ATongan Youth Hymn Book : Ko e Tohi Himi Ma'ae To'utupu

Abstract

Elone Samiuela. A Tongan Youth Hymn Book. Diak Helsinki, Autumn 2015, 49 p., 4 appendices and the product, the Ko e Tohi Himi Ma’ae To’utupu.

Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Degree Programme in Social Ser-vices, Option in Diaconal Social Work, Bachelor of Social Services (UAS) + qualification for diaconal social work in the Church of Finland.

A product thesis with a final report (this paper).

The Ko e Tohi Himi Ma’ae To’utupu is a youth hymn book in Tongan language. Twenty five songs from the Finnish Youth Hymn Book (seurakunnan nuoren veisukirja) were translated into Tongan. Thirteen of the lyrics were collected from Tonga mostly form the students and teachers of Queen Salote Col-lege, Nuku’alofa, Tonga during my international placement in the autumn, 2014. Two songs are with English lyrics and the rest were translated into Tongan from Finnish. The Ko e Tohi Himi Ma’ae To’utupu will be used in Tonga and will provide the Tongan communities with additional written music materials to use in different occasions. It is also a youth work tool to facilitate youth participation, spiritual enlightenment and to bring joy and spiritual fulfil-ment to young people and to the communities. This is the final report, which reports the process, the experiences, the challenges, the lessons learnt during the making of the Ko e Tohi Himi Ma’ae To’utupu.

Key words:

Youth Hymn Book, Tongan Music, Music, Youth Work, Veisukirja, Church, Diak, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Nuorten keskus.