Samoa Loses December 30th

Samoan Date Line, December 29,2011

Samoan Date Line, December 31,2011

Samoa is skipping December 30th in order to gain one day and one hour. What was to be today suddenly becomes tomorrow, as far as the United States and American Samoa are concerned. This is a result of redrawing of the International Date Line to go to the east of Samoa, in between it and American Samoa 60 miles away.

It was always a tradition for Peace Corps Volunteers to gather at the western most tip of Samoa at the Village of Falealupo on the island of Savaii to be the last to celebrate the New Year and to look across the waters to see tomorrow. Now they will have to go to the Eastern most point of Samoa, which I take to be either Namua Island or the Village of Muliatele to be the first to celebrate the New Year. One thing is for sure, they will celebrate, only a day sooner.

If all this seems confusing, welcome to the customs of Samoa, a very convoluted place.

Turkey Tails

December 7, 2011
Ever wonder what happens to those parts of slaughtered animals go, even those orts considered unfit for pet food? You may be interested in the tale of tails.

The Samoan government in an attempt to curb obesity banned the sale of imported turkey tails while at the same time applying for entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In order to have Samoa reopen its market for U.S. turkey tails, the U.S. government held back its approval of Samoa's WTO application. Samoa submitted to U.S. pressure and turkey tails can once again be legally sold in Samoa.

You may argue that Samoans have a choice in the food they can eat, let alone afford. For the average Samoan, your choice of meats in the store usually is canned mackerel, SPAM, canned corned beef, chicken hindquarters, trotters (pigs feet), pigs tails and ears, mutton flaps, or lamb necks. All imported and dumped by "health conscience countries". Yummy!

Below are two articles for those who may have some interest as to what happens in the world under the term "globalization".

http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37229:stopping-turkey-tails&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/6062457/Samoa-rewarded-for-turkey-tail-turnaround

Nick and the Kava Stick

August 30, 2011
To most people it looks like a stick of wood.

To Departments of Agriculture it may contain destructive insects in its which must be properly wrapped and certified pest-free before leaving Samoa.

To Customs Officials it is a drug (Piper methysicum, intoxicating pepper).

To missionaries it leads to sin and degradation.

To airline baggage handlers it is a pain in the butt.

To Samoans it is an important symbol of the Ava God, as the Peace Pipe is to American Indians.

To me it is one of the most important gifts I received in Samoa.

To the Chinese it is money worth trying to steal.

I really don't know the history behind this kava stick I was given by the village high chief during a Ava ceremony welcoming me to the Village of Tufulele before a health training session I was part of with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture. I do know being offered the first cup of ava at the Ava ceremony means you are the honored person, or I have never seen one of the three sticks ever given to anyone else, or the fact that some of the ceremony was done in English for my benefit rather than in the highly formal spoken at village councils that even most Samoans do not understand. This is a very important piece of cellulose containing some great alkaloids.

So at the Honolulu airport baggage claim after customs, I set the kava stick against the wall along side of my luggage. A few moments later I see my stick moving off into the distance being carried by a well-dressed middle-aged Chinese woman. I run after the thief as she hurries away, grabbing the stick out of her hand. "What the hell?", I say to her. Since she probably does not speak English and I am too dumbfounded to say more, I just stand there in a dazed state as she disappears into the crowd.

Only a few billion people in the world understand the importance and significance of kava/ava, South Pacific islanders, China, and some Peace Corps. As for my kava stick, it needs to find a prominent spot in my Minneapolis house where it may hang until someone throws it into the fireplace on a cold winter's night and unexpectedly feels a sense of euphoria known to others for centuries.

Goodbye to Nick and Mary

August 22, 2011

The Nick and Mary I am talking about are the two children named after us. It is I who is saying the goodbye.

Sister Losa, nun and Kapeli's sister; Easter, Kapeli's daughter with her children, Malia and Nicholas at their new house in Moamoa, Apia.

Visit with Kapeli Family

August 21, 2011

It is hard to describe the inclusiveness of a Samoan family. A Samoan family is like a magnet pulling others into its arms and embracing them whether you want to be or not. Once within this field you are one of them forever. To visit is a misnomer because it is more of a reuniting. Such is my stay on my last weekend in Samoa after having to text them of having to return to Apia for missing wristbands and cutting my stay from two to one night.

There is no such thing as one family picture for the family is an ever changing kaleidoscope of those within its grasp.

Falani, son. with cousin, Tui, preparing Number 2 size pig for the umu, Samoan pit oven.

