Week Five
Wednesday 5th July
Talofa
My walk didn’t quite happen this morning as we had more doggy dramas. I had thought that I would go in the opposite direction this morning and head downhill but when I went to leave the property Snowy went berserk. She escaped out the gate and wouldn’t go back inside. She led me to Wally, who lay badly injured on the road verge, near the boundary fence.
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| Wally - injured |
Who knows how long he had been lying there. Judging by the state of him, his eyes and the wound (bad gravel rash) on his left back paw, which had flies crawling all over it, some time. I also suspected a broken hind leg as he could not get up. He was happy to see me as he lifted his head and wagged his tail.
I immediately rang Celine, who was driving her son Gabriel to work at the British American Tobacco (BAT) factory, out at Vaigaga. It’s quite surprising how many people in Samoa smoke, vaping doesn’t seem to have caught on here!
Celine rang Sila, so Snowy and I stood vigil until he and Michael arrived, about half an hour later. When Michael went to pick Wally up he yelped in pain but it was a relief to get him back inside the property. When Celine returned he was bundled into the car and taken to the vet.
I was too agitated to consider going for a walk so I cranked the music up and danced to burn off my nervous energy while I waited to hear what the vet had to say. I wondered whether they may opt to put Wally down. But thankfully I was told that he was going to live to see another day.
Wally has in fact broken both his hind legs and they will operate on him tomorrow and monitor him over the weekend. On his return they will provide a crate to which he will be confined for at least two-three weeks while he recovers.
I had arranged to meet Rebecca from next door at 11am. She rang to advise she would be ten minutes late. Her dog, Moka (who I discovered is a Japanese breed called Shiba Inu) has got an upset tummy and she needed to clean up a runny doggy do.
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| Moka |
Rebecca was worried about leaving the dog and was expecting a delivery, so asked to return by 1pm. No problem. We took the Ractis and went for a whirlwind drive around town. She hasn’t had much chance to explore yet. I pointed out various cafes, restaurants, clothing stores, supermarkets and veggie markets before heading out to King's fish shop then to the French bakery, where she bought both of us a Pain au Chocolat.
From there we headed back up the hill and stopped at the Teuane Samoa Coffee Shop for a quick bite to eat. Rebecca had a tuna sandwich and a latte while I had an egg sandwich (a bit average) and a hot chocolate, which was really good. They also have a dress shop but we didn’t get a chance to pop in and look. We were so busy chatting time just flew and it was 1:30pm before we reali.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076304045053
On my return to the apartment there was an email from Angela Royle, our family friend (ex-manager of Tusitala Hotel), who shared the following anecdote about an extraordinary experience she had, whilst working there.
The Tusitala Hotel used to be the venue that hosted the Miss Samoa pageant. This particular year Angela was invited to be one of the judges, alongside a celebrity guest judge; who was none other than Priscilla Presley. Angela well remembers Priscilla but doubts whether the same could be said of Priscilla!
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| Tusitala Hotel |
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| Priscilla Presley - 1979 |
My brother David even remembers seeing her. We must have been at the hotel when mum told us that Priscilla was staying there, but we kids had no idea who she was. David was like WOW when she floated through the reception and restaurant area wearing nothing but a lavalava and an ankle bracelet with a hisbiscus flower tucked behind her ear.
Angela recalls with hilarity, that when the newly crowned Miss Western Samoa was interviewed and asked about going to London to compete in the Miss World competition. The beauty contestant responded, that no it wasn’t London, she was going to England.
When I googled to find out what year this was, which incidentally was the year that Danira Leilani Schwalgar won, in 1979; I saw a familiar name on the list of past winners. I had completely forgotten that Liliu (Lily) Tapuai had won the Miss Samoa beauty contest the following year, in 1980.
I had wanted to find her and sister Roina, who were the daughters of Fa’atauva’a (President of the Methodist Church) and his wife Laga.
