Humans Of The Islands - Ena Schwalger

Ena Schwalger
Elei Artist
Samoa at FestPac in Guam

One thing about the Guam people is that they are really really friendly and they are so fascinated with Polynesian things- they went out of their way to make us welcome.

I'm representing Samoa making elei at the festival. I had a stall at the maketi in Samoa which burnt down, so it so good bringing my materials over here where the whole Pacific is!

I do all the elei myself - I make stencils of the ulu leaves and all the other samoan patterns then I print my fabric up so it's totally unique.

And our ie Lavalava we have is the best! It's pure cotton and really soft and we have so many different designs. We are so proud of the way we've improved our printing - the Samoan ie really stands out here and the Micronesians especially really love it.

Our stuff has been very popular I think because not many people are doing clothes and we're pretty cheap compared to other products.

Each country has their uniqueness about them but I think we have the numbers and the variety, and we're so proud of our Siapo too.

I'm also the florist for our delegation too! But they don't have many flowers here so I just do what I can combine the driftwood with some rocks and just one stem with some samoan shells. That was our bouquet for the week - but fiji is really good, im keeping my eye on that Fijian florist...