Mothers are the protectors of families

By Deidre Fanene 28 January 2017, 12:00AM

What does the word mother mean? 

We often hear people describing mothers as “o pae ma le auli” of families. Some say a family without a mother is not a family.

In life no matter how old we get there will always be a time where we will all run to our mothers because she knows exactly what to say to make us feel better.

For Sara Nisi from the villages of Leauva’a and Faleula, the word “protector” best defines the role.

Sara is a shopkeeper at one of the shops at the Vaitele market. She is a mother of four.

 “We are the protectors of our family especially our children,” she told the Village Voice.

“We are also the faufautua (advisor) to our husbands.

“We can be anything because when I was young I saw how my mother worked so hard to make sure we’d have the best lives.

“She will be the man at one point and a cleaner at another point she was also my teacher, my pastor, my ‘shop’ because she will buy everything for us.

“So growing up and seeing my mother doing all that made me want to be like her.”

Asked about what she thinks of how other women are being bullied by families and also their husbands Mrs. Nisi said it’s wrong.

“Nowadays we are living in the twenty first century and life is moving forward,” she said.

“People ought to understand that being a mother means big responsibilities.

“Even if we stay home we are still working but there is a difference we don’t get paid like our husbands do.

“As mothers we make sure the house is clean, we make sure there’s food on the table for the children to eat.

“When our husbands and children are sound asleep at night we are still up making sure they have their stuff ready for the next day.

“We are the last person to sleep at night and yet the first person to wake up in the morning why, because we don’t want anything to go wrong within the house.

“So for people to treat mothers wrongfully is not right because even though we don’t get paid and we still work and a home without us is not a home at all.”

She went on to say that in the beginning of creation God saw that Adam was lonely and that’s why He made Eve to be with Adam.

“God made Eve to keep Adam company and be fruitful on earth but not as Adam’s slave,” she said.

“Nowadays men think women are slaves once we are married to them,we have to do whatever they say but that’s wrong.

“Some men carry around that mentality that the bible says they are the heads of the family and their interpretation of this is that they have sole authority.

“But they don’t have that power to treat us poorly, we must stand up to them and tell them that what they are doing is wrong because if we don’t they will think they are right.

“It’s not right to mistreat women because God made us as helpers, protectors and guardians of our family.”

By Deidre Fanene 28 January 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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