Manuli, daughter; Lucia, daughter; me; Saloti, wife; Kapeli, husband wearing St. Patrick's Day shamrocks on head which I brought and everyone wore; and little Lawrence, the baby Mary used to hold.
Tali, daughter; big Lawrence; Fa'apisa Sr., Lawrence's wife and sister of Kapeli, Fa'aputa, son; Manuli, daughter. Front row: little Lawrence with assorted cousins.
Lawrence Sr and wife, Fa'apisa, used to live in Hawaii and now are building a house at this site on the Kapeli family plantation. Lawrence Sr., never happier.

Back row: Salafai, son of Ime and Tupe; Manuli, Tali, and Taitaia, daughters. Middle row: Tui, son of Ime and Tupe; Fa'apisa, youngest child and daughter; Fa'apiano, daughter of Ime and Tupe. Front: Saloti, Kapeli's wife; Kapeli; Fa'apisa, Kapeli's sister; Ime, Kapeli's sister; Tupe, Ime's husband.

The family had prepared a concert for me in their open Samoan house. Since it was Sunday evening, they had to sing softly.

How many Samoans can you fit into a bus?

August 13, 2011

Guessing the number of Samoans you can fit into a bus is more difficult than guessing the jelly beans in a jar. Here is the calculus.

The average adult Samoan weighs 210 pounds, not including baggage. The bus has a listed capacity of 33 persons. Everyone by law must be seated. Children or an adult sitting on a lap is permissible.

Common sense prevails in a tightly packed bus which needs to travel a couple of hours; nothing can move or fall to be injured. The law then begins to break down, as no one is ever denied a ride. The police are there to help squeeze one more person on board.

“Survivor” Food

July 27, 2011

I was just delivered 500 bottles of honey. My honey supplier, Lester, told me how busy he was supplying honey to the “Survivor”. It was the food they seem to be surviving on.

The “Survivor” program is filming two more seasons of the program in Samoa. This is their second two season session. Can it be Lester’s honey?

Beauty of Samoa

July 21, 2011

Sometimes one can get so wrapped up with the little things in life you forget just where you are. Samoa is called the “Jewel of the Pacific”. This is a beautiful place. This is a view from my overnight cabin. The view combined with the cool trade winds makes missing the heat wave in the upper Midwest seem a little more bearable.

South Sea lagoons can be among the most breathtaking vistas on earth, but they also can be very dangerous. This is a view of a lagoon showing the “cut” in the barrier reef. As the tide rises and falls, the water in the lagoon rushes through this opening. During high tide, the incoming water fills the lagoon. During low tide the flow is out to sea and anyone caught in its current goes out to the big stuff which waits on the deep side of the reef. One Chinese tourist tested his swimming skills at this cut, only to never been seen again.

Return to Iva

July 16,2011

What has happened to Mary and my host family over the past two years? I was able to spend a few hours with them on my most recent trip to Iva on the island of Savaii. In many ways they typify what family means in Samoa.

Our old little fale, house, is now occupied by the head of the family’s younger sister who has returned to permanently stay with her American husband after living in Hawaii for a number of years. She is the woman who wanted to adopt the young boy and grandnephew of the boy she is holding, Lawrence, named after her husband.

The daughter in the front row is pregnant expecting in November and is back living with the family after being a journalism student and reporter for the Samoan newspaper. I don’t know any details.

The other three girls are still in school. Although there are plans that the two oldest will go to New Zealand to continue their schooling and probably gain a dual citizenship.

Others not pictured are an older son studying for the priesthood who fathered a child with the woman in the next house; another son who has returned to a Catholic high school in hopes he eventually completes his education; a daughter and mother of Lawrence who lives in Apia with husband, her son, Nicholas, and daughter, Mary, and her younger brother; the eldest son who is living in Fiji and soon to become the village priest; and another older son, who has a son of his own with another woman, but is married to a Tongan.

As I sat in an open house with my host father and mother, I was amazed at the pride the man had for his expanding family and the acceptance of the woman. It really didn’t matter how the family grew or what the children’s futures may be, for they were an aiga, family. Somehow they would all look after one another under the grace of God.

Bats for Dinner

July 7, 2011

I have never eaten bat before, but I understand they are deelicious. The bats in Samoa are called "Flying Foxes" and they eat fruit. Watching them as they fly at dusk is like seeing a squadron of bombers.

Here is one Peace Corps Volunteer, Elisa Law, who taped her "Eating Bat Brains Experience"

Return to Faofao Beach Resort

June 28, 2011

Someone once said that life is filled with years of ennui and a few moments of sheer terror. It was the terror that changes your life. For Samoa, the most recent terror was the tsunami of September, 2009. I stayed at a rebuilt resort at the center of the tsunami and once thriving resort area located in the Alipata area.