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| Fa'atauva'a & Laga |
Donna Kamu had also given me a heads up that Roina was married to the General Secretary of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS or EFKS). My research lead to the Reverend Vavatau Taufao and I was able to ascertain that Roina Vavatau was the Vice President of SUNGO (Samoa Umbrella for Non Governmental Organisation’s).
I also sent her a message along with a photo of our family as a prompt. I received a response later that evening. She recollects my dad having long hair and driving the tractor at the Land Development Scheme plus our family attending the Avoca church in our Sunday whites.
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| In our Sunday whites, with Koroseta |
There is a possibility that Liliu will be coming to Samoa this forthcoming weekend, if so, it will be an opportune time for us all to meet. Can’t wait.
I may need a haircut so I got the contact details for Janet Lapalapa. Married to a Samoan, Janet is an Australian/Italian from Coober Pedy originally, the opal mining town in South Australia. She sells cool jewellery at the SWAG markets but predominantly works from home as a hairdresser. Her clientele includes among others, the esteemed PM Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.
Thursday 6th July
Did yoga. Lucky I went live with my blog last night because as of this morning, the data on my phone had expired. Sela informed me, as I headed out, that she would clean the apartment tomorrow instead, in readiness for Pablo’s return this Saturday.
My first stop was to pick up the laundry. This time I got to meet the owners of Kentos Laundromat, Ken and Tosca Netzler. On previous visits I had dealt with their daughters. My ears pricked up at the name Netzler, I went to SamCo with an Eliza Netzler and upon asking, I found out that they were indeed related.
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| Ken & Tosca's Laundromat |
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| Eliza Netzler & Pauline Sanders |
It really is great to reconnect. Unfortunately Eliza was unable to shed any light on the whereabouts of Pauline Sanders, another schoolmate but she was able to tell me that Christina Keil has her own law firm in Auckland and that Loveni Enari (and wife) run an English speaking school in Spain.
Tosca however proved to be a wealth of information and filled me in on some of my school/class mates current occupations. The likes of Corey Keil who is CEO and a presenter on Radio Polynesia 98.1fm, while Pita Memea (Peter Petaia), practices law in Auckland.
Plus Le Memea Dr Limbo Fiu is a GP with a special interest in cardiology and is the current President of the GP’s association of Samoa. Dr Satupaitea Viali is also a Specialist Physician and Cardiologist who has recently rejoined the Oceania University of Medicine as the Interim Dean of Samoa & Asia Pacific and Professor of Medicine.
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| Satupaitea Viali |
It should not surprise me that many of SamCo’s alumni have become very successful in life and this is only the tip of the ice berg. Samoa College was and still is ranked the best Government school in the country, meaning only the top, cream of the crop students in the country get to attend.
Next stop was Vodafone, to sort out my first world problem and regain connectivity to the world. I switched from the $79 tala Malo package to the $29 tala Fiafia bundle before heading to Cafe Nourish for lunch.
https://www.facebook.com/NourishCafeSamoa/
This is probably one of the coolest cafe’s in town and very popular with the expats and tourists. Selina Tusitala Marsh was dining there but I let her eat lunch in peace. Vanya also informed me that the Balinese outdoor furniture at Cafe Nourish came from her and Yeti’s cafe when they closed.
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| Nourish Cafe |
There were a lot of choices on the menu and I couldn’t decide. Then the dish I wanted wasn’t available, so in the end I ordered a chicken burrito with a lemon/lime slushy, then read while I waited. The tortilla was a bit dry but the filling was tasty. I think they forgot to give me the sour cream and salsa on the side.
Afterwards I stopped at Siva Afi to check out their screen printing shop. They had some cool T-shirts but they were pricey, $50-$75 tala. I continued on with my exploration and stopped at the bustling Sula Supermarket. I had heard they made the best German/Coconut buns in town so I picked up two.
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| Siva Afi T-Shirts |
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| Samoa College - Now |
The paint work reflects the school colours and matches the uniform. Sentimental being that I am, like Margaret McGregor, I still possess my Samoa College uniform and school bag!
