The Government of Japan has donated over half a million tala to a school and a non-government organisation to assist them with their development projects. 

A total of SAT$721,000 from the Embassy of Japan's Grassroots Human Security Projects has been awarded to the Samusu Primary School and the Animal Protection Society.

Japanese Ambassador to Samoa, Senta Keisuke handed over the funding in a joint signing ceremony with representatives from the APS and Samusu Primary School at the Embassy of Japan.

Samusu Primary School received a grant of SAT$520,000 which will help the school to construct a school building with eight classrooms and one staffroom. The APS received SAT$201,000 for the procurement of a vehicle for their outreach services, which includes stray dog population control.

School principal, Ulima Fofola said the assistance will greatly assist the school in completing their project especially in maintaining a healthy academic environment for the students.

"The school building has gotten weary, the foundation or surface had been greatly affected since the previous years due to numerous earthquakes and other extreme weather events and natural disasters that it's been through so it's time for a new school building," said Ms. Fofola.

"The safety of the children is key so basically that's mainly why we initiated the idea and sought for assistances like these."

This is the first time the Samusu Primary school will undertake a major capital works project since its establishment in 1992.

A total of 189 students enrolled at the school since at the beginning of the year and according to the school principal, the roll has increased despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the facility challenges.

For the APS their proposed vehicle will have a new veterinary mobile clinic and ambulance, aiming at expanding their outreach services in the communities to control the population of stray dogs.

APS Treasurer, Joan Macfarlane said the Grassroot Human Security Program is a lifesaver for APS as they've been trying for years to replace their old vehicle for such outreach programs.

"We've had a vehicle, it's one of our critical needs, an important asset but the one we have is from 2009 donated by the International Federation for Animal Welfare, and we've been trying to replace it now for quite a few years but it was quite difficult to find someone to help buy a car as most of the cars were not on the list for most programs," she said.

"We have a lot of vehicle accidents, vehicles hitting dogs and these animals are often brought into the clinic and we do whatever we can to put them together again and quite often it might involve an amputation of a leg."

Ms. Macfarlane said the greatest benefit of the proposed vehicle is the way it will be set up. She said it would have all sorts of equipment and cages to put dogs in for their safe transportation.

The vehicle will also make it possible for APS to extend their services around both islands especially in far and rural areas such as Lalomanu and mainly for Savaii. The chairperson believes people in these areas find it very difficult for people to bring their pets to the clinic.

Mr Keisuke congratulated both recipients and wished them well on developing their projects.