Young father sees value in education

By Talimalie Uta 17 August 2017, 12:00AM

Young kids who have the opportunity to get a good education should make the most of it.

When that chance passes by, it will be hard to get it back.

The thought is shared by a father of one, Junior Faalupega, of Lotofaga, who believes a better education could have gotten him far in life.

Now he is a farmer and he admits that it’s a tough life. 

 “If you don’t sweat from doing your work you don’t get anything,” he said.

Junior is devoted to taking care of his small family. He has an eight-month-old daughter and he also looks after his parents.

Not having a regular paying job, he said he prefers working at the plantation because it gets him money and feeds his family.

 “You know, life is moving in a very fast pace and so as the cost of living that’s getting very expensive,” he said.

 “The plantation is our only hope … we have taro, cabbages, cucumbers and tomatoes. We sell these things and use it for our food as well.”

The 24-year-old has dreams for his child. He wants her to grow up and succeed. Part of that success includes a good education, something he did not have.

Away from his family, Junior also expressed sadness about the state of their water.

 “The only problem we are stuck with is water,” he said. “We have water but when it rains, the water becomes very dirty.”

 “This has been a problem for a long time now.”

“It’s not the government’s fault because our village has our own concrete water tank but it would be nice if they could help us with it.”

He said they could help by providing a technology to clean the water. “You know, we have children and our health is our priority,” he said.

In the meantime, the young father is grateful for the rain

“At least we get to have some free water.”

Looking ahead, Junior does not see life becoming any easier.

“The cost of living is only going to increase,” he said.

“The good thing is we don’t have to sit around and wait for things to happen. We can do the best we can and make the most of what we have in life.”

By Talimalie Uta 17 August 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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