EBOOK2

NATIVE AMERICAN SAMOANYOUTH LIVELIHOOD PROJECT: RESPECTFUL OF CULTURE & ENVIRONMENT 0

Table of ContentsIntroduction .........................................................................................................................................2Our Project...........................................................................................................................................3TRADITIONAL SAMOAN OVEN & COOKING: THE UMU .......................................................................4 A Group Essay about the UMU ........................................................................................................5 How to Make Fa’ausi........................................................................................................................6Natural Resources................................................................................................................................7 A Group Essay about Our Natural Resources...................................................................................8Fale Samoa (Samoan Shelter) ............................................................................................................11 Building Faleo’o Can Benefit our Community ................................................................................13 How a Faleo’o is Built .....................................................................................................................13 Go Back to Faleo’o..........................................................................................................................14Traditional “Green” Gardening..........................................................................................................15 A Group Essay about Our Traditional Gardens ..............................................................................16 Research on Some of Our Garden Crops Conducted by Youth Participants .................................17 Traditional Gardening in American Samoa ....................................................................................19 Our Home Garden ..........................................................................................................................19 My Own Home Garden ..................................................................................................................20 The Elders .......................................................................................................................................22 Our Elders.......................................................................................................................................22 Stories from their Past ...................................................................................................................23Local Marketing..................................................................................................................................25 A Group Essay about Local Marketing ...........................................................................................26LEGENDS.............................................................................................................................................28 Youth Participants ..........................................................................................................................35 1

Introduction This e-Book chronicles the “Native American Samoan Youth Livelihood Training:Respectful of Culture & Environment Project” conducted by NASAC, a local non-profitorganization located in American Samoa, and funded by the Administration for NativeAmericans. The project was designed to equip American Samoan youth with a set ofvaluable, traditional Samoan livelihood skills that respects their heritage and islandenvironment; gives them economic viability in long-term living in American Samoa; andinvolves them in the preservation of significant cultural knowledge. Eighty-three youthbetween the ages of 12 -18 participated in the project over its three-year course. Though American Samoans have clung to their social culture, with increasedwesternization Samoan material culture has become largely neglected, negativelyimpacting our health, our environment, our economy and our culture. Twodemonstration sites were established where Samoan practitioners and elders workedtogether with youth in teaching and learning traditional skills in gardening, foodpreparation and plant processing. The cultural knowledge and lore associated with thoseskills was shared. Stewardship of our fragile island ecology was a dominant theme.Youth also received financial literacy, local marketing, and computer training that wouldbenefit developing the traditional livelihood skills for personal and family economicstability. Youth participants gained a great deal of associated cultural knowledge as theycollaborated with elders in learning the various traditional livelihood skills. Importantly,as the project progressed, youth demonstrated increased curiosity and respect for theirSamoan heritage; intergenerational relations became more open and uninhibited; andelders and youth alike were visibly proud of what they had to teach and of what theyhad learned. 2

Our Project By Karralynn Fitisone I spent last Saturday at the project again. The weather was warm and humid,great for learning new things and getting stuff done. This program has been in progressfor three years and I have been a participant for two years. Those two years have beenfun, informative, and productive. I’ve learned a bunch about our culture and about our environment, and combiningthose two concepts to learn how close we used to be to our environment and how ithelps if we don’t forget that. I’ve learned a lot about the way our people used to livefrom our elders and how they took advantage of the environment. We learned howcaring for our environment benefits us, how our environment was protected in the past,and how we need to protect it today and into the future. I learned traditional organic gardening (without pesticides and chemicals), how tomake an umu (traditional way of cooking food the Samoan way), and how to processplants the traditional way to make a lot of products for ourselves like we used to, insteadof importing them. We learned and practiced all these skills on a piece of land providedby NASAC. My favorite part of the program was the traditional gardening. We’ve beengrowing plants that are traditional like taro, laupele and pasio, and also healthyvegetables and herbs like eggplant, beans, basil and sage that are not traditional butnutritious and easy to grow in Samoa. Picking up litter around the vicinity is what wealways start with. Keeping Samoa “litter-free” is not just for keeping Samoa beautiful, italso keeps Samoa healthy. I really liked working with others in my age group and seeing our gardens turn outsuccessfully. It wasn’t always easy getting the plants to grow but in the end it was allworth it because the vegetables turned out great and healthy. This program has been agreat experience, and I look forward to project days, especially days spent in the garden. 3

