A single and hard working elder

By Seia Soloi 18 February 2017, 12:00AM

Reupena Petelo is a caring man.

He cares for his family and he cares for others.

The 64-year-old works at Alafua Transport as a carpenter but lives with his family at Tuana’imato.

Like most people, life is a struggle especially with limited finances.

Reupena works very hard for his family but somehow it is never enough.

Four members of his family work and provide for the family too.

“I love working. I have no wife and kids to give my money to but what I do now is work and provide for my nieces and nephews,” he told the Village Voice.

“Life is simple for me, we have a plantation but we don’t sell it. We’re using it for food and our family fa’alavelave, as you can see I just got back from the plantation getting some taro for Sunday.”

Reupena understands that some people don’t depend too much on the plantation as they have money.

But not him.

In terms of money for Reupena and his family, he says most of their money goes towards family fa’alavelave, church and village obligations and food.

“You can’t say no to that stuff,” he said. “We are Samoans and we have to do what we have to do.” 

Asked if he has any concerns, he said the government should show some love for our people.

“Life is too expensive and people need help,” he said.

By Seia Soloi 18 February 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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