Tonga’s Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata’aho will be sorely missed by two organisations whose cause was close to her heart. Leaders of the Tonga Red Cross Society Inc. and the Alonga Centre expressed their sorrow at her passing but remembered the Queen Mother's legacy of love, to help and support the elderly and people living with disabilities throughout Tonga.
Lavinia Satini the coordinator for the Alonga Centre at Pea was in tears as she remembered the Queen Mother.
Her love for those living with disability knew no bounds, said Lavinia who has worked at the centre for 40-years.
"The Queen Mother was at the front of various initiatives set up to help this centre. Her love for those who are less fortunate was evident in her leadership because she made it a point to take care of each person here," she said.
"The Queen Mother personally visited the elderly and disabled at their homes. I will always remember when she visited us from the Royal Palace she was already stocked with everything that we needed from food to various household items. She not only distributed it to us here but she also made personal trips to homes of people she knew were in need," she said.
"We will deeply miss her and we are immensely grateful for her love and support for us. Every single person here has felt her love."
Lavinia said one memory she would never forget was when the Queen Mother visited the centre and asked each person what they wanted.
"One person said she wanted shoes and Her Majesty took off her shoes and gave it to this person. She also told her lady in waiting to go to the shop and buy everything that the children here wanted. I saw this with my own eyes and it was an unforgettable moment," said Lavinia tearfully.
“We are deeply grateful to have had a loving Queen Mother like her who cared for the disabled and less fortunate people of this country. We pray that she rests in peace in God’s love.”
Red Cross
Sione Taumoefolau, the Secretary-General of the Tonga Red Cross Society also voiced their sorrow and condolences to the passing of the Queen Mother -a good leader and patron, who led the setting up of the Society in 1972. "The Queen Mother has been our patron for 45-years now," he said.
"We feel deeply grateful for her guardianship when it came to our work with natural disasters. She also looked after the disabled with the setting up the 'Ofa Tui moe 'Amanaki Centre here for children with disability as well as the Alonga Centre," he said.
Sione said he will always remember that the Queen Mother was looking for new ways to help improve the situation of people with disabilities.
The Queen Mother also made it an annual event for Tonga Red Cross to make distributions to the elderly and people with disability throughout the island, from the two Niuas to the main island of Tongatapu, he said.
"The Tonga Red Cross chairperson, board members, staff and volunteers send our deepest condolences to the Royal Family for her passing. We will miss a wonderful Queen Mother!" he said.
Comments
Every time she visited Salt
Every time she visited Salt Lake City all the gifts presented to her she would say its for her fanau Alonga. This is a great loss for them. - Akosita Makelani
Her Majesty the Queen Mother
Her Majesty the Queen Mother was an extraordinary woman. She was a wonderful Queen Consort to His Late Majesty Tupou IV, and an adoring mother. ...
Her Majesty was kind-hearted, enlightened and compassionate. When she wasn’t fulfilling her Royal Duties she was helping her two favourite causes: the Red Cross and The Alonga Disabled Centre in Tonga.
The Queen Mother enjoyed a special close connection with Her Majesty the Queen of England, enthusiastically telling me that they were both:
· born the same year in 1927,
· married in the same year in 1947,
· had their first born, a son in 1948, and also
· had four children – which were born in the same order boy, girl, boy, boy!...
Her Majesty honoured us with her presence for the Royal Opening of the new premises for the Consulate General in Sydney in 2010, which were ceremonially opened by His Late Majesty George Tupou V in the presence of our then High Commissioner, now King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u.
She had a great sense of humour and a dry take on the world....She was also very generous and not only with her time for good causes. She loved her Australian Tongan community and regularly visited Sydney to keep in touch with the church and her people....
Last year we celebrated HMQM’s 90th Birthday. It was a joyous occasion organised by HRH Princess Pilolevu. I was honoured to be able to co-sponsor with George Chen, our Hon Consul in Hong Kong, her first ever biography....She was a lovely, kind Queen who devoted her life to her country and to her family. A wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. And a rich life of giving for over nine decades.
My parents, Bill and Suzanne Waterhouse, my husband, Guenther and I are very sad and will miss her terribly. But she will live forever in our hearts. As she lives in the hearts of every Tongan. She has now joined her beloved husband, sons and sisters.
Vale Her Majesty The Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata‘aho. - Louise S. R. Waterhouse, Honorary Consul, Sydney, Australia.