Of course, the resort was just a shadow of itself, but what struck me were a few beautifully carved wooden artifacts made by her son which I remember when our Peace Corps group stayed there in 2007. The owner said how she had found them buried up on the side of the mountain behind the resort.

I guess she was amazed at my memory, but I was more amazed by the tremendous effort and determination to rebuild her life when the others had permanently fled the area to higher ground.

Yes, the carvings were a reminder of the terror she had experienced, yet they serve as an inspiration to continue a new and changed life.

Beach fale at Faofao, a very nice way to spend the night, fanned by the trade winds to the roar of the surf crashing on the barrier reef.

Frustration Island

June 27, 2011
There is a reason why the program "Survivor" has filmed so many episodes here. Surviving is not easy. I don't mean the climate, food, or pestilence, but arranging to get anything done.

The people where I work want me to write down a weekly schedule. This is just a meaningless exercise in giving the appearance of organization, since this is a minute-to-minute place. Nothing is fixed in time except eating and praying.

The odds are better at a Las Vegas craps table than of honoring a confirmed appointment. Just today a friend told me that the person I had a confirmed appointment just last Friday is off to another island for a three day conference. There is a reason why this country has the reputation among consultants as the worst place to get anything done. It just goes on and on like this.

All this wouldn't be bad if it was only between Samoans. It is when you come from a place where a confirmed appointment means confirmed, or a cancellation is confirmed that drives you crazy.

As you can see, this is not a good day for me.

Glimpse into Samoan Life

June 25, 2011
The bus is one of the best ways to get a glimpse into Samoan life.

There are no bus stops. The bus stops in front of where a person stands. It is not unusual for people to be only a few yards away from each other. The bus stops for each. Same applies to getting off the bus. You give your signal of either rapping on the glass with a coin or some have a buzzer cord. Again, people get off exactly in front of their house, so it stops only a few more yards down the road for the next passenger.

There is no running to the bus. It waits for you as you slowly walk to it. If you are behind the bus, the bus backs up.

There is no such thing as a full bus. There is always room for one more. Older people and women with children occupy the front seats while young boys and young men the rear seats. School children usually sit on the laps of their friends or if really full on the any spare lap.

Bus drivers are careful not to start up until everyone is seated in a seat or on someone. Since the seats are often wooden, it helps reduce injuries. Generally they are a nice group, captains of their vehicle and proud of their bus. Interior decorations and music reflect individual tastes.

Jamaican Dinner at Nella’s

June 17, 2011

It is hard to believe there is a Jamaican who lives in Apia, let alone a Jamaican restaurant. It is even harder to believe that there is a Jamaican restaurant serving healthy food. But there is and he prepared a Jamaican meal for those of us who knew where Jamaica is.

In Jamaican fashion, the meal starts at five o’clock, but food is not served until about eight o’clock. By that time the guests are ready to eat anything presented to them. The wait is worth it, for the dinner consisted of jerk chicken (with or without skin), fish I could not get enough, rice and beans, a peppery salad. For desert, there is fried ice cream. I continued to eat more fish.

Jeremy, our host, Samoa's lone Jamaican

Divas of Samoa

June 16, 2011

Across the street from my office in Apia “The Divas of Samoa” perform every Thursday night. The audience is almost entirely tourists (note young girl in front row) and the performers Samoan. In fact one of the performers I knew from when he/she made a move on the youngest Peace Corps in our training group.

Let the show begin
Tara
An Tahitian import
Rosa
Josie or Tosie, a person from our training village in 2007

Children's show?

Tan Lines

June 17, 2011

I just hate tan lines.

Waterless Compost Toilets

June 10, 2011

I have mentioned before the biggest obstacle in doing any kind of aid work is trying to grasp of the culture, be it the poor, Blacks, Iraqis, or Samoans, in which you find yourself and determining what the needs really are. The chances of being misread and doing the exact opposite of what you want to do are great, even among those experienced in such matters. One example is waterless toilets.

Several areas of Samoa are in the rain shadow of the mountains and suffer from acute water shortages, especially now during the “dry season” when the trade winds blow from the southeast. Mountain water sources dry up and water tanks empty.

The biggest user of water in residences is the modern flush toilet. When a grant became available to install waterless toilets in these villages, the dried waste of which could also be used as fertilizer, it seemed like a win-win situation. Village meetings were held and the proposal accepted to build a test toilet next to a public meeting house.

Now the toilet is branded as a hand of the devil. I guess there is a biblical reference although no one really knows what it is, against spreading human waste upon the land. The toilet sits in its new building, a pristine example of both sides not understanding the other, or maybe those accepting the grant did not consult with the “Men of God”. After all you should never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Visiting our old Host Family

June 9, 2011

Saloti with baby Lawrence

Kapeli Family who were at home during my surprise visit.