All the classes were named after the four main islands that make up Western Samoa; Upolu (U), Savai’i (S), Manono (M) and Apolima (A). The houses are Stevenson, Calliope, Vaea and Williams. I was in Stevenson, our house colour was green and we were number one!!!
The school offices had moved to a different place. I well remember Mrs Pulotu, the Senior Mistress and Librarian who used to reign supreme. I can tell you she was one tough old cookie. I couldn’t seem to find the tuck shop which used to sell pineapple pies, coconut buns and delicious burritos.
When I saw the ablution blocks I shuddered with one horrific memory…
After each class, the teachers would award a point (between +2 and -2), that reflected the overall behaviour of the students for that lesson. At the end of each week the points would be tallied and announced at assembly. The class with the lowest score for that week would be given hard labour detention.
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| Form 3U |
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| Form 4U |
I was in Form 3U (then 4U) and for that first year, our class must have been quite a naughty one, as we often had to stay behind for the weekly detention. The punishment for the majority of the class was to weed the banana plantation on the school grounds.
NB. A word of advice, you don’t want to get banana sap on your clothes as you will never be able to remove the stain.
Or if you were really unlucky like me, because my first name was near to the beginning of the alphabet; I sometimes got to clean the girls ablution blocks. I remember the very first time that I had to. Susana Faasau, the head girl accompanied myself and a couple of my female classmates, to instruct us on what to do.
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| Samoa College - Girls ablution block |
There, lying on the floor of one of the cubicles, was a hideous blob, a bloody mass. Susana blanched and immediately went running for Mrs Levy, the duty teacher. She thought that some girl must have delivered a still-born baby in the loos! However she was mistaken. On closer inspection it was revealed to be a gigantic sodden sanitary pad. Yuk.
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| Mr Suluvale's Science lab |
The science lab saw me transported back in time to Mr Suluvale, our science teacher and his methods of class discipline. His favourite implement was a Salu (Samoan broom), made with coconut fronds. He would give students a hard whack on their back if they misbehaved. One particular day he made all us girls line up outside and as we entered the classroom, one by one, he hit each of us on the mouth with the hard end, to stop us chatter-boxing, he said.
I spoke with a few of the teachers who were lingering on the school grounds. They informed me that the school athletics had happened that day and that tomorrow would be the last day of term. Back in the day I used to be in the Samoa College athletics team. We used to have grueling training sessions run by Mrs Levy and Mr Kolhasse, in the lead up to comps.
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| Samoa College Athletics Team 1979 |
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| Girls Athletics Team 1980 |
Down the road from the school is the Magiagi Cemetery and this is where my life-long aversion to weeding started. Once a term, as a fundraiser for the College, all the students had to weed the cemetery which was literally a jungle back then; with all manner of creepy crawlies. Today, it is unrecognisable as all the trees have been cleared. My understanding is that the roots were disturbing the graves.
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| Magiagi Cemetery - Vaivase |
I returned to Vaoala Heights and popped up to see Rebecca. She had mentioned yesterday that she liked coconut buns so I bought one for her, which we proceeded to eat for afternoon tea. Moka appears to be a little better today.
Poor Wally didn’t get to have his surgery today as the veterinarian fell and broke their arm. Hopefully it wil happen tomorrow.
Friday 7th July
This morning was spent doing yoga and working on notes for my editor William Cronin, who has sent through his reworked version of ‘The Kaitoke Ghost’ (Working Title). I’m very impressed with the changes he has made so far and it is shaping up to be a great little short film.
