Samoa - a generational change

Although I'm pleased for her, I have just a twinge (well - maybe a bit more) of jealousy for my daughter who is off to Samoa in a few weeks for a school trip - her first international travel!

I hope her experiences will leave her with lasting memories of this very special place!
(We're going to have problems if she comes home and hasn't got lots of positive things to say!)

Rob

Why shouldn't she? Of course, Samoa will be different from where she comes from (... where in Australia does she come from?). Her age is important here and the expectations she has or has been told to have.

Have you ever been to Samoa?

Talofa,

Yes - I've been to Samoa a couple of times, but it's a long time since my last trip back (1991).

I have a couple of contacts over there, so hopefully she'll get to meet at least one of them, and start to develop her Pacific network!

She's 16, and I have tried to impart as much as my knowledge as possible about Samoa, but I think the best preparation for discovering a place that is nothing like home is to approach it with an attitude that welcomes new experiences, and delights in the unexpected.

1991? Life in Samoa is so completely different today ... How her trip is organized and where do they go to? Will she stay with a Samoan family at some stage? Go to a Samoan school?

I am sure it will be a fascinating and pleasant experience for her and I fully agree that the best preparation for here will be an attitude of being open minded, exploring the life of young Samoans which might be so familiar in many ways today and still so completely different in others.

1991? Life in Samoa is so completely different today

In what way do you mean, wksamoa?

http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/samoa/ says about Samoa in 2006:

STRUCTURE OF THE ECONOMY
Samoa is a lower middle-income economy.
Major agricultural products of the country are coffee, cocoa, bananas, and yams.
Important industries are auto parts, food processing, and tourism.
Services constitute more than 60% of the total GDP followed by industries at around 20%.

In 1991 Samoa would have been a lower low income economy with agriculture having a 80% share of the GDP (now less than 10 %). Based on coconut and taro, mostly for own use. Industry virtually non existent, as well as tourism (2-4 hotels and a few guest houses,no beach fales or similar).

These trends further continued from 2006.

What does this mean for the everyday life of the people? Main food items today are bread, rice, imported frozen or tinned meat. Samoan food, Samoa oven - maybe on Sunday, if at all anymore. But you can buy Samoan food from caterers or at food stalls, mostly in front of supermarkets. Yes, caterers, supermarkets. Car dealers, real estate agencies. Rental houses and apartments. Restaurants with mainly middle class Samoan patrons, not tourists. Yes, ordinary Samoans going to restaurants for dinner. There is money now where there had been nothing 20 years ago.

Soaring number of cars, traffic jams, a wide four lane road leading into Apia. 100,000 cell phones and coverage throughout the country. Electricity everywhere, even in Apolima. Multi-channel TV, local Samoan stations of course, private TV and Radio channels. In 1991 there was radio 2AP and about 20% of the country could receive TV from American Samoa - that was all.

A flight to New Zealand costs less today than it did in 1991. Most Samoans have been abroad at least once, getting an idea about life elsewhere. Migration is high - re-migration too. Well educated New Zealand born Samoans finding out that they might earn more in Samoa than they could earn in New Zealand. Small numbers, of course, but the fact as such is significant. A Samoan relative of mine rejects job offers from abroad because she can earn more here than there (with less work). That in 1991 - surreal idea ...

Changing economic patterns change lifestyle and attitudes. Traditional authorities have less power today, if any at all anymore. Educated professionals dominate many sectors of Government and business by now. Standards are slowly rising to international levels. Three children in a family are common now where there had been seven or nine before. Changing attitudes towards education, especially regarding girls. Women are in leading administrative positions everywhere. Oh - and universal suffrage now when it comes to electing the members of Parliament. Before 1991 only Matais (mostly men) could vote.

Samoa might be a lot more like at home (= New Zealand, Australia) today than 20 years ago. I know rural areas in both countries which are very similar to the Apia area. And even as the biggest (and only) urban area in Samoa, with about 35,000 people Apia is still a small town only. Nevertheless - with around 80% of the buildings erected after 1991 a visitor from 20 years ago (i.e. Rob) would hardly recognize it anymore.

So all that is different from before and the change is a lot more significant than change has been over the last 20 years in the 'developed' world.

However life in Samoa is still quite special and distinct from (NZ, OZ) 'home' in many ways. Sharing, interacting with others, good jokes. Still a lot more relaxed. Despite all those changes (or partly even because of them) in Samoa you still do not worry much about tomorrow. And even as a visitor you feel that.

