18 October2007, Thursday
The only kid boat has moved off their boat and on to land. Mom got a job as an Assistant Attorney General and Dad got a job working as a boat Captain for the Marine Reserve Services. The teen-age girls are going to a private school on the island. There are several High Schools, but there was no assurance that they’d learn much, as the District, teaches to the lowest level. Their housing (a townhouse) came with the job. Now that they are settled in jobs and school, we don’t see them much. Gaby and Sami are cool with that as they have very full school schedules themselves and we have a lot to get done in a few weeks.
Another Canadian cruiser is working at the shipyard, but I haven’t met him. In the last two days, two boats left for Hawaii from here. Remaining cruiser boats with us at anchor are s/v Hot Ice and s/v Ursa Minor. Both plan on staying from 4 to 8 weeks and then heading north. In total, I think there might be just six cruiser boats here; most went on to Fiji, Cook Island, New Zealand, for the season.
A foreign presence has been here since the Dutch arrived in 1722. The relationship with the USA started in 1872, after the European influences of the French, British, and Germans. The Japanese were only here briefly during WW II. The Samoan political history is complicated with influence from so many however, through it all, the Samoans pride themselves on their ability to retain essential aspects of their culture, comparing themselves to the Hawaiians who lost so much to foreign intervention.
We have learned is that traditional Samoan society is built upon the extended family, called the aiga. This traditional social structure embraces everyone in the village. The aiga is an integral part of how the society and government works together. The structure is woven into the interaction with the USA and the function of the Senate of Matai (Chiefs) and the legislature (Fono). They have retained values of respecting the hierarchy of the aiga, loyalty to the aiga, and an orientation to arbitration of conflicts through consensus decision-making, facilitated by the village chief.
The traditional village law as established in the Samoan constitution, includes village fines and a tradition of an offender performing the traditional apology (ifoga) when passing sentence. Ignoring the rulings of the village fono, an individual may face ostracism, banishment or worse. In the daily newspaper we read of these conflicts and how they are dealt with. We suspect our friend will find many challenges navigating the different waters of government and legal proceeding in this culture yet a new kind of adventure for this cruising family.