It was lunch-time before I knew it and as Sela wanted to clean I made myself scarce and headed to Cafe 1962, upstairs from Lynn’s Supermarket. It was nice to sit in some air-conditioned comfort as it’s bloody boiling out there today. They had a $25 tala lunch special, a seafood curry which was terrific.
https://www.facebook.com/cafesamoa1962/
After I ate I sat on their comfy sofa reading for a good hour before taking a drive out to Plantation House in Alafua. This is owned by Marita Wendt, (Tanya, Cam and Lani’s mother) who is NZ Maori. Sadly her husband, Tuaopepe Dr Felix Wendt recently passed away.
https://www.facebook.com/PlantationHouseSamoa/
Plantation House is a beautiful place set under a shady banyan tree. It was full of exquisite things: aprons, cushions, fabrics, purses, earrings, cards, soap, coffee, you name it. Prior to Covid they had a Day Spa and served high tea. I will definitely return with my guests to do a spot of shopping before I head home.
I had a lovely chat with Marita, who is pretty sprite and sharp, belying her 82 years of age and Mele; her right hand woman, was sweet too. They also supplied me with a phone number for Cam, another one on my hit list of people to catch up with.
There are many schools in Samoa and it is pleasing to see that many are still here from my day. The likes of Avele, St Joseph’s, St Mary's and Pesega, the College for the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (aka Mormons).
I had trouble finding Apia Primary as the new Samoa Cultural & Arts Centre is smack bang in the middle of it, jammed in with Leifiifi Intermediate which is now a College.
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| Samoa Art & Cultural Centre |
When we first arrived in Samoa, us three kids were unable to attend school until the beginning of the following year. It must have driven my mother nuts having us underfoot each day for three months.
I'm not sure if this was the case with David and Erana but because we were with a Church organisation and not a Government one, my entry into Samoa College was not automatic. There was also a wee hiccup because the new headmaster at Springdale Primary had not supplied our school reports.
Back in 1978, all Form Two students (equivalent to Year Seven in NZ), were required to sit a National exam; that was held towards the end of the school year in November. I joined the students from a little Methodist primary school called John Wesley. We had to walk to a bigger school in a neighbouring village, on the other side of Faleula to sit the tests; which were English, Maths, Social Studies and Science. Your exam results dictated the allocation of the college you would attend.
I must have done okay as the headmaster of John Wesley was jubilant when the results came through. I was their first ever student to be accepted into Samoa College. They wanted to reward me at their prize-giving but I did not think that fair considering I had only gone there for a total of 3-4 days.
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| First day of school |
I remember being overwhelmed and crying on my first day at SamCo. Shock at having to return to school in the first place plus I found it scary going to this big college where everything was completely foreign, especially after the familiarity of my small country primary school. But I quickly found my feet.
I debated going for a swim in the lagoon but Vanya was going out for dinner and wouldn’t be there so I opted to head up the hill instead. I spoke to Celine on my return, she had been to visit Wally, who unbelievably still had not gone under the knife. He perked up on seeing her but he must be finding the confinement hard, being such an active puppy. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
But poor Celine, as if two dogs to the vets this week wasn’t enough, she was involved in a car accident and got rear-ended. Thankfully she is okay but her car is a write off.
Saturday 8th July
Did yoga and was ready by 10am sharp as I was heading down to the SWAG markets with the neighbours. Vanya and Janet were both there. Vanya is now making Kombucha to sell at her stall. She was offering tastings of her BerrieBucha and KofeBucha. The blueberry one was divine so I paid $24 tala for a 750ml bottle. Her first sale!
Rebecca & Gareth bought some Koko Moni and were given an atolaunui (woven coconut frond bag) for their purchase, to discourage and reduce single plastic bag usage.
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| SWAG Markets with Rebecca & Gareth |
We took a walk around the cultural centre. Unfortunately no photos allowed of the traditional Tatau (tattoo) plus you need to wear a lavalava to enter. But I had to laugh at the sign outside the Suluape Tatau (House of Pain).
The traffic was still abysmal as we made our way to the veggie market then the fish shop. This time I bought two pottles of their spicy oka, that will be a meal for Pablo and I tomorrow.
