Samoa’s state of denial

Dear Editor,

I see Ms. Cullity’s point about the ready availability of farm products, crops, fruits, etc., which is also what the PM and other rich government officials keep referring to as proof that there’s no poverty in Samoa. 

Well, that will have been great and dandy, if the people were still living in the pre-contact years (before the palagis); they would have been able to cope and survive without any problems. 

That’s when they lived off of the land and sea/ocean exclusively. They drank mostly from the river/stream/pool or coconuts. At night they make their own lights. Back then, money was not needed .... YET!

Fast forward to today, and people now desperately need money to make ends meet. Money to pay for the water they drink, for some of the food they eat, for power/electricity for light and appliances, for cell phone bill, for petrol, for school fees, for the si’i to the maliu, the saoga tupe a le nu’u, etc. etc. 

OH, lest we forget, and for the church, the alofa, the faamati, the taulaga to build multi-million dollar buildings, and of course to fund the lavish lifestyles of the so-called ‘au’auna a le Atua. 

How do the poor (ninety nine percent) get the money to do all these - sans remittances? Well they try to sell what little produce they can harvest from their subsistence - not commercial - farms/plots. 

Or they peddle their wares just to make enough for the bus fares. 

These represent the everyday struggles of the people. These constitute the suffering spoken of by Ms.Cullity. The rich doesn’t see that, either they cannot identify with the suffering or just turning a blind eye. 

Or they’re all from the same state of Denial, Samoa. 

 

LV Letalu 

Lalomanu and Utah



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