Through the Eyes of the Samoan
The first sound you feel as morning arrives over Apia is the soft, endless rhythm of waves breaking against the coral reef, mingled with the distant call of a tropical bird and the scent of fresh palusami (taro leaves with coconut milk) and coconut drifting from a nearby home. That wave-whisper carries our story back to a time of islands and Samoa, when we lived as the Samoans on these islands we call Samoa. Our ancestors built fale (openhouses) without walls, where everyone gathered, fished with outrigger canoes in turquoise lagoons, grew taro and coconut in fertile soil. They lived in harmony with the sea as mother and the land as father: matai (chiefs)who ruled with consensus, families who worked together in fa'alavelave (communal obligations), siva dances that told stories of heroes and spirits. Every family knew the legends of Tagaloa who created the world, the feasts where ava (kava) was drunk in ceremonies, the bond stronger than the distance between islands. That was our golden time: a land of lagoons, rainforests, and volcanoes, where people lived with nature as guide and family as law, free and connected by fa'a Samoa – the Samoan way.
But then came the wave from outside, like a storm rising from the ocean. The Germans, British, and NewZealanders colonized us in the 19th and 20th centuries, divided our islands (Western Samoa and EasternSamoa/American Samoa). Every family knew the loss: an ancestor who worked for strangers, a child who learned freedom was forbidden, a culture that had to adapt to new rules. The Mau movement fought peacefully for freedom, but many died in 1929 during Black Saturday. Independence in 1962 brought Malietoa Tanumafili II– hope that grew – but also the challenges of a small island nation: poverty, emigration of youth to New Zealand and Australia, pressure of climate change threatening our atolls and swallowing our coasts.
From that depth rises a pride that is warm and resilient. The siva dance that still fills the night, the palusami prepared with love, the ava ceremony that celebrates connection. Our people laughing through hardship, our youth dreaming of a future on the island, our fa'a Samoa stronger than the sea. We have found our voice again:independence, hope growing on the islands.
Yet the truth colors magenta like a sunset over the lagoon. The scars remain: colonial division of the islands,rising sea threatening villages, emigration of youth, poverty in remote villages. The outside world buys our tourism and our culture as attraction, but often does not feel the depth of a people fighting against the waves.
Still, we remember in silence: around the ava circle where stories are shared, during Independence Day on 1June when we raise our flag, on the beaches where the spirits still speak – never forgetting who we were. We tell our children of the old navigators and of Malietoa, of the sea and the islands, so they know: we were connected and strong before we were challenged.
And yet… the wave-whisper continues, calm and endless, like a promise that the sea always returns. That is our secret: we have suffered under colonization, division, and rising seas, but first we were a land of islands and fa'aSamoa. For our children we build no walls, but a fale where everyone is welcome. How do we let that wave-whisper bring hope to everyone again? How does Samoa remain a home of connection and resilience?
January 2026
Manna Ori
I Mata o le Samoa
O le leo muamua e te fa'alogo i ai pe a o'o mai le taeao i Apia o le leo malū, e le gata o galu e pa'ū i luga o le aau, fa'afefiloi ma le leo mamao o se manulele fa'atasi ma le manogi o le palusami fou (lau o le talo ma le susu o le popo) ma le popo e sau mai se fale latalata. O lena leo o le galu e ave'esea ai lo tatou tala i tua i le taimi o motu ma le fa'a Samoa, ina ua ola tatou o Samoa i nei motu ua tatou ta'ua o Samoa. O tatou tua'a na fausia fale e leai ni puipui, e potopoto ai tagata uma, fagota i va'a fa'ailoga i le sami lanumoana, toto'o talo ma popo i le eleele mau. Sa ola i le fa'atasi ma le sami o le tina ma le eleele o le tama: matai na pule ma le fa'atasi, aiga na galulue fa'atasi i fa'alavelave (tiute fa'atasi), siva e ta'u ai tala o toa ma agaga. So'o se aiga na iloa tala o Tagaloa na faia ai le lalolagi, fa'atasiga o ava (kava) i sauniga, le so'otaga na sili atu lona malosi nai lo le mamao o motu. O lena sa tatou taimi auro: atunu'u o lagona, togavao ma mauga mu, sa ola tagata ma le natura o le ta'iala ma le aiga o le tulafono, saoloto ma fa'atasi i le fa'a Samoa – le ala Samoa.
Ae na sau le galu mai fafo, e pei o se afa na tula'i mai le sami. O Siamani, Peretania ma Niu Sila na fa'akolone ia i le senituri 19 ma le 20, na vaevaeina o tatou motu (Samoa i Sisifo ma Samoa i Sasa'e/American Samoa). So'o se aiga na iloa le to'ilalo: se tua'a na galue mo tagata ese, se tamaitiiti na a'oa'oina o le saolotoga ua fa'asa, o se aganu'u na tatau ona fetuutuuna'i i tulafono fou. O le Mau na tauivi filemu mo le saolotoga, ae to'atele na maliliu i le 1929 i le Black Saturday. O le tuto'atasi i le 1962 na aumaia ai Malietoa Tanumafili II – fa'amoemoe na tuputupu a'e – ae o lo'o iai fo'i lu'itau o se atunu'u la'ititi: le mativa, le malaga o le autalavou i Niu Sila ma Ausetalia, le mamafa o suiga o le tau e fa'amata'u ai o tatou motu ma fa'afefe ai o tatou matafaga.
Mai lena loloto e tula'i mai le mitamitaga e mafanafana ma malosi. O le siva e tumu pea i le po, o le palusami na saunia ma le alofa, o le sauniga o le ava e fa'amanatu ai le so'otaga. O tatou tagata e ataata i mea faigata, o tatou autalavou e tu i luga mo se atunu'u e sili atu, o tatou fa'a Samoa e sili atu lona malosi nai lo le sami. Ua toe maua lo tatou leo: le tuto'atasi, le fa'amoemoe e tuputupu ae i motu.
Ae o le mea moni e lanu magenta e pei o le goto o le la i luga o le lagona. O manu'a o lo'o iai pea: le vaevaeina o motu i le kolone, le sami e si'isi'i e fa'amata'u ai nu'u, le malaga o le autalavou, le mativa i nu'u mamao. O le lalolagi i fafo e fa'atauina le turisi ma aganu'u tatou o se mea fa'afiafia, ae e le masani ona lagona le loloto o se nu'u e tauivi ma galu.
Ae ui i lea, matou te manatua i le filemu: i le li'o o le ava lea e fa'asoa ai tala, i le Aso Tuto'atasi i le 1 o Iuni pe a matou si'i le fu'a tatou, i matafaga lea e tautala pea ai agaga – e le galo lava po'o ai sa matou i ai. Matou te ta'u atu i fanau o matou tala o le au fa'atauva'a anamua ma Malietoa, o le sami ma motu, ina ia latou iloa: sa matou fa'atasi ma malosi a'o le'i lu'iina i matou.
Ma e ui lava i lea… o le galu e fa'aauau pea, filemu ma le gata, e pei o se folafola e toe fo'i mai le sami. O lena o lo tatou mea lilo: sa matou mafatia i lalo o le fa'akolone, le vaevaeina ma le si'isi'i o le sami, ae muamua sa matou atunu'u o motu ma fa'a Samoa. Mo fanau o matou e le fausia ni puipui, ae o se fale e fa'afeiloa'i tagata uma. E fa'afefea ona matou faia ina ia toe aumaia ai le fa'amoemoe i tagata uma i lenei leo o le galu? E fa'afefea ona tumau ai Samoa o se fale o le fa'atasi ma le malosi?
Ianuali 2026
Manna Ori