The French Bakery had completely sold out of pastries. There was a rather large island man in the store cuddling a cute little tea-cup dog. I went to pat it. Man talk about vicious. It growled and snapped, caught my finger but thankfully didn’t draw blood. Won’t be doing that again in a hurry. So much for being a dog whisperer!
Back in town we made a quick stop at Farmer Joe’s for some lettuce then we visited Rivaiv Cafe for some refreshments. I ordered an iced Koko Samoa. There is something about the local cacao, I like the gritty flavour.
I hadn’t heard a peep from Roina so figured that meeting up this afternoon was not a happening thing. Besides which, I had to be at the airport by 4pm to collect Pablo who was flying in from Fiji. I only had time for a quick squizz of the terminal before he came through the gates.
Pablo suggested we go out to dinner, his treat as a thank you for picking him up. So once he unloaded his suitcases out of the car, we shot down to have a swim in the lagoon next to Sails while we still had light. It was a bit slippery on the boat ramp and my feet went from under me. Thankfully the water broke my fall. I didn’t enjoy the swim as much as last time, due to copious amounts of sea grass.
We decided to eat at the Amanaki Hotel restaurant. A good choice. We turned up without a reservation but we got a table after a ten minute wait. They were a full house and had live music, a couple on electric guitars who played easy listening, sing-a-long songs; some punters even got up to slow dance.
http://www.amanakihotel.com/en/dining-at-amanaki-restaurant
I had garlic prawns to start followed by fish and chips. Pablo’s entree was garlic bread with a swordfish wrap for main. Washed down by Taula beer of course. We headed to Scoops Ice Cream Parlour for dessert, my treat. Touted as the best ice cream shop in Samoa I had a scoop each of Koko Samoa and Coconut Jam, simply sublime. I was extremely full after that!
https://www.facebook.com/scoopssamoa/
Yay, Wally had his surgery today.
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| Wally in recovery |
Sunday 9th July
I woke up in the middle of the night, my right knee was throbbing. I must’ve banged it a bit when I slipped on the boat ramp last night. I had intended to go for a walk this morning but felt it might be best to rest it.
It was a very lazy day…and another hot one. I wrote while Pablo pottered around unpacking, watching rugby and sleeping. I received a text from Roina around lunchtime to say that Liliu hadn’t made it across after all. She and her husband were at church on the South coast, would it be okay if they popped in around 3pm on their way home. Absolutely I replied and supplied directions.
By 5pm we decided that they were a no show. Pablo and I needed to cool off so I suggested we go down to the Taumeasina Lagoon where I usually swim with the other expats. It really is the best swim spot in town. Easy access, cool and deep. Vanya and Yeti were already in the water.
It was my first real chance to have an in-depth conversation with Yeti, who is very well educated, with a BA in Civil Engineering from Canterbury and a MA & PhD in Planning & Development from Sydney Universities.
His real name is Tu’u’u Ietitaia Taule’alo and he has held many prominent positions in several Government departments over the years, including CEO for the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment and been Chairman of the Public Service Commission.
Oops, my sincerest apologies to Ieti, I have been mis-spelling his name all along - not Yeti!.
On our return to Vaoala, we had hung our swim-wear out to dry. The tiles on the balcony can be lethal when wet and as I was re-heating some food for our evening meal there was a great commotion. Pablo slipped over, falling heavily, poor guy. Think he might be a bit sore for a few days.
Roina rang me later that evening. They went to the wrong house this afternoon plus she ran out of charge on her phone. We have made arrangements to meet for lunch tomorrow.
I have mentioned a couple of times now about the morning car pool/school run. There were various government compounds around town where most of the expatriate community lived. But you might have gathered that our situation was a tad different, living outside of Apia among the villagers.
Our first vehicle in Samoa was a loaner from the church, a big American thing called a Scout. We would often drive with the back window up for ventilation. You had to be careful going over bumps that the window didn't fall down onto your arm. Then dad bought a pick up truck, a Toyota Stout. It was brown, until he put a cover over the tray and painted it a creamy kind of yellow. I loved the iridescent green number plates which glowed at night.
