As Samoa fights challenges brought about by the pandemic, residents of Apolima Island have been thriving in isolation relying on their harvests from the vegetable farms, fish from the sea and pig farms and this was evident during a big function on Tuesday.

There are currently 11 families living on the island and over the years have maintained their traditional way of living. They have lived within their means and protected themselves from foreign elements including infectious diseases.

When they hosted officials from the mainland for an event on Tuesday, they catered for the party with what they had on the island.

The Ambassador of Japan Senta Keisuke and guests for the event were served with pork, chicken or moa Samoa (captured on island), taro, vegetables and fish.

During breakfast prior to that, they were served with fa'ausi ( traditional Samoan dessert consisting of a creamy caramel concoction that is prepared with coconut milk ) and vaisalo (a Samoan Coconut Porri ).

In an interview with this newspaper, mayor of the village, Leala Afe Solo spoke fondly of the village's isolation, away from the busy life on the mainland and thanked God as well as his villagers for the village's dependence on their own products to make ends meet.

"If you saw the food we served at the event yesterday (Tuesday), it was all food we could get from the island like pigs, fish, taro, vegetables, moa Samoa, vaisalo and faausi," he said.

"It's how the village has survived over the years and even during the pandemic, we never really worried about what to eat because we don't really need money on the island unless it's bigger things like faalavelave but for daily needs, we have it all on island for free.

"It's always been the way the islanders have lived from yesteryears and we're very fortunate and grateful to our ancestors to have instilled this in the village that we're come to learn to depend on ourselves on hard days."

During the pandemic, all members of the island’s 11 families kept away from Upolu and Savai’i for fear of bringing the virus to the island.

Just like how the residents adapted to protect their community during the measles outbreak and the pandemic, they are now being monitored when travelling to the mainland for other diseases.

Apolima only has one church on the island – the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS).

Apolima does not have a hospital and the travel restrictions imposed on the island’s residents tries to make up for that. But serious cases needing medical attention are taken to the hospital in Upolu, according to the Leala.