Villages on the south coast of Upolu are going out of their way to clear roadsides and display brightly colored bunting and Samoa flags as part of independence celebrations.

The Ulutogia, Mutiatele and Vailoa villages have already started to raise flag posts on the side of the road and rubbish shelving. 

The Aleipata Itupa I Luga District Executive Officer, Nuutofi Tuese Setu told the Samoa Observer that some of the villages have begun to put up decorations as part of their beautification program. 

"Vailoa is already decoratively poised with flags and rubbish shelves in order," said Nuutofi.

She said the Lalomanu women's committee will meet on Saturday to plan for their flags and rubbish to be collected. 

"We have a Women's committee meeting tomorrow, with an inspection of families to decide on what needs to be done for the beautification process for independence," she said.

Steve Leifi of Lalomanu village told this newspaper that the villages are usually clean, as many people on the south coast are obligated to clean their backyards, as stipulated by village councils. 

"Most villages are cleaned up anyway, but for the exception of Samoan flags or coconuts on sticks as we now see in the villages," he said. 

"But I must say that driving to Apia today and back allowed me to witness how clean and prepped up all the villages are.

"I also noticed that most of the flags used are Samoan, so I imagine people will not throw those away.”

According to Mr. Leifi, the south coast of Upolu is also a tourism operational area, as they have a lot of sites that are tourist attractions.

"We have a lot of attractions for tourism on this side so of course the villages are proud. 

“But lately, I know, some of the beach accommodations are not fully ready as most of them are still being renovated.

"However, it is good to keep the ball rolling for the families and the villages.”

As for Afaraima, who is a Ti'avea resident, he is just excited at the prospects for their tour guide business with the borders reopening.

"We want to continue taking tours, that is a very viable business, but it has been limited due to the borders closing. 

“Now that the borders are open, we hope to work with the tourism accommodations again to get the best of the tours out to visitors.” 

According to Afaraima their village has taken the task of beautification “very seriously”, with each family tasking a family member with cleaning responsibilities.  

"Each family has to have a member or members responsible for cleaning the surrounding areas, and the front yard of our homes," he said.

"As I am not married and staying at home but running a taxi, I opted to be the one responsible for cleaning up and making sure my family's yard is cleaned up, we do it every month.”

Afraima also said every family has been working hard to ensure that they do their bit to clean up for the independence celebrations.