The cost of living is a hassle

By Aruna Lolani 15 August 2017, 12:00AM

As the cost of living keeps on increasing, people will stop at nothing to use what they have to earn a living.

For Teleía Sauiao of Lotofaga and Matatufu, he sells a variety of vegetables from his plantation to earn some extra money for him and his wife.

Although he has children in overseas countries who are supporting him financially, the 77 year old still works because he doesnít want to let his vegetables go to waste.

ìWe get money every week from our children because they know that the cost of living in Samoa is too much,î he said to the Village Voice.

ìBut itís no excuse for me not to do something useful with my land and that is why Iím doing this.

ìAt the back of my house, we have plenty of cabbages and pumpkins in our plantation.

ìSo whenever they become fully developed, I sell them to people for extra cash.î

Mr. Sauiao was selling pumpkins in front of his house when he was approached by the Village Voice team.

The big pumpkins cost $20 and the small ones, $5.

ìSometimes I take them to the market if I have too many; usually about 60 pumpkins and these have become really expensive nowadays. 

ìI mean we all went through a time when we couldnít find any pumpkins and so thatís where farmers who have pumpkins at the time raised their prices; which is okay, because thatís how the market industry works.

ìYou see, the cost of living is too expensive and you canít blame people for complaining about it because we all need help when it comes down to it.

ìThatís why despite the fact that I can earn my own living, Iím truly happy and thankful at the same time that I have my children overseas to help us out.

ìBut the government should help Samoa because not all families are the same and if we donít have anything to depend on, what life are we going to have in the future?î

By Aruna Lolani 15 August 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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