Located on the southwest coast of Upolu, the village of Savaia Lefaga has forked out more than $50,000 for its beautification project for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Savaia is the home of the giant clams’ sanctuary and is situated on a scenic bay surrounded by white sands and turquoise sea.

Their host country is St Vincent and the Grenadines, a group of islands in the Caribbean.

In preparations for CHOGM, the village council of Savaia constructed cement poles painted in the colours of the St Vincent and Grenadines flag with newly installed solar lights.

The project not only brought the villagers to work together for a bigger purpose but it has also brightened up the roads in the rural village.

“I have witnessed our village community working together to maintain and improve the beauty of our village by installing solar lights which is a sight to behold at night,” said a senior matai of Savaia, Leapai Vaeloto.

“This is something every village in Samoa should be prepared to do especially as we are hosting members of other countries for the upcoming CHOGM.

“Our villagers have put in extra effort to clean, trim and plant. We should all work together to make our country beautiful like our village of Savaia.”

According to Leapai, the village has been busy in the past few weeks from maintaining the sides of the roads to cleaning the beach, and individual families have kept their homes beautiful.

He estimated the brick poles cost $40,000 to $50,000. This does not include the solar lights bought from New Zealand.

The village of Savaia has tourists visiting regularly. One of the biggest groups of tourists recently hosted came on the first cruise ship that docked out on Savaia Bay.

“I take my hat off to the aumaga and taulelea of our village because they have committed and sacrificed a lot of their time to work on the brick poles for the road lights that are standing tall and beautiful all around the village,” said Leapai.

Is Savaia ready to host the upcoming CHOGM? “Most definitely, we are not only ready with all the preparations we’ve done around the village but we are ready mentally, physically and spiritually to welcome anyone and everyone who will arrive and decide to visit Savaia Lefaga,” he added.

“If you ever come to visit then I promise you will not be disappointed. “