Service is the path to authority

By Sarafina Sanerivi 27 November 2016, 12:00AM

“To care for those who once cared for us is such an honour.”

That is the opinion of Falefa Tupa’i, 27-year-old male from the village of Samamea Fagaloa. 

Falefa has been tasked to look after his family. Speaking to the Village Voice, Falefa expressed how much he loves what he does. 

“Looking after a family and providing for a family is not easy,” he said. “But I love what I do. I wake up early in the morning and prepare food before I make my way to the plantation.” 

“We depend mostly on the land to provide for our families. To me, I am just grateful to God for giving me the strength to do this. “

“It’s not easy, but knowing that I am doing this for my loved ones makes it all easy.”

Moreover, Falefa said that he truly believes that service (tautua) is one of the important aspects of our culture. 

“We often hear the elders saying the pathway to authority it through service. And I know we get blessings from serving our elders and parents.” 

“Blessings that can reach down to your children if you do it well. And that’s what motivates me to do what I do.” 

“Sometimes I get discourage and feel like just sleeping the whole day and do nothing. But my parents taught me that nothing comes easy in this life and if I don’t work, I will end up suffering in this life.” 

“I know I don’t have much to offer for my family, but I work so hard to provide for them and to me, as long as I see that they are happy that’s all that matters.” 

“The feeling is very fulfilling when you do something nice for your family and they thank you for it. To me, that’s their way of saying ‘bless you.’”

“Like I said before, it’s not easy, but I want to use my time and strength wisely to serve my parents and family.”

Nevertheless, Falefa said he cannot depart from this kind of life as it was the way his parents showed him to live his life. 

“As a youth, I dedicate my life, time and energy to carry out my responsibility to the best of my ability.” 

“I know the rewards will not come just now, but I truly believe that it will come in the future. And I want my children to grow up like this. And I meant it in terms of mentality. I want to show them that if you want to become a better person, then you have to work hard despite the challenges.” 

“Life is easy when you put your family first in all that you do. The sacrifice is all worth it.”

Moreover, Falefa also want to encourage other youths to use their strength and energy wisely by serving their parents. 

“The way to authority is through good service. (O le ala i le pule o le tautua.) I would like to encourage my fellow brothers and sisters to use our time wisely.” 

“We get our blessings by doing this and like I said before, those blessings will reach down to our children.”

Asked if there were any challenges with life in the village, Falefa said the only problem is that people refuses to work together sometimes. 

“We all know that working together makes everything easy. But somehow some people don’t like working together and don’t want to help out.” 

“While some are trying so hard to climb up and do nice things, there are always people who will always find way to bring and drag others down.” 

“That’s the only problem I have. But other than that, life is great here in the village for me.”

By Sarafina Sanerivi 27 November 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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