TRADITIONAL SAMOAN OVEN & COOKING: THE UMU 4

A Group Essay about the UMU Making an umu is fun and interesting. The umu is how our ancestors cooked and still today, it is a delicious and healthy way to prepare food. Food tastes better cooked in an umu than food cooked in an indoor oven. Making an umu is an important part of the Samoan culture. It reminds me of the past, how strong and healthy Samoans were back then and how it brought families and friends together working for something they can all enjoy. People seem to stop making umu because they think it is too hard and complicated. Instead, many Samoans today stay inside and watch TV or play with mobile devices if they are not at their jobs. It’s better to use time wisely making an umu, and afterwards, you would be proud you did it because your family has something extremely delicious to eat. The materials we need for making an umu surround us – rocks, wood, taro, banana, breadfruit, papaya, laupele, coconuts, etc. You can learn a lot about our culture and our environment by learning how to make a good umu. How do you make an umu? The first thing that needs to be done is to clean the umu area. Secondly, you have to lagolago (build a log foundation) for the sides of the umu. Then place the river rocks (not lava rocks or they could explode) within and wood on top to burn and heat up the rocks. Make sure everything is flat. Once the umu is fired up, it is time to prepare the food that will go into the umu. The basic Samoan foods that we use are the ulu (breadfruit), talo (taro), and fa’I (bananas). While the fire is burning and the rocks are heating, it is time to peel and scrape the skin from the ulu, talo and fa’i. When this is done and the rocks are white hot, place the food on the rocks. You can also add chicken or fish to the umu with laupele greens and make the special Samoan dish palusami (taro leaves in coconut cream) for a really nice umu and a complete, healthy meal. Cover all the food with banana and taamu leaves to keep the heat in. The food must bake in the umu for at least one hour or depending on what you cooking in the umu it may take longer. Whenthe cooking is complete, the leaves are removed and the food is takenquickly off the hot rocks. The aroma of delicious Samoan food will fill upthe air. Then, it’s time to eat. 5

Making an umu is a lot of work, so help is needed, but that’s a good thing because it brings families and friends together to do something useful and fun. People get to know each other better when they work together to make an umu. And they spend a restful time together enjoying a good meal when the umu is ready. Making anumu has been an important part of the Samoan culture for a long time and Ihope we never lose it. It strengthens our connection to the land and to ourfamilies. How to Make Fa’ausi By: Aran Ilaoa Now it’s time to cut banana leaves and heat them on the umu rocks until they are soft and easy to bend. Then cut the banana leaves into about six pieces. One by one, you spread the pe’epe’e (coconut cream) on the banana leaves. Then you put the mashed up taro on the banana leaves. Wrap the banana leaves up into small packages and bake them in the umu. When the umu is done you open up the banana leaf packages and it looks like a small loaf. Cut the loaf into chunky squares and there you have a delicious treat: Fa’ausi!! I LOVE IT! Faausi is a Samoan delicacy. It takes a lot of time and work to make it but it is a delicious treat and you can easily sell it at the Fagatogo Marketplace. 6

Natural Resources A Group Essay 7

A Group Essay about Our Natural Resources Before papalagi (Westerners) came to Samoa, our ancestors got all their food and shelter and things they needed to live from the land and sea. There was work for everybody to do but it wasn’t work that paid money. It was work to provide for everything families, villages and all of Samoa needed for a healthy life. It wasn’t an easylife but our people were much healthier at that time than they are today. Every generation in Samoaseems to suffer more than their parents’ generation from diabetes, cancer, heart disease, kidneydisease, obesity and other health problems, especially NCD’s (non-communicable diseases). Our diettoday of cheap, fatty imported meat and fast food is unhealthy compared to the fish and plants weused to grow for ourselves to eat. Our diet used to be all whole foods like taro, breadfruit, bananas, andfish. We don’t farm and fish much anymore so we don’t get enough exercise which is also important toour health, so the hard work had good benefits also. In our project we learned about our natural resources that were important to us in the past and how they were used. We learned that these resources are neglected a lot in modern Samoa even though they can still be very beneficial today to keep us healthy, to save us money, and to keep our environmental healthy. We learned how to take care of these plants, the green, traditional way of cultivating them, and how to process them for food, medicine and shelter and especially we learned that if we don’t take care of them we can never really be self-sufficient. Our whole lives will depend on things that have to be imported that willbe expensive and not even as good in quality as what we can produce right here in Samoa. We learnedthat one of the best ways we can do this is for every family to do what our ancestors did, to have ourown small gardens and to take care of our other plants and use them wisely. The fau tree is a good example of one plant that has different uses. It has strong wood with many different shaped branches. Some of the branches are curved. It can be used to build fale (Samoan houses). The straight trunks can poles to hold up a fale or an umu (cooking shelter). The curved branches are used for the round parts of the fale. You can also strip the bark from the fau tree and peel the inner bark to make tauaga, a strainer for grating coconut. The tauaga can also be used for many household purposes likecooking strainers and cleaning scrubbers. Another use for the strippedinner bark of the fau tree is to create beautiful teu for our traditionalfunctions (floral decorations). Recently, American Samoa has beenimporting tauaga from other islands when we can easily make it forourselves. We learned how to do this and how to care for our fau trees. Probably the best example of the native tree that has so manyimportant uses is the Niu (coconut tree). It’s important to know thatthere are different kinds of coconut trees and each one of them is bestfor specific purposes. For example, the niuolotuma is the tree thatprovides the best thatch for making roofs on our traditional shelters. The niuleka has the most 8