Our namesakes, Nicholas and Mary with father, Visi, and mother, Easter.

Snake in tree

With a little extra time on Savaii, I made a surprise visit to Mary’s and my host family, the Kapeli’s. Much had changed, and hadn’t.

Living in our little house now, after some difficult times in the Hawaiian construction business, was American Lawrence and his wife, Fa’apesa the older, who is Kapeli’s sister. They were building a Samoan-style house up in the taro plantation and loving, at least he, their new life.

Fa’apesa. the older, was the woman who had previously been promised the baby Lawrence, which is the first child of Kapeli’s oldest daughter, Easter. Little Lawrence has ended up being raised by his grandmother, Saloti, who has claimed it as her own. His baby teeth were already rotten from being spoiled with sweet drinks. Kapeli’s youngest daughters, Manuli and Fa’apesa, had matured even more and where about to be shipped off to New Zealand this Christmas to continue their education, get their citizenship, and probably work there while sending money back home. The middle daughter, Taia, seems to be pregnant, expecting in November. I had not confirmed that bit of information.

During my one-hour visit, I kept getting text messages from Easter, who lives in Apia and wanted to see me. I did visit the next day, “loaning money” to feed her babies’, Nicholas and Mary. After my last visit to them, they did take baby Mary to the hospital where she received anti-biotics for her typhoid.

The big excitement was a small Boa Constrictor snake that was in a bunch of bananas. Usually these poor creatures imported from abroad to eat rats are quickly hacked into hundreds of pieces. I picked it up and gently but it in a tree where it later moved into the thatch roof and devour the rodents living there.

I got a ride back to the ferry from the President of the Women’s Committee, also known to some readers of this blog as “The Tyrant”. I couldn’t help notice as we passed her sister fabric store, the several treadle Singer sewing machines, seemingly for sale. The shop never sold sewing machines before. Could they be some of the sewing machines worked so hard to get for the village women? No…they couldn’t be.

If all this seems confusing to you, welcome to Samoa.

Visiting a Copra Farm

June 8, 2011

My driver from the Women in Business Development (WIBD) organization made several stops as we circled the island of Savaii. He visited farmers for the WIBD while I delivered Samoa Challenge materials to the Peace Corps Volunteers.

I sat in on one of his stops. This farmer, who has been the showcase for the WIBD’s project to sell Number 1 Certified Organic Extra Virgin Coconut oil to the Body Shop in England to make soaps and lotion, illustrated the problems he and others face.

To produce several pails of oil, he must first get his land certified as an organic farm. This meant leaving his coconut groves chemical free for a few years. He then had to get machines to ream out the coconut pulp, a large evaporating vat to render the oil from the pulp, then a press to squeeze out the oil. The process takes eight men one week, plus the expenses of food and fuel. For this he got about $2,000 (USD). He actually lost quite a bit of money on the oil produced.

However, he can make four times as much with eight men in two days gathering and heating the same amount of coconuts to make copra, the oil of which is also used to make soap and other products. Although this man wants to work with WIBD and believes in their work, economics dictated otherwise.

WIBD promised him the receipt to make his own soap from the coconut oil, but they have yet to give it to him. Of course, this would reduce the amount of oil exported, but greatly benefit the farmer and local village. It might also put into question the entire coconut oil program currently funded by foreign doners.

He also baked bread which he sells commercially. I told him I also bake bread, but suggested he make fruit jam which he can easily do and sell it along with his bread. What a great idea! I promised to return to show him how to make fruit jam and critique his bread.

The conundrums are great between donor agencies, NGOs, and the people they are designed to benefit. There is always some report that needs to be written about the successes of a particular program and another trip to some conference. Like NGOs anywhere in the world, including the U.S., the first people at the trough are the NGO directors and employees.

Meeting with a coconut farmer

Grinding out coconut meat as part of oil production process

Mr & Mrs Ben Harding

June 4, 2011

Ben Harding from my Peace Corps Group 78 married Umuafu, a Samoan from his village of Neiafu on Savaii last year. In September he took his bride back to Virginia to introduce her to his family. In December they moved to San Diego and on to Hilo, Hawaii where Ben’s sister lives. In Hawaii they worked on an “organic” farm for room and board along with other odd jobs as they worked their way back to Neiafu, now their home, last month.

Umuafu’s English is greatly improved. She says Ben’s family is very nice and friendly towards her. She likes America, especially video arcades where she can drive race cars. The stores, the mall, the supermarket also rank near the top. She is happy to be back with her family.

Now Ben and Umuafu need to find a way to make a living her in Samoa as they live with her parents. She is getting a job in Apia working for a car dealer while Ben experiments with different agricultural ideas.