Importance of women in the village

By Vatapuia Maiava and Ilia L. Likou 20 October 2016, 12:00AM

Fa’afetai Pita, from the village of Tufulele believes the role women in a Village Council is very important.

Other than to keep order, the women of Tufulele work hard to leave a good impression on the children who are the future of the village.

Aged 51, Fa’afetai explained that there are different types of women’s committees in the village which deal with specific areas.

“Mothers have specific roles in the village as a whole,” she told the Village Voice.

“We are in charge of women’s committees that deal with certain activities. There are different women committees in the village.

“There is a committee who works in collaboration with the police, one who works on helping the elders of the village and many more.”

The help provided by the women’s committee caters to a range of tasks, from keeping order, to maintaining culture; the women do it all.

“The good thing about having these committees is that it helps everyone in their own special way,” Fa’afetai said.

“The committee for weaving helps maintain that part of the culture where we weave fine mats. We also try our best to make sure everything that has to do with food is going alright.

“We also try our best to keep order with everything else in the village; the peace, the joy in everyday activities, and we also try to keep our village pristine.

“What’s most important though is maintaining our culture in weaving. That’s why you can find us ladies sitting here and weaving most of the days.”

With a large number of members in the committees, everyone works together for the betterment of everyone.

“There are over 100 women involved in the committees,” Fa’afetai said.

“We all work together to benefit the village in as many ways as possible. The one dream we have as the women head of the village is to leave a great impression on the village.

“We work really hard to do good for our people here. We want our children and the young ones to grow up into a great village.

“We don’t want the future of the young people to be bad so our goal is to do as much as we can for them now.”

The committee doesn’t just help the village as a whole, but even down to individual families, they do their part to help.

“The role of our committee in individual families is also very important,” Fa’afetai said.

“An example of that is when we prepare for family gatherings; we will always have some fine mats ready to be used. We try and help each of our members to help make their duty within their families easier.

“We also try and help with individual needs. If someone has something they need and can’t get it then they can always request the assistance of the committee in charge of the specific area of need.

“That’s our part we play here.”

But as we enter the season of Christmas, the women are preparing for a very festive holiday.

“As Christmas gets closer we are just preparing our members to have a stress free holiday,” Fa’afetai said.

“We will have celebrations and have so much fun. We are preparing for all of the above; parties, presents, fun and so much more for our committee members.”

By Vatapuia Maiava and Ilia L. Likou 20 October 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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