Picking up life skills away from the classroom

By Vatapuia Maiava 14 December 2017, 12:00AM

With many students now on school holiday, they have a lot more free time to spend.

Some will find themselves relaxing at home, others socializing in town, but not Dickelium Scout Malaki from the village of Fasito’o-uta.

The 17-year-old explained during an interview with the Village Voice team yesterday that rather than waste time loitering about, he finds joy in being as productive as possible for the sake of his family.

Spotted along the coast of his village casting his trusty fishing net, the young man explains that helping out around the house is what he usually does when school goes on break.

“This is what my father and I always do when we have time,” Mr. Malaki said.

“Now that I am on holiday from school, I have more time to spend with him doing chores and catching what we can with our fishing net.”

Being the fourth child of six siblings, Mr. Malaki reveals his gratitude towards his parents for all their effort in putting him through school.

He says that helping out where he’s needed is the least he can do for his family.

“I just graduated Year 13 from Samoa College last Friday and now all that’s left is to wait for the results,” he said.

“Even though we have two people currently employed in our family to help take care of everything, I am grateful to my mother because my schooling is possible through her hard work in the plantation.

“My mother sells crops in order to pay for my education and all I can do in return is to make her proud through my school work.

“My family not only works the land for crops, but we also make the most of the resources in the ocean.”

Asked about the general standard of living for his family, Mr. Malaki explains that everything is is all right at home.

“My family is actually doing pretty well,” he began.

“Whenever I have free time, I try and spend as much of it as possible helping around the house and doing activities like this. 

“I also try and do my part in looking for ways to make a little bit of money to help my parents out a little. As I’ve mentioned before, this is one of my duties.

“I go along the coast with my net and catch what I can. There’s nothing hard about it and I enjoy what I do. I don’t really sell what I catch; most of what I catch is used for meals at home.

And now with his college studies finally completed, Mr. Malaki can now look forward to pursuing his dream of becoming a lawyer through law studies at the National University of Samoa (N.U.S.).

“Right now my only goal is to take up law and become a lawyer,” he said.

“I am looking forward to attending N.U.S. this coming year and that will get me one step closer to my dream.

“The reason I want to become a lawyer is because my father had a similar job.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 14 December 2017, 12:00AM

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