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| Scout & Stout |
There happened to be a few Palagi families living out our way and so began the morning school run. It consisted of myself, David, Erana and Raewyn from Levaula; Shelley, Bonnie, Martha and a Japanese boy called Matthew from Puipaa. Matthew went to Apia Primary with Erana and Martha. Plus we would drop Bin off to work at the hospital.
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| Erana & Martha with Matthew Mukoyama |
Matthew’s parents were Wesley and Jan Mukoyama and he had a younger sister called Malaika who wasn’t of school age. Wesley was the Director for the American Peace Corps while Jan was a home-maker.
Most mornings between 5-6am, Wesley, Matthew and Bonnie would run around the Levaula school grounds. Wesley was training for a marathon, Matthew for soccer and Bonnie for her school’s track and field.
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| Baer & Mukoyama families, California 1981 |
En-route to Apia we would collect Lynette Wrigley (now Wrigley-Brown) who lived behind the famed Aunty Lanu’s bakery in Vaigaga. Her parents were Eric and Barbara and her dad was a civil engineer working for the govt. Department, SPDC. He was the head of a small hydro power scheme on a small river at Fale o le Fe’e. A year ahead of me at SamCo, Lynette was super bright and got awarded school dux in 1981.
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| Lynette Wrigley |
I can’t remember the exact order of the school drop off but from recollection I think all the schools started around the same time of 8 o’clock. What I do remember is that they had a staggered finish. I think Apia Primary School finished about 12:30pm, Leifiifi Intermediate around 1:00pm and Samoa College at 1:30pm.
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| Erana @ Apia Primary |
The younger kids, Erana, Martha and Matthew got picked up from Apia Primary, as did Raewyn and David from Leifiifi Intermediate. But Bin and us “bigger kids” at Samoa College, (Shelley in 1979, Lynette in 1980 and myself for both those years) were given bus money to find our own way home.
Bonnie used to do Karate three times a week out on the reclaimed land and I would sometimes meet her there. I was super impressed because she had a brown belt. I think she may have gotten a ride home with her Dad.
To get from Samoa College to Levaula I would have to catch two buses and because they ran on island time, I wouldn’t usually get home until 4:00 - 4:30pm in the afternoon. I don’t know when I did my homework or if I even had any at all! I’m sure I must of.
Quite often, I would walk from Vaivase, where SamCo was, into Apia so I could save some of my bus money to spend while I hung out in town. I can’t remember exactly how much the bus fare was, probably around 10-20 sene from Vaivase to Apia and the same again from Apia to Faleula.
Twenty sene (cents) used to go a long way back in those days. I could buy three Mango or three Vi from the markets. The Vi were green and hard, you didn’t eat the skin and it had a big fibrous pip inside, like a mango. (AKA) a June Plum, Ambarella or a Golden Apple (Pommecythere/Cythere).
Alternatively twenty sene would buy me an ice cream from Isa’s, a coke from Nelson’s or two snow cone’s from a vendor, also located next to the old P.O. Shaved ice full of sweet syrup that we’d mash with our straws into liquid, in its triangle cone/cup.
Otherwise I could buy three cigarettes.
Yes, I was a bit naughty in those days and would smoke Alpine Menthol fags. When my brother and sister found out and threatened to tell on me I would make them have a puff, so that I could use the argument that they had been smoking too!
If it was raining and I had to catch the bus from SamCo into Apia, then I would have no spending money. I quickly found a solution to that problem. I would visit one of my boyfriends who worked in town. Ikoke, an ex Levaula College student was tall and handsome and had found work at one of the airline offices. He would give me 20 sene in exchange for a kiss. I can’t believe that I’m telling you such tales out of school!!!
