For a resident in Apia, it was probably the worst time to lose his wallet, with a looming COVID-19 lockdown and shops packed with panicking last minute shoppers.

Local environmentalist and Samoa Conservation Society (S.C.S.) President James Atherton, in a post on his Facebook page on Saturday, said he got home late Friday evening and realised he forgot to stock up on dog food, with the Alert Level 3 lockdown to kick in Friday midnight.

With only a few hours left he rushed off to the shops, already filled with panicking shoppers, to get dog food. He drove past a couple and managed to find parking at the fourth one, which he went into and bought mackerel.

“I rushed home but then discovered I didn't have my wallet and couldn't find it anywhere... I suspected I might have left it or dropped it at the shop so Charmina Titilua Theresa Saili  and I went back to the shop which was now even more busy than before,” Mr Atherton wrote.

“We asked the shop owner if anyone had handed in a wallet (in front of a line of around 30 people – now that's embarrassing... 

“However, the shop owner was not really interested in helping so I went back to my car while Charmina discussed/negotiated viewing their security camera footage.”

Mr Atherton said in his Facebook post that he went back and sat in his car, trying to retrace his steps to figure out where he had dropped his wallet, until he got a phone call.

“I got a phone call from a taxi driver who said that he had found my wallet in the car park and wanted to return it to me...he did not ask for a reward...luckily I had a business card in it.

“So 10 minutes later I had my wallet back with nothing taken from it, despite it having a fair amount of cash in it.”

When contacted by the Samoa Observer, the local environmentalist said he wanted to acknowledge the taxi driver, 51-year-old Tauese Isaako of the TJ Taxi Stand of Siusega for the random act of kindness. 

Mr Atherton emphasised that it is stories like these that are worth sharing in these challenging times, as there was a fair amount of cash in his wallet and none of it was taken.

Despite the taxi driver’s refusal to accept a cash reward, the S.C.S. President said he got him to accept it as his act of sincerity and commitment to a better world just made his day, which Mr Atherton indicated was coincidentally his birthday.