WK -Great post-Thanks for the info!

Thanks wksamoa.

I know that Samoa would not have stood still.

It was always the height of tourist arrogance (and I don't think I was ever really guilty of it) to assume that any country should continue in a traditional life just so that westerners could fly in for a couple of weeks to have a special tourist experience, then fly home to all their comforts.

I am really interested in what my daughter experiences - I am hoping and still expect that there will be a social dislocation - things will not be like they are at home - and the more of the world's citizens that get a sense and appreciation of the "other", the better we will all be in the long run!

For the rest, memories and experiences are ours, and ours alone to treasure. As a parent, do we really need our kids to have known everything about our lives? When my father passed away, there were old family friends who told me things I had never known - for a while I wished that I had had the opportunity to share these with my Dad, but then thought that we all have a right to live our own lives, and our next generation doesn't need to carry the weight of all our memories. Since then I have had someone claim that she is my half-sister, from a relationship that ended before Dad was with my Mum - maybe I will follow this up after my Mum passes, or maybe I don't really need to know?

My daughter may have seen the photos from my trips, but these are images without context.
On a school trip, is she really going to have the opportunity to meet and think about the complexity of the relationships of fa'afafine to society (much less- get to meet the spectacularly extroverted Cindy?), or to really have a frame of reference that compares to my understanding as a country boy from Australia who had never been away from home, exploring a whole new world that was nothing like home at all!

The best I hope for, is that she will accept that there are many other ways of living a life that are at least as worthwhile as what she is used to, and that this will raise a curiosity in her to explore this incredible world that we have been born into.

I hope, also, that she may begin to understand that she is incredibly privileged by having the opportunity to travel, and that these first stamps in her passport may be the beginning of a lifelong journey of experience and self-discovery.

It would also be nice if, one day, she thought it would be a good thing to thank her parents by paying for their trip back to the Pacific - but maybe I should take the initiative and spend her potential future inheritance on some spectacular trips in the meantime!

;-)

Rob

It has also occurred to me that just before my last trip, Cyclone Ofa had made a mess of Apia, and a while afterwards, Cyclone Val caused havoc - so I am certtain that much of the infrastructure has changed. I wonder, however, if the tendency to neglect the need to paint the old Government Offices was ever overcome, and if they still look slightly dishevelled when the band marches in the mornings (please tell me this still happens!)

Talofa, Rob,

yes, the police band is still playing every sunny day, Monday to Friday. Before 9 am now instead of 8 am. And in front of the big 6-storey Government Building at the reclaimed area, close to the clocktower. In 1991 that was a swamp only. Painting old Government Offices? Which old Government Offices? All replaced by new ones (well painted). They are actively tearing down all buildings older than about 40 years. Even the big white Cathedral at Mulivai is demolished, once a real landmark of Apia. Now they are about to take down the 1903 Government and Court House, where the band used to play in 1991. Courts have a new house and the building is vacated; would need major repair too.

Samoa did not stand still, which is not as self understanding as it might appear. In 1991, at least for a decade it had stood still already. Those cyclones initiated change though and then Samoa not only stepped forward - it jumped instead. Far more change than elsewhere.

Cindy? Most people nowadays would not even have heard of her. She is living in New Zealand for at least a decade now. Fa'afafines? Yes, sure, why not? Who cares? Sexual orientation is seen as relaxed as in New Zealand or Australia today. Neither church nor Government should interfere in these private matters, is the common attitude. Yes, the concept of privacy has finally made it to Samoa and it is well established by now:

I see and read many reports on Samoa. As soon as they are older than four or five years only most of it is not valid anymore. It had always been a real virtue of the Samoan culture to be able to adopt foreign concepts (not just adapt to) and by that staying in charge of the process. Many things look like being the same as elsewhere, but when you have a closer look you find them being done, regarded and valued differently in many ways. There still is a real 'Samoan way', no doubt. But you will hardly find it described correctly in history books (or even Travel Guides) anymore.

To experience that will be very interesting for your daughter, I'm sure. And it might indeed be the introduction into perceiving and distinguishing different ways of apparently the same, which is the essence of cultural diversity. I think this happens worldwide today, more than ever before. Social media, which are present in Samoa too now of course (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) unify the young people of the world. But still there is a lot to explore going places. And leaving Apia, going to a rather remote village somewhere in Savaii, is still a very different thing. Yes, they have TV and cell phones too but the way of living had a least a bit more in common with what you remember from 1991. However you have to hurry - this might change within a few years as well. They are going to extend fast broadband coverage around all islands, as a first step ...

