There is no struggle when you use common sense

By Vatapuia Maiava 03 November 2016, 12:00AM

Wisdom is a gift.

Juliana Suititi, of Faleula-uta, believes if people use this and common sense all the time, half of the problems in the world would be a thing of the past.

She says that even when it comes to budgeting, wisdom will tell you that something is too expensive and you can spend that money on something else.

The 32-year-old mother says despite her struggles with the cost of living, life is not that bad.

“My family is doing alright; we have enough to survive,” she told the Village Voice.

“We have a plantation at the back where we can grow food and my husband is currently working to earn a bit of money for our daily needs.

“I stay at home to take care of the children.”

Juliana says the majority of her family’s money goes to taking care of the children because they are the priority.

“Like many people in Samoa, I guess a lot of our spending goes to the children,” she said.

“Taking care of all their needs is very expensive. Also covering the whole family’s daily needs takes quite a bit of money as well as the church obligations.

“Only one of my children is in school right now and the rest are too young. The other ones are too small but I can already see that their time is coming. That will be another extra expense for the family.”

Juliana proudly says that they have good source of running water and electricity in her part of the village which makes life a bit easier.

“We have been living here for quite a while now,” she said.

“Everything is going great for us, we have good running water and we also have electricity. We don’t have many problems except when it comes to the subject of money.”

But no matter how great things are, there are always bound to be problems.

“The great thing about living in a village like this is the opportunity we have to make a living,” Juliana said.

“We have land that we can grow crops. It’s great because it helps us deal with the ongoing problem of the rising cost of living. Things are getting more and more expensive, especially refrigerated goods that everyone loves to buy.

“I guess when it comes to buying things from the shop, it’s best to buy smart. When we see that the chicken is starting to get expensive then we buy some tinned fish.

“I think the constant rise in prices is the reason why a lot of us in Samoa suffer.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 03 November 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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