SAMOA: Not Closed Today!
By Molilaauifoga’a Seanoa
Schools are shut, most shops are closed, and smoke from the umu wafts over our village. No, it’s not a typical Sunday in Samoa. It’s a a typical Tuesday on the first week of the State of Emergency Lockdown. That was 6 weeks ago. SOE rules have relaxed a little since then, but as a mum of 5 young children—taking care of an extended family household of 10 people—I’m not taking any unnecessary risks.
Today our country’s borders remain shut. Schools are still closed. Markets and shops have restricted opening hours and outside of our bubbles, we cannot congregate in groups of more than five people. That means no mass gatherings which is difficult when you consider that we are largely a church-going nation. On a normal Sunday—pre-lockdown—our household would wake up before the crack of dawn to attend morning mass. Now, we worship from home and only go to church to receive Holy Communion—our parish allowing one family bubble at a time to enter. God is not closed today!
My daughters love dressing up. They put on their Sunday best for what is basically less than a minute inside church to receive their blessing. We let them keep their dresses on for the rest of the day.
Restrictions on gatherings obviously make things like a Fa’alavelave* difficult to arrange or attend, but somehow NOT difficult to contribute to. The Saogamea* is not closed today! … Of course, I don’t mind, because in my opinion, to support and serve even in times of hardship is part of what it means to be Samoan. The Fa’asamoa is not closed today!
Meanwhile, eldest son: “Mum, someone’s on the phone, something about a fa’alavelave.”
Me: “Tell them I’m not home. I’m at work.” (I’m kidding) My sense of humour is also not closed today.
Of course, nowadays work IS at home. I run an import/export company, Samoa Global Source. I try to make it to the office once or twice a week, but I mostly manage from home. Online meetings and keeping supply chains and relationships open is still part of my daily routine.
I also manage a production studio with my husband, Sleeping Giant Films. We decided early in the lockdown that we couldn’t let any of our full-time staff go or reduce their hours because they’re like family to us and bills don’t stop for anyone. But mainly because they’re really talented at what they do. Sleeping Giant Films is not closed today!
Like most industries, we’ve taken a knock, but not as hard as those who work in the tourism and hospitality sector. The livelihood of so many Samoans rely on tourism. My heart goes out to them. Samoans are very innovative though, so hopefully we can all pitch in to help stimulate that industry and economy when this is all over.
On top of this, like many parents, my other full-time job is a home-school teacher.
Supervising a pre-schooler, two primary school kids and two teenage nieces who live with us. I try and keep home-school schedule the same as normal school hours. I don’t have to wash and iron school uniforms every day or negotiate rainy season potholes and raging rivers during school drop-offs and pick-ups. I also don’t have to pack their school lunches every morning, but hello, they’re hungry ALL THE TIME.
This is when I decided to bake cookies and snacks they could have during study. And my husband isn’t complaining either, stealing most of their snacks. He started posting pictures on Facebook as a joke mimicking the 25 Day Push-up Challenge, calling it ‘My Wife’s 25 Day Baking Challenge’. He thinks he is so clever. Anyway, today is Day 9 of the challenge and I have committed to it now lol. Check out #25DayBakeOff.
This lockdown has made me appreciate schoolteachers even more. They send me daily lessons for the kids, but I don’t even know half of what I’m trying to teach. Google is not closed today!
My kids are not only getting book smart but, street smart too. During the day, they know I have to cook lunch and tend to pre-schoolers and breastfeed a baby. This is their opportunity to strike and sneak away for a two-hour toilet break i.e. playing hide-and-seek and climbing trees outside. BTW, I’m used to cleaning up grubby kids, but since the lockdown, their hands have been immaculate.
Most of my siblings live overseas now, but they’ve been voluntarily sending money to help. I’m grateful because I know this has affected people globally and they’re dealing with their own lockdown issues. My older sister here in Samoa lives on the other side of the island and because public transport was restricted, she couldn’t travel to Apia if she needed anything from us. She takes care of her son with muscular dystrophy, and her husband has been unemployed during lockdown. We stock up with shopping and deliver it to them every two weeks and check if they’re ok. Family is not closed today!
So far there have been no confirmed cases of COVID19 in Samoa. This lockdown has not been easy for many people, but I think most understand how necessary it is, especially for a small island nation like us. As a country we cried and mourned for the victims and their families during the measles outbreak last year. Back then, there was a complete lockdown to stop the spread and for nationwide vaccinations. This week, Government will likely extend the State of Emergency, but will ease up on restrictions. Life won’t magically get back to normal, but we’ve been through lockdowns before—for viruses and even extreme weather events and disasters. But we’ve also been through comebacks too. Samoa is not closed today! Kind of ...
* Fa'alavelave - an interruption. It speaks of an interruption to the family's usual schedule. Families would have to reorganise their day or week in order to rally family members for enough resources to meet their faalavelave obligations. eg for a wedding or funeral
* Saogamea - Contribution towards a family occasion.