A mother’s fear with drunks

By Ilia L Likou 19 October 2017, 12:00AM

Being drunk and disorderly is not only is a disgrace to one’s self but also the community and family.

Living in an environment full of alcoholics can affect a person’s or even a child’s growth and development, especially when they’re exposed to the same kind of environment almost every day.

And for Lufi Samu, 41, from Nu’u and Asau Savai’i, this is a major concern she has been experiencing for some time.

Lufi and her family moved from Savai’i to Nu’u in 2013.

“A really big problem we face here are the drunkards on the road,” the single mother said while on her way to buy bread for her family yesterday morning.

She said there were always drunkards on the road during weekends which had been a real annoyance.

“Every weekend we have to deal with a lot of noise on the road from people drunk off their face.”

“What’s really sad is we also have children and they have to hear them swearing and this is almost every week.”

She added that was the reality of urban life.

“In the rural villages, like my village at Asau Savai’i, we have a village council that keeps order but over here, everyone is their own boss,” Lufi said.

“They can do whatever they want or if they want to scream at the top of their voice then they will, knowing that no one can touch them.”

“We call the police most of the time, but seems like they don’t really care or they’re too busy roaming around.”

She called on the government to send more police patrols to keep peace in their area during weekends.

Aside from the problems mentioned, life as a mother in general is alright with Lufi.

“Other than that, we have been doing very well since we moved here and knowing my role as a mother in my family is very important,” Lufi said.

“Because we all know that we’re the ones who take care of the family when everyone is gone to work.”

“The cleanliness of the house, the laundry every day to make sure that no one puts on clean clothes and cooking, I mean almost everything.”

“We are known as faufautua i aiga, and that’s exactly what we’re made to be in this world.”

“Fathers can do whatever they want but a woman with courage is always there to look after the family.” 

“Even if we don’t have much money, we still try our very best to get through life,” she added.

By Ilia L Likou 19 October 2017, 12:00AM

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