The voice of Tonga, loud and clear

'Ana Mosikaka Siu is wary in front of the camera but at home in San Francisco. Picture / Martin Sykes

'Ana Siu is the voice of Tongans in San Francisco - but put her in front of a camera and she freezes.

The 40-year-old broadcasts nightly to 50,000 listeners across the Bay area but she is rather tense when asked to pose for the Herald in front of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Siu is a successful businesswoman, proud of her ability as an assertive negotiator, but she has a shy side that stretches back across the Pacific to her humble village upbringing in Tonga.

Like many Polynesians living in the United States, Siu's Pacific connections also stretch to New Zealand.

She was sent from Tonga to Auckland in her early teens to live with her brother and attend Pakuranga College.

Siu studied science and maths at the Auckland Technology Institute before marrying and eventually migrating to San Francisco with her then husband looking for better opportunities.

Now the aspirations have come full circle.

Siu has sent her 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Wolfgramm, back to Tonga for her high school education.

"I wanted her to feel like I feel; to have to learn the hard way.

"She comes back a few times a year and is definitely more mellow."

Siu does not want to see Elizabeth rest on her mother's laurels, taking advantage of a provided-for life.

Instead, Elizabeth is living with her grandparents in Nuku'alofa and under the strict supervision of Siu's sister.

Siu has seen the negative influences life in the United States can have on Pacific Island youth - from the risks of gangs and drugs to mere indifference.

"Americans take life lightly because things are so inexpensive. Food is cheap.

"They don't look beyond that; don't strive to get a little bit ahead."

Siu has always been a hard worker, even back in Auckland, where she waited on city diners every night after school.

When her marriage broke up in San Francisco about 10 years ago, Siu threw her energy into building up a real estate mortgage company with a business partner.

Her interest in the work had come from buying and selling her own homes.

This year, Siu bought a property at Pleasant Hill to build 28 elderly-care units. The facility will open in April next year.

She is also a board member of the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum with 22 other community representatives, including doctors, directors and social workers from throughout the United States.

Siu is conducting a survey on Tongan women and breast cancer for the forum.

Her extensive involvement in the Tongan community in San Francisco has been accentuated by her radio work.

In searching for a way to advertise her business, Siu began Radio Tonga San Francisco in 1993, a nightly programme of Tongan music, interviews and news on the KEST 1450 station.

"It only lasted five months because of my inexperience.

"In 1997 I picked it up again and it is still going."

Every night Siu goes into the studio to host the 11pm to midnight show, which includes guest Tongan speakers from as far afield as England.

On Wednesdays Kalafi Moala, the Auckland-based publisher of the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper, updates listeners with news about their home country.

Moala is Siu's old childhood neighbour from Kolomotua village on Tongatapu.

The station also runs programmes on the Tongan language, and on Saturdays church groups host the show.

"It started as a hobby but has become a responsibility to the Tongan community," Siu said. "We get good feedback."

She is helped by her two brothers and volunteers.

Daughter Elizabeth is also keen to become involved in radio and complete a communications degree after she finishes school in Tonga at the end of this year.

* Angela Gregory and Martin Sykes' visit was sponsored by the Pacific Co-operation Foundation.