Single man happy to work to serve chief

By Fetalai Tuilulu’u 25 June 2017, 12:00AM

Nafatali Ono doesn’t have a lot. 

But the 50-year-old man from Leulumoega Uta has his plantation and he is happy about that.

When Village Voice approached him yesterday, he was boiling taro for his food.

 “This huge plantation is to support my siblings and my older brother who is the chief of our family,” he said. 

 “I use to live with my family but I’ve decided to come and live near my plantation and it is easier for me to get up and work."

“It’s a good thing living here alone so that I don’t get to worry about anyone else.” 

But what are some of the challenges? 

“There isn’t a lot of problems because I can handle anything myself,” he said.

“Even though I don’t have access to water and electricity, I’m still okay with it. It’s not that important to me. As long as I have water for tea and plants and also a light then it’s fine with me.”

Nafatali makes the trip to the village now and then to fetch water. 

“We pay cars to deliver our water every time we need it but we are used to living like this. So it’s not something new." 

Another problem is the wild pigs which destroy his farm.  

“There are many families who don’t have a sty for their pigs but they are out in the woods and it’s destroying many plantations." 

“This is also why I moved to live here so that I can monitor my plantation every time from the pigs." 

“I even set some traps (mailei) in my plantation.”

He went on to say that this is the reason why many farmers in their village don’t have plantations. 

“It’s about time that we did something about this thing because this is another reason why farmers get lazy sometimes because of the pigs."

“Families should make sure to have a fence for pigs to avoid them eating the other family’s plantations.” 

Nafatali went on to say we need to develop the lands. 

By Fetalai Tuilulu’u 25 June 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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