Edited by: wksamoa

Thanks for the detailed response, wk.

There'd be few countries isolated enough to not be affected by the ravages/ benefits of globalisation since '91.

It was always the height of tourist arrogance (and I don't think I was ever really guilty of it) to assume that any country should continue in a traditional life just so that westerners could fly in for a couple of weeks to have a special tourist experience, then fly home to all their comforts

bendigo, in what way are you assuming that your daughter will have a special tourist experience then?

Jaded,

I am hoping that she will have something deeper than a tourist experience, and I think that being part of a home-stay program, and involvement with local schools will give them a chance to develop a level of knowledge about the country that it is never possible to get from a bus window, or at brief visits to "the sights".

My comment, that you quoted, was related to the sorts of things I have heard a few times over the years, and that always make me cringe at the arrogance of those who think that other countries should exist as some kind of "Disney World" for their visiting pleasure - I am pretty sure that it was in Samoa (but it may have been Tarawa??) that I heard someone complaining about seeing TV sets operating in fales at night, because it "ruined the look of the village".

Hi bendigo.

I'm sure you're hoping that your daughter will tap into whatever remains of "the traditional life" during her stay, just as you did.

As for the arrogance of tourists: I think they are in the minority and have their idyll largely satisfied-western comforts intact- at the upmarket resorts(Samoa has quite a few) with associated cultural shows and tours.
They may have certain expectations about the lifestyle but in their defence- after researching over the last few months- i can attest that potential visitors are delighted with images of a traditional Polynesian utopia.

The Samoa Tourism Authority emphasises the strong cultural heritage and even our esteemed LP perpetuates the theme:

More than any other Polynesian people, Samoans have maintained their traditional way of life..., and still follow closley the social hierarchies, customs and courtesies established long before the arrival of Europeans

So, unrealistic notions and reactions to dissapointment may not be simply arrogance.

wksamoa's posts here are a sobering reality check.

Nice report. Sure a whole lot different than my first visit Sept., 1965.....at the "old" Aggies,
which included morning wake-up tea, 3 meals a day, and afternoon tea.
The "new" Aggies is ok..but.....

Sweet, sweet nostalgia ;-) But when it comes to 'sobering reality checks', remembering the good old times one should not forget to remember the obvious problems at those "golden" times too. Like frequent shortages of fuel and many other important commodities. The conditions of the roads ... And the conditions of the vehicles ... Broken taxis, flat tires. Electric power only in few central areas. Dirty water from the tap - if water at all. And no nice bottled water instead, like today. Maybe staying at Aggie's most of these realities were not that obvious, staying elsewhere they were ...

I never forget us sitting under the kerosene lamp in 1986, in Vaitele, six miles away from Central Apia. My brother-in-law played the guitar, I had brought some board games from Germany that everybody was simply ecstatic about. No power, no TV. Some German friends were visiting Samoa with us (my Samoan wife and me). They were so much loving it and said that they really hope this would never change. Uh - you should have seen my brother-in-law ...! Yes, he said, let us swap! You stay here, earn the money here to feed nine hungry mouths, and I take your job and place there in Germany ... (Just to mention it: he had a Bachelor degree from the University of the South Pacific and could even have easily done that job in Germany). He said that he works six days a week, at least 10 hours per day. He did not earn enough money to own a watch, a radio, a second pair of pants to change to. His wordly belongings did fit into a shopping bag (and that is the truth!). Yes, he said, let us swap.

He was right and he still is. So, that there is no misunderstanding: I am happy about all these changes, very happy. Not for a moment I would want the old times back. Neither the economic hardship of those times, nor the sometimes brutal and autocratic regime of the village and family mataiis, nor the corrupt practices in politics and administration. And especially not the disastrous medical care. I brought at least a mile long of wound dressing strips and pounds of ointment. And, and, and. Okay, the light of kerosene lamps was somewhat nice - but if you like it that much, just go and buy one. They are still around. Or light a candle.

