A father is someone who sets good example for his children.

So’o Vili, from the village of Fasito’o-Uta said: “A father is a man who expects his son to be as hard working as he is.”

Village Voice met So’o Vili while finishing off his koko esi (Samoan hot chocolate) delivery yesterday morning.

Mr. Vili said this was his way of helping his family and also a form of daily exercise.

“This is what I do every morning selling koko esi to all the families in the villages in order to provide for my family,” he said. 

“I am also treating this as an exercise for myself, as you can see people my age here in Samoa nowadays just don’t do much,” he said.

The 56-year-old is a father of seven, with one residing in New Zealand and three others work in Samoa.

“My other three children are still in school and this is where the money for their school fees is coming from, from selling my yummy koko esi,” he said laughing.

Mr. Vili also said he hoped his three young children would work hard just like him.

“I am also trying to inspire my children who are still in school with what I do so that they study hard as well and become hard working people.”

Mr. Vili also mentioned that the cost of living in Samoa was expensive and there was nothing we could do about it.

“To me I think there is nothing we can do to change it, the only thing we can do is to work hard for our own families.”

“We can go on and complain and criticize the government but at the end of the day they will not be bothered, so we just have to work on our own.”