Money was not a problem in those days - Taga
Taga Sapa’u from the village of Levi Salei‘moa believes that developments in Samoa have had both positive and negative impacts.
Aged 68, Taga said that there’s nothing we can do about it.
“Compared to how life was back in the days, we didn’t have that many developments like we have now,” he told the Village Voice.
“Those massive buildings, new roads especially in town...yes a lot has changed over the years.
“I think those changes are good for our people because the whole world is moving forward because of technology.
However, Taga misses the good old days.
“To tell you the truth, back in the days, we didn’t rely mostly on goods from overseas, like the imported goods, but we relied mainly on the land and sea for food and living.
“Money was not a problem in those days, most families had their own vegetables gardens, cows, chicken, pigs, taro, I mean everything.
“But we hardly see that nowadays. People now depend on money for everything but we have our lands to work on with, the sea is right in front of our faces every day.
“Sometimes, our people are very lazy to go work or the plantation. It’s lucky the government didn’t introduce any benefit for those who don’t have jobs.
“Many would wait no matter how long they take to wait for the money.
He went on to say that family values are disappearing.
“Yes, children especially the youths, were very respectful back then but that’s not the case nowadays.
“We hardly see any families who live together have evening devotion every day.
“Children were very obedient, no matter how many times their parents told them off they understood that it was for their own good, and we never used to have all these troubles and problems like we have nowadays.
“And I believe that a lot of changes in the behaviours nowadays is because family values are starting to break down.
Taga agrees that the cost of living is very high right now.
“Taking care of the family is tough,” he said.
“Everything to survive on requires money nowadays and shop items are getting more and more expensive.
“To be honest my family lives mostly from the land and that’s what I try and teach my children to work on the land because no matter how much you struggle in life they would always fall back to the plantation.