A jolly good time for all

By Mata'afa Keni Lesa 12 December 2018, 12:00AM

Who wants the rain? Who wants flooding? Or a natural disaster? 

No one in Samoa does, especially at this time of the year. It’s a happy time, one where people are generally on a positive buzz for one reason or another. 

And rightly so.

Two weeks into December 2018, that feeling of the festive season is definitely here. The fact is everyone loves this time of the year. All you have to do is flip through the pages of the newspaper on a daily basis to find out why.

For students, it spells the end of another academic year. No more schools, no more homework, exams are finished and they can get away with staying up as late as they want. 

For the parents, apart from the joy of not having to worry about more school fees, they will be relieved of school drop offs and pick ups, lunches, fares and everything that school entails.

Teachers too love this time of the year. They will have a few weeks of holiday to rest their minds as they prepare for the next academic year.

What we need to remember in days like this is that every student represents a journey. 

Think of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and the entire family unit behind them. Think of the prayers from pastors, church members and the tapuaiga from the villages. 

They say that it takes an entire village to raise a child. This could not truer in times like today. One child will have many supporters from parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, church friends and some times entire villages. 

In this newspaper, it is always a joy to provide coverage of these events every year. That’s why you would have noticed that during the past weeks, your newspaper has been featuring many photos and stories of duxes, prize givings from University graduates to pre-school students. This is what makes up the community we live in; it is what makes us as a people tick.

At this time of the year, this is also a time where your newspaper is often asked by parents and relatives about the cost to have their sons and daughters photos published. The simple answer is we do not charge - unless parents insist on putting out an advertisement, which they are welcome to do. 

The problem is that we’ve only got so many reporters and they cannot be everywhere at the same time. 

And let’s not forget that prize givings are not the only “newsworthy” events happening in Samoa today. There are many other important occasions to cover happening at the same time.

What with family reunions, weddings and so forth, we cannot be there at all times.

The good news is that with the advent of technology, where digital cameras and the internet are widely available, if we are not able to get to your school, you are more than welcome to send in your photos, captions and details about your prize giving. 

And when you do, please be patient if it’s not published right away. As you can appreciate, there is quite a backlog, especially with multiple prizegivings happening on the same day. The same applies for weddings, family reunions, birthdays, matai title bestowals, and end of year functions. 

One last thing, try and send us high-resolution images. Don’t expect us to work a miracle in publishing your photo if it’s a bad picture to start with. 

So enjoy the season, take care and God bless!

By Mata'afa Keni Lesa 12 December 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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