Monday 10th July
My knee was still giving me a bit of gyp, so no walk again this morning. I suspected Pablo would be a bit out of whack today and he admitted to feeling a bit discombobulated. I dropped him at work a little after 9am with a promise to collect him around 2pm.
https://www.facebook.com/KofeHaus/
I read for an hour then drove to the Kofe Haus in Vaitele to meet Roina at 11am. A little out of town, it was a nice cafe with a retro feel and a large outdoor seating space under a massive tree. Roina had eaten a large breakfast so ordered first a smoothie then a coke, while I opted for an omelette and lime juice.
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| Kofe Haus |
OMG, Roina had not changed, personality wise; she was always a bit of a wild child and I recognised her immediately. I knew that Liliu had attended St Mary’s but forgotten that Roina and older sister Taase had both attended Samco, although Taase had left by the time I started. There was also a younger adopted brother called George.
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| Roina Vavatau - Now |
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| Roina & I |
As well as Lionel, Shelley and Morrison, Roina was in the 6th form (when I was in the 3rd), with the likes of Nellie Moore, Rosabel Keil, Aitken Fruen, Johanne Schwenke, Melinda Meredith, Neville Moore, Francis Betham, Carol Ah Mu, Michael Matthews and Juliet McCarthy to name but a few; plus her future husband, Vavatau Taufao was a classmate.
In their early sixties, Roina and Vavatau have been married for thirty one years. They have four children. Their own two are in their twenties while the other two, who are adopted are much younger; a girl sixteen and a boy four. Their son is currently in NZ on a scholarship for electrical engineering and their daughter is a 4th year medical student here in Apia.
Roina started her working career in the travel industry (Polynesian Airlines & Air Nauru) before moving to religious studies. Vavatau has previously worked at the NUS teaching Maths and Statistics, but both their jobs have recently wound up. They have put in applications for missionary work abroad and hope to go to Fiji.
Once Fa’atauva’a’s tenure as President for the Methodist Church finished, he and Laga moved to American Samoa where he became Se’a (Seer) of the Methodist Sinoti in Pago Pago. Fa’atauva’a died in 1993, aged 69 of a heart attack. Laga died in 2005, aged 80 of old age.
It sounds like the family has had their fair share of grief to deal with too. Taase who married Apineru Lafai (an incumbent President of the Methodist Church and now Treasurer) died in her late thirties of colon cancer, leaving five children. And more recently in 2022, Liliu’s husband, a judge in American Samoa died from Parkinson’s, leaving three daughters.
After we parted company I drove back out to Avoca to see if I could track down Maifea and Kamu. Both are ministers now and likely to be at the annual Methodist Conference.
After a few enquiries I was led to meet the current President of the Methodist Church, the Reverend Faulalo Leti Paaga. He was friendly and invited me to join him in his fale, on the waters edge behind his residence. There was a nice cool breeze blowing and he was able to give me directions to where my persons of interest were staying. Funnily enough, he remembered my father coming to Piula to fix the generator when he was doing his theological studies out there.
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| President of the Methodist Church - Rev Faulalo |
Maifea Asiata was staying in a compound opposite the George Brown school. After a few false starts I finally found him. The expression on his face when he recognised me was classic. I received a big wide smile which revealed still perfect pearly white teeth, we could not stop grinning at each other, I was truly delighted to see him again.
Married with three children and five grandchildren (a couple of his kids live abroad), he is 64 years old now and has aged well. He is a handsome man, in quite good shape compared to some of his counterparts! Maifea used to be my smoking buddy, we would often meet outside by our tea chest when mum and dad went out so I could have an illicit drag.
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| Maifea & I - Now |
I remember one time Maifea and I were hanging out at the SMLD. I was sitting on the tractor, parked outside the dairy, smoking. Next minute, Mum shouted, “Connie, telephone" (her voice must have been raised in anger for me to hear her because home was at least 200 meters away if not more). I shot across the malie to discover that she had tricked me, there was no phone call.
Instead she grilled, “Have you been smoking?”. To which I replied, “No”. “Don’t lie to me”, she said, “I could see you puffing away like a chimney over there”. She continued with her tirade, “I don’t care what you do, you can smoke, you can drink, just don’t get pregnant!” Advice I must have listened to LoL!
