Charlie sees opportunities amidst the challenges

By Ulimasao Fata 27 December 2017, 12:00AM

There are always opportunities in every challenge. 

For Charlie Ah-Fook from the village of Nofoali’i, the opportunity to develop his family in the midst of unemployment lies in working the land.

The father of three says he and his wife do not have regular jobs, but they own a plantation, which is their main source of income. 

“We used to work before and we didn’t earn that much money, so we decided to stay home and work the land that we are living on,” he told the Village Voice team yesterday. 

“When we had children, we pushed ourselves to work hard on our land and tried to support our family from here.”

 “We have a market just down the main road to the Faleolo Airport where we sell everything from our plantation in.”

“We sell Samoan cocoa, fresh coconuts and brown coconuts with pineapples and other vegetables.”

“We usually get good money from what we are doing; especially my wife is the one who sells it there while I’m the one delivering the produce to the market.”

Mr. Ah-Fook also expressed dismay that they do not have access to water.

“That’s the problem here, we still don’t have running water, but water connection reaches our area.”

“The problem is that I have requested a pipe for our house, but the people responsible for the water said I have to pay $1,300 for our arrears, but that was when we just moved here.”

“So up to now, I am still working to look for $1300 from what I am selling so that I can pay and then access water.”

Mr. Ah-Fook is thankful for his plantation. 

“I am so grateful that our plantation is helping us in terms of finance for our family especially this time when money is everything.”

“I am also excited for what we have already despite the water issue, we are still happy that even though we don’t have jobs, we are able to put food on the table for our kids.”

By Ulimasao Fata 27 December 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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