I am glad about people having opportunities now where there only was zero perspective before. Or hardly more than just subsistence farming. Even though there is still some way to go, conditions of life have changed not only to the different, but to the much better. Sometimes they have reports in the newspaper now that people 'today!' live in poverty. Yes, not wrong, but 'today'? When you look at the picture of the house these poor people stay in it just looks exactly like the houses that everybody used to have in 1991.

Besides all that, the tourists love the "new" Samoa more than ever too. Numbers are on steady rise and, believe it or not, most tourists like it more as well to travel in modern, air conditioned buses than in those wooden truck based Toyotas. At least on the longer distances ;-) Just as the Samoans too, of course. Nobody misses sitting in those wooden buses for hours ... Neither do I, trust me on that.

And as much as I liked staying in Beach Fales every now and then, I heartily welcome the arrival of decent mid-range accommodation. They were missing much too long. But now they are there and - you find quite a few local patrons staying there, at least on weekends. Neither would I want to miss the tourism programs at the Technical College, where they teach good cooking and catering. Dining out can be real fun today. And that is good for us locals and the tourists alike.

Yes, they still advertise Samoa with the old cliches of 'Fa'a Samoa', the peaceful village life under the paternal guidance of the pastor and the wise, caring matai. Uh - even though you might always find some good dictators, this has never ever been really true. And if it is, more today than ever before. With matais having enjoyed good education, being lawyers and business executives. But being watched as well for good governance.

On the other hand the tourism people are not wrong. As I said before - the Samoan Way is still very much alive, only not looking like it had been before. Different, even better ... And to explore that might be a much more interesting travel experience than a Samoan floor show. Even with fire dance (invented in 1948 - so not that traditional neither).

Edited by: wksamoa

Most of the replies I've read here seem agonizingly out of date.

try searching #samoa on twitter to get a feel of how kids respond these days on Upolu and Tutuila. (not much response from Savaii or Manua where internet is less prevalent.

Then go over to Youtube and search Samoa and American Samoa. You will find the usual rap videos, some traditional stuff (watch out for touristy kitch from visitors) and many posts from volunteer teachers.

Finally use google blog search "samoa" to find narratives from young visitors probably very similar to your daughter.

There's a good chance your daughter already has the 411 on all of this anyway. Social media is instantaneous, unedited and pretty genuine.

From Pago

JW

Most of these posts on the social media appear in fact not to originate from Samoans in Samoa, at least not in the Independent Samoa. Some are from businesses,i.e. Beach Fale resorts. Comparably few from individuals. More from American Samoa, even more and most from Samoans living abroad. But you are right - there are many blogs from Peace Corps volunteers and similar temporary residents. They provide a good inside view into the daily life of today.

Why not that many original posts from Samoa? Internet is awfully expensive here. Only very few young people, mostly from some wealthy families, can afford to use it. It is not about skills or opportunity; its just about costs.

Here is an interesting website about Internet and Facebook use in the Pacific. The total numbers given is misleading, as it includes Australia and New Zealand. But there are data for every small country too.

Edited by: wksamoa

Well I guess she'll know soon enough - the plane should have left Sydney 7 minutes ago, due in Samoa at 6am Sunday.

Have a great time!

Dad

Good to see that the ash cloud didn't hamper her departure. I fly out on Wednesday night :-)

My daughter arrived home yesterday.

She loved Samoa, and wants to go back - that must be genetic!

My early impression from some of her pics is that Apia has changed quite a bit - will await further discussion about other aspects of her experience.

HOWEVER, there are some things that almost seem eternal - she took a photo of the sign for my beloved Safua Hotel, and it doesn't seem to have changed very much; and, depite the odds, (and obviously he was undaunted by the caustic comments of Paul Theroux in "The Happy Isles of Oceania"!) she went on a tour of the lava fields on Savaii with Warren Jopling. I thought he was getting on in years when I first met him back in '88, but he is apparently still running tours across the lava, sharing his immense local and geological knowledge at age 82!

Happy memories!

Rob

Neither the sign nor Safua Hotel hasn't changed that much indeed and even though Warren has trained some local guys to really excellent tour guides, carrying on his legacy, he is still doing the job himself. The difference to the 1980's is, that at that time, Safua Hotel was virtually the only place to stay in Savaii at all, plus Vaisala Hotel in Asau. Today hardly anyone would know about Safua Hotel anymore, except locals and returning visitors from times ago, I am sure that you as well would ignore all newer establishments to get back to Moalagi, Warren and some others.