Jobless? Be proactive and turn to fishing or farming

By Ulimasao Fata 19 January 2018, 12:00AM

Life is hard enough as it is. But when you don’t have a job, things become even tougher.

For Lopa Apelu, 32 years of age from Utuali’i, he is grateful he can turn to the sea to earn a living for his family.

Mr. Apelu, a fisherman, believes that for the people who are unemployed, they have to think outside the box in order to survive.

“I believe that you can also make money from around your house just like how people who are working make money from their work,” he said.

“For people like me who don’t work, we really need to be proactive and think hard about where to get food or money to support our families.

“I believe every family has a plantation and everyone has the right to go fishing around their village for food.

“So if we don’t have jobs to support our family, let’s be active in working our lands and go fishing to help support our parents and families.”

Mr. Apelu was fishing off Malua when the Village Voice team met up with him yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Apelu said for Samoa itself, not all food is found at the supermarket.

“I know life is very hard and expensive here in Samoa today but we don’t have to be stuck there sitting and doing nothing about it,” he said.

“Our country is blessed with good soil to plant crops on as well as the sea with plenty of fish in it for us.

“We don’t just have to depend on the food imported from overseas or the ones at the supermarkets because we still have food right next to our houses.”

Mr. Apelu also shared that life is hard without a job.

“Life in Samoa is really hard, you have to support your family, church as well as the village, including obligations in your family.

“Everything is really hard and that is why having no regular job is really hard and that makes things even worse.

“But it is good to get up and work no matter what the circumstances are in order to fight against life’s struggles.”

Mr. Apelu said the problem today with fishing is that he is unable to   catch as much as he used to before.

“There is a problem with the catch nowadays; we don’t catch that much fish nowadays as what it was back in the days.

“I am not sure of what’s causing the problem if it’s the weather or if there are people overfishing in our seas.”

By Ulimasao Fata 19 January 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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