Fa'asamoa

The Samoan Way.

Fa'asamoa is an all encompassing concept that dictates how Samoans are meant to act. It refers to the obligations that a Samoan owes their family, community and church and their sense of Samoan identity. The concept of respect is also very important.

This usually translates into the people of American Samoa being very kind and generous. Not only are most Samoans we meet extremely grateful that we are here to teach their children but they want us to feel like a part of their culture and family. Everyone goes out of there way to make us feel comfortable in our new environment. Everyone from the Taxi driver who drove us home from the Costco-like grocery store, to the librarian who gave me a ride home after snorkeling the other day, to the woman in the DOE Quality Education office who greeted us at the airport.

The Samoan culture is a very conservative one as religion plays a huge part in their life. Every village has a large number of churches which pretty much everyone on the island goes to. Christianity is the main religion but there are also a large number of Mormons as well. In fact, the village where I live has a very strong Mormon population.

My village has "Sa" which is a time for prayer. At 5 minutes to 6pm a warning bell rings throughout the village. The "bell" is like a old gas tank. Then at 6pm another bell rings which signals the commencement of Sa. During the next 7 minutes most people are inside their houses praying and offering thanks for their day. If you are out and about in the village you must stop and sit down until Sa is over. Then at 6:07 the last bell rings signaling that Sa is over and you can continue with your evening.

Then comes curfew. At 9pm the first curfew bell rings which means that all people under the age of 18 must be in their homes. At 10pm another bell rings which means that everyone should be in their homes. It is not a hard fast rule though, if you need to leave the village and go somewhere you can. You just can't be walking around the village. I'm not sure if it's for safety or just to keep everyone living a proper life.

Not all villages participate in these curfews but a majority of the smaller ones do. It is an interesting facet of this culture. I am so excited to learn more about how they live their lives here. I imagine that everything will continue to be an amazing learning experience.

No pictures in this blog but check out some on facebook, if you have it.

Malo!