Raise those children right and Samoa’s future will be bright

By Ilia L Likou 02 February 2017, 12:00AM

Forty-year-old father, Talitau Fanene, is certain.

When Samoa’s young children are nurtured right, this country has a bright future.

The father of three from the village of Toamua is the sole breadwinner in his family. And everything he does is geared towards ensuring his children succeed.

“My children are my first priority,” Talitau told the Village Voice.

“Neither my wife nor I work but we sell pork buns every day to support our family.

“This is our main income and that’s why I’m on the road, I don’t want to see my children starve to death while I’m just sitting around doing nothing.

“The cost of living nowadays has gotten up to the point where we hardly find space to breathe. This is just too much for us…too much.

He went on to say that life is tough.

“From Monday to Saturday, I prepare more than 200 pork buns to deliver to nearby shops and that’s for mornings and the afternoons,” he said.

“I sell one pork bun for $1 and I collect more that $100 per box for one day with $60 for profit because I have to put aside half of the money to buy flour and a box of chicken for another day.

“As I’ve told you before it’s not that easy, I need to put in more energy and work hard all the time.

“I’m also looking at other ways that I could deliver pork buns at Laumua o Punaoa School to earn more to support my family.

“We all know that raising just one child is very expensive nowadays, but we have to keep on believing in ourselves.

Talitau said that ‘this money also goes towards water bills, electricity bills as well as food for the week.

 “The thing is, I admit that my family is really struggling but we keep on trying.

“That’s why I try to work as hard as I can to make ends meet with my family. 

“Hard work is all that matters in this life.

However, no matter how life treats him ‘my children are my first priority’

‘We should put our childrens’ school first, that’s why I came up with this idea a long time ago. I want to make sure that they spend their time while they are still young in classrooms, not on the road.

 “The cost of living nowadays is too high but we’re trying our best to budget well.

His message is simple.

“Parents should prioritise their children because they’re the future of families.”

By Ilia L Likou 02 February 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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