Women’s committee on a roll

By Vatapuia Maiava 22 November 2016, 12:00AM

Alofa Kimi, the President of the Solosolo women’s committee, says the role of women in any village setting is very important.

Keeping the village and homes clean, caring for the environment and taking care of their families, there is nothing the women’s committee of Solosolo can’t do.

As the festive season draws nearer, the pressure is on for the committee to keep the village clean but they still do so with a smile on their faces. 

“Our committee is tasked with keeping our village clean so this is what we do every now and then,” Alofa told the Village Voice.

“The women gather and clean up along the road. Christmas and New Years is almost upon us so we need to make necessary preparations in keeping our village clean.

“We weed the gardens, plant small plants and sweep up the area.”

Alofa says that the committee works hard to do different projects every month.

“The role of our women’s committee is very important in our village,” she said.

“Every month we have projects which benefit the village. As you can see with today, we do work like this that not only keeps our village clean, but we also try our best to help our environment.

“Our environment is very important so we focus a lot of what we do around it. The added benefit is a beautiful village at the end.”

Alofa also explained that their work is not limited to just the village as a whole but also to individual families.

“We also help individual families in a way,” he said.

“We women are taught to keep our houses clean, we make our cooking houses presentable and we keep our land looking good.

“Everything is always clean and we try and get our women active as much as possible so they don’t get lazy around their homes.

“It may seem small but it is very important for all of us living in Solosolo.”

According to Alofa, one of the benefits of having programmes for women in the village is that it keeps some mothers from being lazy.

“Some mothers were very lazy in the past and that’s a fact,” she said.

“They would just make the food and then they go and lay down. That’s not the case anymore because the women’s committee really enforces being clean and active.

“The mothers of our village are no longer weak and messy and that’s thanks to all the work that we do.”

Asked for any issues faced by their committee, Alofa says the only problem is being put off when the workload piles up.

“The only problem we face is that when there is so much for us to do then it puts us off working,” she said.

“I think that is the same with every other type of committee in Samoa. We are piled with work after work and then we just don’t want to do anymore.

“But when we see it through then there is a lot of good that comes out of it. That’s what motivates us women in our village.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 22 November 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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