Man talks about reversing trend

By Vatapuia Maiava and Ilia L Likou 23 September 2016, 12:00AM

With urban villages becoming crowded, the idea of migrating to rural areas is becoming more and more attractive to the town folks.

For Lautalia Maepu, 58, from the village of Vaitele-uta, life in the rural villages has caught his attention.

“There’s a big difference between life in the rural areas and life here in the town areas,” he told the Village Voice.

“The rural villages have access to a lot of land which they can farm. The land available to us here is only enough for a house and a few banana trees which we grow on the side.

“On top of that we need money to survive here and with no job, you won’t be able to afford anything. On the other hand, with farming lands you will be able to grow food to eat and food to sell for money.”

Lautalia continued to express just how tough the standard of living has become for Samoa.

“The current cost of living in Samoa has become a bit tough nowadays,” he said.

But what could be the solutions to such problems?

“I feel that if the cost of living was dropped a bit then the money we have to spend will also drop,” Lautalia explained.

“There are many people without jobs and making money for them is difficult. It would be nice if the government helped in that regard.”

Another issue faced by urban villages is the lack of discipline and order.

“Other than the issues with money, there are other problems with urban living,” Lautalie said.

“On the weekends you will see a lot of people walking along the road making noise when they’re drunk. That’s the difference with rural village because out there, they have strong village councils to keep things in order.

“That’s what the government should look at, they need to try and enforce village leaders here in the urban areas so that they too can keep order.

“When people are drunk it is very hard to get some sleep because they just walk around swearing and making noise.

“It would be nice to have stronger urban village rules and hierarchy system.”

By Vatapuia Maiava and Ilia L Likou 23 September 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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