He will do anything to help his family.

And for Manuele Petelo that means he is a security officer and when he is at home, he is a farmer.

The 55-year-old man from Tuana’imato works for the Samoa National Provident Fund as a security officer.

 “I’m the head of my family,” he said. 

“I’m not just going to sit around and do nothing, I have to work hard so that I can provide for my family in every way I can.”

And he has a pretty positive attitude to go with it.

“To me, whatever you do in life, or whereever you go, if you set your mind straight and be honest with what you do, you can do anything,” he said.

 “The main thing nowadays is to make sure we have food on the table.”

Manuele says money talks and that is always the issue. 

“You know those days we could afford the cost of living but now it is very hard to keep up because everything is expensive,” he said. 

“Without money, life is extremely hard. 

 “What I earn from work is not enough and that’s why I make use of my time planting some taro to earn some money too. 

“So we always have to have money.”

 “Doing two jobs is very hard but I can’t give up. 

He said his children are the reason why he works hard. 

“I love to work hard knowing that it benefits my children. I also want them to learn from me about being independent.” 

He also told the Village Voice that this world is nothing unless you work hard. 

“We commit to our work, focus on what matters by making our children our priority. 

“To be honest, we all need help sometimes but and I love doing what I do because there is always a saying that what goes around comes around.

 “Despite how tired I am after work I always try to work at our plantation because the fact is that working at a minimum wage is not enough to do everything and the fa’alavelave we have.” 

  Manuele advised to be honest in all that we do.

“Work hard and do things that you will make you proud at the end. 

“We are Samoans; and with all the things we need to deal with, we can barely breathe.

 “We should all help one another and share the work.” 

“With all the things happening in Samoa nowadays, the main thing we need to do is to work extra hard.”