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| Maifea & I - Then |
Maifea studied agriculture with Tafito Selesele in Fiji all those years ago and would have been nineteen to twenty one years old when we knew him. From the sounds of it he has had an interesting journey over the years. When Lalomilo Kamu and family moved to the UK, Maifea took over management of the SMLD before he himself went to Hawaii for four years to study a Bachelor of Arts degree.
He returned to Samoa in the early nineties, after the devastation of the 1990 and 1991 tropical cyclones. It was then that he began his theological studies at Piula and is now based in Sataua, Savai’i. Perhaps Joanne, Bin and I will go visit him there. He did give me a huge bear hug when I departed. I’m sure he would have been the talk of the village with this palagi woman coming to visit him!
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| Siaosi, Maifea & Tafito |
I didn’t have the same luck trying to find Kamu Tagaolo Wright. Turns out he is unwell. But a very helpful guy, called Michael Collins who attended Levaula College with Kamu back in the day took my details to pass on. He informed me that Kamu is part of the Wellington Sinoti in NZ and works with the youth ministry there.
Tuesday 11th July
I was awake with the birds and it was blessedly cool and cloudy. My knee is feeling a lot better so I went for an early morning walk, down the hill finally. Had a couple of false starts as Snowy wanted to come too and kept getting out of the fence, she had found a new escape route. Luckily Sila was already at the house and able to block that gap up too.
Later in the morning Michael, his brother Antony (who is on school holidays) and Sela’s dad started work to repair a leak in the roof. I thought they were a bit crazy because it looked like it was going to rain. Sure enough it did, it pelted down and they had to hastily replace the corrugated iron sheets.
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| Fixing leaky roof |
Pablo was still no better but he took himself off to work. I didn’t need the car today.
One of my other really good friends from SamCo days was Andrea McKersey (now Ross). She had a younger sister called Carol, who attended Leifiifi with David. Her parents were Eddie and Sandra from Ruakaka near Whangarei.
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| Andrea & Erana |
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| Andrea McKersey with Salu & Mat |
Eddie was the Education Advisor for the Tokelau which meant that the family would be gone for three months at a time, sometimes longer if the boat didn’t turn up and they got stranded. When they were in Apia they had a house in Vaivase Uta, near Samoa College.
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| McKersey's on boat to Tokelau |
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| McKersey Family with Sandra's parents |
Photo credits: McKersey Family
Andrea, her husband Kevin and their two girls now run a successful education provider (founded by her parents) called People Potential in Whangarei. One of her daughters Shaan Kloet (nee Antunovich) is a talented performer who acted in my graduate short film, ‘Losing Class’ written by Samantha Cameron.
https://www.peoplepotential.co.nz/
Other expat kids that I used to hang out at school but have lost touch with are German boys Michael Metzler and Thomas Jahnke. William Miller was Australian and I think David Shaw, Michael Sayle and his sister Caroline plus Andre and Fiona Mariner all hailed from NZ.
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| David Shaw, Michael Sayle, William Miller |
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| Michael Metzler, Thomas Jahnke |
There were three other kiwi girls as well, Linda Mead, Vereana Maxwell and Deborah Huband, who was a couple of years older than me. I remember going to stay at her place in Alafua one night. I got a bit of a shock the following morning to find her parents, who were naturists, sitting at the breakfast table stark naked.
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| Vereana Maxwell |
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| Dinner @ Tusitala with Deborah Huband |
If anyone reading this has any information on the names listed above I would be very grateful
| Later in the day I popped up to play Skip Bo, a card game with the neighbours, then swam in their pool. A perfect way to spend an afternoon. |
Can't believe how fast it's flying by, only three weeks left.
Thanks for taking the time to read and please feel free to share with anyone who you think might be interested.
Have a great week...
onepurplefish
PS Here are this weeks quotes...
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