The danger posed by a dark road

By Vatapuia Maiava 21 September 2016, 12:00AM

The crime figures of today in Samoa are alarming. And with so many threats facing our children today, living in a village without working street lights makes those threats far more serious.

According to Malaesilia Natia from the village of Vaie’e, their village has been having trouble with the street lights for a few years now.

Aged 69 and currently residing in New Zealand, Malaesilia says that this has been an ongoing problem and every time he visits he sees the danger the children go through at night time.

“My family is doing well right now but the only issue we have is with the street lights,” he explained to the Village Voice.

“There are streetlights that are not working right now. The streetlights in front of our house and along the road has dead light bulb and it has been this way for a while.”

“We are very concerned about the safety of the children because it is very dark at night time. It’s been like this for three years now and no one has come down to fix it.”

“It’s very dangerous for our children because they love to wander around at night time.”

Other than the issue with the street lights, Malaesilia is very fond of the village life.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express how great life is out here in the village and how there are not many issues within all families,” he said.

“It’s no wonder why many tourists want to come from overseas to enjoy our beautiful Samoa. Samoa is simply beautiful.”

“There have been many changes since I last came here, almost every family has a western style house which shows how well they are doing. It looks very nice to me.”

Malaesilia also noticed so many developments over the years as he visited Samoa.

“I see so many changes everywhere as well as familiar sights,” he said.

“Back then we never had power in this area; we also didn’t have any water pipes in the houses. Samoa’s standard has been raised a lot over the years which is really good for us.”

“That’s one of the biggest changes we have noticed and that is what everyone who resides overseas notices when they come back after a long time.”

“Samoa has developed a lot. It’s a very good sight for us and it makes us really want to come back to  Samoa. Even the education has improved a lot in the village areas.”

He also says that the cost of living is understandable because business needs to make profit to move forward.

“The cost of goods fluctuates,” he said.

“I think the cost of living is pretty decent right now because even the businesses needs to move forward which means they need to make profit.

“If we drop the prices then they will suffer.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 21 September 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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