the girls. I am currently employed by the ‘Tonga Airports Limited’ (TAL) going on 8 years now. 

As I am part of the Mafoa ‘a e Ata Youth Innovation Challenge Program, there was a task given this one time about ‘overcoming one’s fear’. For me, I have this fear of losing my ‘desk job’. This is because I grew up with the mindset of studying and settling with an ‘office job’. Sometimes I would overthink it and fear creeps in that if I lose this ‘office job’, I would struggle. 

Later, I took that fear as a challenge for myself. As I grew out of it, I later examined and compared that fear to my current situation right now. That is when I reminisce about my journey in life. 

I got an opportunity to go for further studies overseas. I left in 2017 abroad and then came back last year, 2021 when my studies were completed. When I returned home, I reminisced back in time to when I grew up. Both of my parents did not have a job. My dad would go to our cropland and grow crops solely for the purpose for us to eat from. But if we ever had financial needs, he would then sell what was harvested. 
On the other hand, mum would weave mats and make tapa. It was a good income for us with what she did. People would always come to her to purchase the mats and tapa that she was making. 

Anyway, dad used to grow vanilla, and that is how it started. While I was studying, his vanilla garden would bring in money for us and it helped a lot with paying for my school fees. Some days I would even have some pocket money for myself from dad’s vanilla garden. 

However, I returned home from my studies when I completed my Bachelor of Aviation Management abroad. I learned that the vanilla garden didn’t grow for 3 years which was during the time I was away for further education. Adding to that, dad was mostly ill as well so he wasn’t able to look after the vanilla crops. 
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I returned home around February 2021. I had a few coins left on me and I came over with it to my dad and had a talk as we made an agreement on our vanilla garden. I asked him to lend me the vanilla farm and I will look after it while he stays home and prioritize taking care of his health. 

Figure 2 Vanilla bean bunch

​For me, I wanted to help them out by giving them a little work to do in order to pay them, as they have families to feed. At first, I asked these kids/youths on how much their help would cost me; their response was ‘$7.00 pa’anga an hour’. For me I didn’t look at it on the financial side, I had this feeling of wanting to help these groups of kids/youths, so I chose to pay them double, sometimes triple. This is because I know what they’re doing is hard work, plus they have families at home who might need that little money that I give them. It is a win-win situation. Not only are they helping me with my vanilla crops, I am also helping them financially.

At the time, I thought looking after a vanilla garden is easy. I thought that growing and maintaining a vanilla crop would be a piece of cake. Little did I know, it’s not as easy as it seems. You see, I later learned that vanilla plants are super sensitive. There is a certain type of method needed to follow in order for it to grow and produce vanilla beans (see Figure 2). 

Just the other day, I went over to check on our vanilla garden, and let me tell you, you can’t even see the vanilla plants due to how long the bushes grew around them. From then and there, I knew that it needs to be looked after. After visiting our vanilla garden, I then started taking action in order to take care of and maintain it. 
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For the first two months, I sacrificed the little money that I had on me and paid kids/youths around our area to help with weeding the vanilla garden. 

Figure 3 Vanilla orchid

​Moving on, I was fortunate enough to share my story about my vanilla journey with Lusia Latu-Jones, TYEE Director.  Doing this, it helped me overcome the fear that I have mentioned earlier. It made me realize that income can come from different sides instead of just a desk job. It has been an eye-opening experience for me.  Every time I need to clear my mind, I visit this special place of mine, my vanilla garden; it makes me appreciate nature more. 

Our mind-set here in the islands growing up, they usually say that farm/crop work is for males only. I am here to prove that it can be anyone. It can be either male or female and I hope my story reaches out to our young youths who are female and think that only males are supposed to go and do agricultural work. You can too! 
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With that being said, I want to encourage young girls, to believe in themselves and be more confident in what ​they’re doing. Find time to get yourself out of your comfort zone, get out of your shell and explore. The truth is, the opportunity is out there and it is up to you to go and grab it and when you do, then you can see what good it gives you and what good you can do to others. 

Figure 4 Vanilla orchid

Figure 5 Bunch of vanilla beans

​Furthermore, there was this one time, a mother approached me with a conversation she had with her daughter, and it touched me. She told me that her little girl told her that she likes me and how I do what I do. Her mum said she responded with ‘’how come? her daughter elaborated saying, ”Oh you know, Malia had a job already yet she left for further studies, and now that she’s back, she’s working and also goes and visits their cropland every now and then”. Her mum stated she finished with ‘’ … I want to be like Malia when I grow up.’’
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This little story of hers touched me because I know I am setting an example for young girls. Maybe when this little girl’s mum reads this, she’ll know the reason behind my many trips to our cropland. I go there to grow and maintain my vanilla farm. 

Anyhow, the dream is to one day manage a vanilla weigh-in business. The goal has always been there since starting; to one day have a vanilla brand. The dream and goal is there, I’m just slowly working towards it with what I do. 

My experience through it all has always been refreshing. It is something that is out of my comfort zone and never in a million years would I have thought that I would be doing what I do. Being in the space of agriculture and just being surrounded by plants is so healthy mentally, also physically. It has been life-changing since day one. Now, when I go to my desk job, I rush home after work just to go off and check up on my vanilla farm. Sometimes I would be there too long and mum would call in worrying, but it goes to show I’m obsessed and love what I do. 

​Mind you, this is all a new experience for me. I learned that the vanilla orchids must be hand-pollinated for it to produce vanilla beans. Yes, I didn’t get it right the first few tries, but I never gave up. I kept trying and at the same time, I’m learning from my minor mistakes while doing this. After many failed attempts, now I am glad that I have mastered how to successfully pollinate and maintain a vanilla plant by myself.

However, I want to acknowledge the Mafoa ‘a e Ata Youth Innovation Challenge program. This Youth Innovation challenge program really influenced a lot of things in me. Chris from the Mafoa ‘a e Ata highlighted the importance of being ‘creative’. From my side, being creative is going and doing the hard work at my vanilla farm. I enjoy it so much, definitely out of my comfort zone, but I can say I am happy that I am learning every day and getting good at it. 

Dad used to tell me, that vanilla plants normally would only bare 3 vanilla beans from a branch. He thought that it is impossible for a vanilla plant to produce more than 3 vanilla beans. He was super surprised when he came over and found that the vanilla plants that I grew produced 8 vanilla beans growing from a branch (see Figure 5). That’s just how I do what I do. People would tell me to follow this, and I would always be eager to do more and try new things. Just as how dad told me that vanilla plants can only bare 3 vanilla beans on a branch, and here I was experimenting and risking it to know the ‘what ifs’. Super happy to say it was a success. 
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Anyway, the thing that keeps me going till now is that I have learned and grown to love the vanilla garden. It gives me a sense of refreshment and peace when I visit it. However, knowing the financial struggles that I went through, I wish to offer 2 scholarships for next year (2023) to two ‘Takuilau College’ students (experiencing similar financial struggles) once my vanilla farm gets harvested and sold this year. What I’m doing might be not much, but I like to think that this is the beginning or baby steps of giving back to the community. I am grateful for it all.