prodigy has

Tonga's child prodigy has the answers

From Sio Magisi, in Tonga Out of the virtual unknown of Ha’apai, the middle group of Tonga, has risen a mighty tower of mental strength in the fragile form of 10-year-old Manutu’u fanga ’Unga. This little girl, who looks just like any of the thousands of other schoolgirls of her age in Tonga, has a singular yen for performing mathematical acrobatics.

Manu (as she is called for short) has been brought to the notice of King Taufa’ahau who was, according to her father, Mr.

George L. ’Unga, delighted by her ability to solve mathematical problems, not only mentally and on paper, but also by the use of the abacus and the soropan, manually - operated elementary computers introduced to Tonga on a mass scale by the king.

Mr. ’Unga is a member of the Tonga Legislative Assembly.

An only child, Manu has come up with answers to compound mathematical problems in a matter of seconds which would normally take many adults at least a couple of minutes.

Her feats

Some of the feats which Manu accomplished during a dempnstra tion for me included.— • Mentally adding up seven one-digit units in three seconds (which was the time her father took to read the numbers out). • Adding up 12 four-digit numbers in 15 seconds. • Finding 39| per cent, of $96.08 in 52 seconds.

Manu’s fires of learning were kindled and fanned at a very early age by Mr. ’Unga, who is himself no idle thinker (being known for his outspokenness in parliament). Her mother, Susana, who as a nurse accompanied the late Queen Salote to England for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth 11, also encouraged Manu to learn when young.

At two years three months,

Manu memorised the six verses of the 23rd Psalm and effortlessly recited them at the local church in Hihifo, Haapai.

Shortly after she turned three, Manu could recite the names of the books of the Old and New Testaments in their proper order.

“Then I began to notice that she was very different from other kids,” said Mr. ’Unga. “Besides memorising things well, she started to grasp abstract prob lems too.”

Manu entered primary school at the age of five. Today you can let her concentrate on any verse in the Bible for about a minute, take the book away, and she will read you back the verse word for word.

Perhaps Mr. ’Unga’s view on his daughter’s academic future has a slight bearing on Manu’s un usually sophisticated rational powers. She has told him she wants to eventually go overseas to study to be a doctor. Her father replied: “It would be better for you to die than to come back home vale (uneducated).”

But at her present rate of learning and performance, Manu won’t disappoint her father.

Manu, at home.