24 Jun 2016

Money rained from sky in Tonga school celebration

4:38 pm on 24 June 2016
Celebrations at the 150th Anniversary of Tonga's oldest school, Tupou College.

Celebrations at the 150th Anniversary of Tonga's oldest school, Tupou College. Photo: Courtesy of Malo TV

Money rained from the sky in Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa on Thursday as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations of the country's oldest school.

A group of old boys from the United States used a local plane to scatter thousands of dollars worth of two and twenty dollar notes in Tongan currency, over Tupou College.

They are among many of the school's alumni association who have traveled from around the world to celebrate it's week-long anniversary.

The school, established in 1866, claims to be the oldest secondary school in the region.

Its principal, Alifeleti Atiola, says they've received around 1 million USD in monetary donations and this year's anniversary is the biggest one yet.

An old boy of the school who is a pilot in the States - and the USA group had their presentation. They said "A member of our group is going to fly and he's going to throw out money. Some of the notes got into my yard and some of the notes got into my little pig sty.

A group of old boys from Tupou College in Tonga dropped thousands of dollars worth of two and twenty dollar notes in Tongan currency over the 150th anniversary celebrations.

A group of old boys from Tupou College in Tonga dropped thousands of dollars worth of two and twenty dollar notes in Tongan currency over the 150th anniversary celebrations. Photo: Courtesy of Malo TV