Obedience is an essential stepping stone for one who dreams of a successful and prosperous life. 

The words of the Bible say so, we must respect and obey our parents so we can live long lives. Lives filled with happy and successful stories. 

But sometimes obeying our parents in particular, can be a very difficult thing to do.

So believes 21-year-old Semurana Nouata from Saleilua Falealili.

“But personally obedience is a necessary element of life,” he told the Village Voice team.

Semurana is the eighth of twelve children.

He said: “Who we are to the outside world today reflects the work our families especially our parents have done in raising us.

“Our family is our first school, means our family and parents must be first in everything we do.”

Reminiscing about his childhood life in his family, he said it’s all about learning how to walk, talk and when to sit.

“Like many other families in Samoa, if your parents tell you not to do something, then you have to make sure – not to do it.

“From there, I started to learn that unbreakable bondage of love, meaning, when your parents tell you not to do something that means they are concerned about your well-being. 

“Up to now – my siblings and I have a very simple rule in life from our parents – ‘obey first then complain after’.

“And we still follow that rule today.”

Semurana is one of the seafarers who will be working on a cruise ship in Italy for the next nine months.

“I’m ready to go and I have nothing much to say this time but to cast everything to the Man above to guide and also to give me strength for this job,” he said. 

“But as I’ve mentioned before, I’ll go and take this simple rule that my parents raised me and my siblings with and that is ‘obey first and complain after’.”

He believes disobeying the rules and laws of the job “can put me in a bad situation which can give me, my parents and Samoa a bad image.

“I’ll put all my efforts on what I’m going to do and hopefully I’ll return and do something like building a new house for my parents to live in.

“That’s the only thing I could think of right now.”

He understands that life is getting tougher and tougher every day in Samoa.

“Personally, I need to use this opportunity wisely; I’ll make good use of it for the good of my family and everyone else.”