“Life in the village is great,” says Lenu’u Fa’amoana

By Sarafina Sanerivi 03 September 2016, 12:00AM

 “Life is great in the village.” That is the opinion of Lenu’u Fa’amoana of Faleāpuna, 47-year old father of two. 

He told the Village Voice that life is great when you appreciate the simple things in life.  

Says Lenu’u, “Life in the village is different from life in Apia.

“Life here is peaceful and there are no challenges. Everything is fine here in the village. The simple things here in the village are what makes me happy and what makes me want to stay here forever.”

Why does he like living in the village?

“There are a lot of chores and important things to do here in the village,” he says.

“You can go work on your plantation, have a vegetable garden and then you can sell them to earn money and use it to feed your family. 

“There is no hassle here in the village. Not like in Apia that if you don’t work, your family will starve. Life here is free because you get to live on your own land and have your own house. You only worry about the water bills, and cash powers. 

“Back here in the village, you can get food from the plantation and go fishing to get food for the family.”

He went on to say that there is no poverty in Samoa. 

“You will get poor when you just sit at home and do nothing. 

“It’s true that the cost of living is expensive, but if you keep sitting at home without working, then you will end being poor. 

“It’s all up to you. If you decide to just sit and wait for others to come and give you money, then you will suffer and so as your family. The people who are lazy are the ones who just complain about being poor and do nothing about it.”

In his opinion everything is great in Samoa.  

“Life in Apia is starting to look like the life in other countries overseas. People have to pay for houses, lands, food, and everything. But for us here in the village, we also have bills to pay and send our children to school. But at least we get to live on our own lands for free and we can get free food from our lands.”

Nevertheless, he also thinks that our government is doing an excellent job in developing Samoa. 

“I take my hat off to our government for doing such a great job with the development on both the urban area and also the rural areas.”

But, he believes there is one problem that needs to be taken care of. 

That problem is the increasing number of Chinese shops and companies in Samoa. 

“We have so many Chinese in our country,” says Lenu’u.

“A lot of people are also saying that the number of Chinese and their shops and companies in Samoa looks like they are about to buy our country with their money.

“But I truly believe that Tuilaepa will not allow anything like that to happen. Our Prime Minister is not stupid and he will not allow such thing to happen to our country.”

By Sarafina Sanerivi 03 September 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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