My friend, Georgette

May 6, 2011

Samoan’s keep asking “Ua iai se uo?” which means literally means, “Do you have a friend (now)?” When a young man says this to a young girl, this means “How about me (now)? Let’s hop to it!” When said to an older white man, it means, “Do you have a Samoan (woman) living with you (now)”. If I reply no, they want to know, “Why not? What’s wrong with Samoan women or worse yet, you?”

Well, I do have a female Samoan living with me. Her name is Georgette. She comes out every evening at dusk and eats the bugs off the floor, walls, and ceiling. What more can a man ask of a uo?

Samoan Fishing Contest

May 2, 2011
Samoa has an annual week-long national fishing contest. This Mahi-mahi is one of the first fish to be weighed.

John Kleive Departs Samoa

April 29, 2011

John, a former teacher, sailor, French welding supply company employee, motorcyclist, storyteller, and Samoan Peace Corps Volunteer from Ely, Minnesota is packing his bags for good.

John came to Samoa in October, 2007 as a welding instructor at Don Bosco, a Catholic school for boys in Apia. John’s experience and background far exceeded the resources of the school, so John did what comes quite naturally to him, got a welding distributor friend of his from Las Vegas to donate thousands of dollars’ worth of welding equipment.

Even before his permanent assignment at Don Bosco, a member of his host family in his training village named a baby after John’s deceased daughter. John promptly set up a fund for her later education.

John’s love of the Samoan lifestyle, his association with the Brothers at Don Bosco, the contribution he was making to the welding program, and the relative luxuries of his house, all went into his decision to extend a third year with Peace Corps.

John was not yet done. The Administration at Don Bosco said he could continue to stay and teach outside of Peace Corps from October to May with full benefits, even though the Samoan school year is from February to November. This was almost too good to be true. Now John could live on his boat at Superior, Wisconsin, during the Minnesota summer, and spend winters in Samoa.. He took them up on their offer and pictured the rest of his life spending life as all those who toil dream, even now with a car. Alas, personalities at Don Bosco changed and with that the failure of them to offer John another year teaching and his apartment.

Now John is packed to leave Samoa, maybe for the last time this Monday, May 2nd. There is one last meal at Samoa’s Yacht Club where John has a table reserved for him every Friday night of meeting friends. No longer are the many world-wide contacts he spends hours talking to over Syke going to get his calls from Samoa.

For me, John’s leaving for Las Vegas in May to pick up his stored Harley Davidson motorcycle the hit the road visiting friends and children along the way, including Mary, is expected. The emptiness I feel is not that I may not see John again, for we are planning a trip to The Gambia in Africa this September, but knowing that for him his Samoan adventure is completed. What awaits now is maybe a new motorcycle and I am sure more new stories to tell.

He leaves with a new Samoan wristband tattoo and a smiley face tatoo on his ass. I know Samoa and Don Bosco will miss him.

One of John's favorite activities, sitting at his bedroom desk talking over Skype to friends around the world.

John and I enjoying our Last Supper at the Yatch Club overlooking Apia Harbor.

Samoan Diabetes Association

April 27, 2011

During my past stay in Samoa, I worked closely with the Samoan Diabetes Association. They were very supportive of my screening efforts. Since that time, there was a big expose on the misuse of the association funds, probably owing more to poor controls than corruption, which resulted in a whole new team of personalities.

The Samoan custom for arranging a meeting is usually by writing a long letter of explanation accompanied by a humble request for the person you want to meet to write back their reply. This is not my style, but seemingly Samoans forgive my “ignorance” when I barge into a place unannounced. This is true if I have something for which they are interested and feel they can contribute their ideas to the discussion. So too with the Diabetes Association who appear to want to mesh their program with the Challenge.

Diet, exercise, and the role of obesity are common themes in diabetes circles, especially the evils of imported foods and the benefits of “God’s Natural Foods”. As each biblical reference emerges from my mouth, an “Amen” emerges from hers. We agree on “The body is the temple for the spirit”, she being Pentecostal.

She talks about how churches and ministers are who Samoan’s follow and who set the example for others. I agree unconditionally. She says her husband a pastor and am I interested in getting the Challenge into a hundred churches. She has my attention. He husband then walks in, she introduces me. He has to weigh at least 320 pounds.

A Good Meeting

April 27, 2011

We have all been through them, good and bad meetings. Today is a good one.

My main goal is to get my main contact at Women in Business Development, Tina, to think what I am proposing is possible. She is a sharp and capable lady whose job it is to make things actually happen. Her favorite word is “realistic” Indeed she is the one for asking those questions about how realistic is this gigantic, and maybe unprecedented plunge, into influencing a country’s lifestyle.

This woman, Tina, is a doer, not a dreamer, so dreamers have to be able to tell what can be done, and doers need to be able to grasp the dream. Today Tina has a little star dust in her hair and me the green light to proceed as planned, just keep her informed. A good meeting, indeed.

Water, Water Everywhere

April 23, 2011

One of the problems in Samoa is not the lack of fresh water, but its distribution and pricing. It is estimated that 1/3 of the fresh water is lost to leakage. Water pipes are above ground and are often broken. This leads to not only to a loss of water, but to the accumulation of little chucks of “stuff” and dirt which also come out of the faucet.

In some villages, the Village Council has elected to join the Samoan Water Authority to maintain its water supply and quality. For this, the water is metered and villagers are charged for their water usage. In other villages, I suspect the one I live in now, have their own water source and provide it to villagers free of charge. This leads to geysers sprouting everywhere, but only a dribble at the tap.

Women in Business Development

April 21, 2011

I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer who works under an NGO called, Women in Business Development (WIBD), in the organic vegetable division. In fact all Peace Corps Volunteers work as part of some host governmental or NGO. What is unusual about my position as Coordinator for Samoan Challenge III is the seeming disconnect between what I doing and the organization for which I work. But in actuality, it is not.

The first Samoa Challenge, 2009, was initiated by WIBD and was a “Biggest Loser” type of contest, with eight contestants, including Samoa’s Prime Minister and the Peace Corps, Language Training Manager, Faleseu Pita (“Seu”). The contest was entertaining, but lacked sustainability.

Samoa Challenge II, 2010, was a joint venture with Peace Corps joining WIBD to develop a more wider program aimed at obese women in rural villages, administered primarily by Peace Corps Volunteers who are firstly, teachers of English in primary schools. The program involved about 10 Peace Corps and about 100 participants with mixed results. However, disappointing Peace Corps Volunteers felt about Challenge II, the Ministry of Health and WIBD both rated it a success to be continued. With funding for Samoa Challenge II also included funds from the U.S. and Fiji for Challenge III in 2011. Hence, yours truly was invited back to Samoa.

The WIBD was started 20 years ago by five Samoan women who wanted to find ways for rural women to earn money for their families. Their first main success was providing a market for women to sell “fine mats”. Weaving them was becoming a lost skill with no market for their purchase.

WIBD are now involved in many ventures including the export of sweet bananas (Misiluki) and organic virgin palm oil for cosmetics (80,000 pounds just shipped to the Body Shop in the U.K.). One of their best efforts is getting Samoan farmers to grow certified organic fruits and vegetables, both for domestic use ad export. Their biggest problem is not the lack of demand, but getting farmers interested in growing organic corps and then teaching them business practices. This effort requires almost daily visits to the farmers involved. Part of what I am doing is to help them promote their organic farming program. For additional information, visit their website at www.womeninbusiness.ws