many more things make We.: SAMOA 2014: Sinamoga

Sinamoga

We were picked up from the aiport by cousin Tui, and 14-year-old son Jonathan who towers over his mother. Through our greeting exchanges from travelling in the car we hear one our car tyre buckling beneath us. It need’s a change and soon Cam is on the muddy ground changing the car’s flat tyre. We laugh about my husband’s welcoming initiation into Samoa.

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Both my mother’s and father’s family were born in the island of Savai’i (pr. Sah-vah-ee) which is not the main island of Samoa. Savai’I in my mind is the most pristine and untouched of places I have been. It holds a special place in my heart, particularly where my mother was raised in the village of Tapuele’ele (pr. Tah-poo-eh-leh-eh-leh) also known as Vaiola (pr. Vah-e-yaw-lah). We named one of our daughter’s after this beautiful place, and she is just as beautiful.

It was common in my parents’ day for their families to then come to the main island of Upolu (pr. oo-poor-loo) for better employment opportunity to raise their families in. Upolu is where the Faleolo airport is situated.

My mother’s family reside in a place called Sinamoga (pr. Si-nah-maw-nga) , while my father’s family reside in Vaivase (pr. Vay-vuss-eh), both villages on Upolu Island. We are staying in my mother’s house in Sinamoga, with my aunty Maoti, her husband and sons. Her sons of course include nephews or other family members they have taken in. This is a common occurrence in the Samoan culture.

I love Aunty Maoti. She is like a mother who has known me from a young age, and also lived with my family in Melbourne. In Samoa, she is my mother. Along with Aunty Karol, also here from Melbourne.

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