Culture makes Samoa unique

By Deidre Tautua-Fanene 07 July 2017, 12:00AM

“The best way to express any country’s culture is through their food and art and Samoa has that.”

This is the belief of Bernie Besebes from Palau.

Ms. Besebes is in the country for the World Symposium in Climate Change that is being held this week at the Hotel Tanoa Tusitala.

This is her first time in Samoa.

She said yesterday that she hadn’t had time to tour around Apia however she is very much amazed at how such a small island has so much pride in their culture.

“I got to experience how Samoa welcomes people in a traditional way and I am very much amazed,” she said.

“The traditional dance and the culture made me realize that the people of Samoa have so much pride in their culture.

“I am so impressed. 

“I see that the culture is still practiced and just now I was telling my boss that the boys and the girls who performed today they were dancing with so much pride and that is beautiful.”

She went on to say comparing the cultures between the two countries of Palau and Samoa; Samoa has it all.

“There are some differences with the culture even though I’m from one of the Pacific islands especially dancing performances in public,” she said.

“Nowadays it’s down to let’s just say only performances at the hotels or exhibition events unlike when I was a child. We still had to go to the men’s reading house to learn the dance from the elders of the village and that does not happen nowadays anymore.

“But to see how well the dancers this morning performed and how well coordinated they are, I’m pretty sure they are practicing now and then.

“And with that I am very much impressed and I can see that your culture continues.

“One of the best ways to express any country’s culture is first through the food and the art and this morning what better way to see the Samoan art than through the dancers.”

As for the food, Ms. Besebes fell in love with palusami and oka.

“I participated in the dinner here last night and the local food I had was the taro, roast chicken and roast pork and the oka that was beautiful but especially the palusami,” she said.

“It felt like home and I am enjoying every moment here in your beautiful country.

“I’m only here till Saturday but I will definitely come back here for a holiday now that I have been here. Maybe I will bring my family to experience how each Pacific island is unique.

“Samoa; it’s the culture that makes you unique.”

By Deidre Tautua-Fanene 07 July 2017, 12:00AM

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