accessible fruit for drinking healthy niu (coconut water) and the niuafa provides the best fiber for twine.Besides these kinds of uses there are so many other uses and benefits of coconut trees. Here is a list ofsome of them we learned about and practiced during our project. These are useful things that arehealthy. Also we can use them instead of going to the store and buying things that imported to Samoa.  The juice (water) of the young coconut is delicious and super-healthy. This deink is also called niu, like the tree.  Meat from older coconuts is grated & squeezed (with a tauaga) to make pe’epe’e (coconut cream or mile) for cooking, especially for Samoan delicacies like fa’alifu, fa’ausi and palusami.  Coconut tree blossoms can be used to make healthy, tasty nectar.  There is fiber inside the coconut husk that can be pulled out, rubbed clean and make into pulu (for scrubbing like the tauaga).  The ribs of the coconut fronds are removed and tied together to make salu (brooms). They are also used to make frames of headdresses or to hold flowers in a teu.  The thick part of the coconut frond is used to make cooking utensils like tongs.  Coconut oil is pressed from mature coconut are better than charcoal for outdoor fires.  Many things are woven from the coconut fronds: pulou (hats), ato (baskets), pola (shades for fale Samoa), and ili (fans). Healing Plants: Learning about the many native plants in Samoa that our ancestors used forhealth and natural healing was one of the most interesting activities we did in this project. We learnedthat each of these plants had more than one use in healing and that even if you use a healing plant forone specific purpose, there were side effects that were good side effects, not bad ones. Usually, Samoanhealing plants are processed to make a tea for healing massage or to drink or eat. How the plants areprepared for healing gets pretty complicated and is different for different people and differentproblems. Samoan taulasea (herbalists) decide which plants and remedies are needed. Today, morepeople in Samoa are learning to use these plants again. Here are some of the healing plants we learnedabout in the project:  Nonu – drink the liquid from the overripe fruit, apply the leaves to reduce fever & swelling; crush the tiny fruit for coughs.  Ti leaves - crumble the leaves for massaging for headaches & other body pains  Moegalo – make a tea form the leaves, make a stronger tea form the roots  Lama – crush the nuts for a rich massage oil & for beautiful skin  Papaya leaves – make a tea from the young leaves for certain diseases.  Sasalapa – make a tea from the leaves for certain diseases.  Fiu – make a tea from the roots. 9

 Coconut oil – use as massage or just apply to skin and hair.  Fetau – crush the nuts for a healing oil  Lega – grind the root for healing, healthy food seasoning.In conclusion, we must take care of our natural resources. We should not forget the knowledgeof our ancestors that can still help us today and in the future. 10

Fale Samoa (Samoan Shelter) A Group Essay about Fale Samoa 11

A traditional Samoan shelter is called a faleo’o. Faleo’o are used for meeting places, restingplaces and many other things. We watched and then helped to build faleo’o for our project. The coolthing about a faleo’o is that everything you need to build it is right here in Samoa and you don’t have tobuy imported stuff. When our faleo’o were finished, we had a shelter to process plants in; a shelter for our talafagogo (legends and stories); a shelter to rest in during garden work when it got too hot or started torain; and a shelter for our meetings. Two of our faleo’o, the ones for our meetings and stories, are reallybeautiful and we were careful to build them perfectly which was easy because the first ones we builtwere like practice. Tulelei was our elder guide for the faleo’o and he always wanted everything perfect.Even though it was hard sometimes, we were all so proud of them when they were finally finished. Welike to just hang out there before the project and after the project. We can say to each other. “Malo lava!” (Well Done!) The Roof: Its frame is round. You can find fau trees inthe jungle that have big curved branches, just right for the roundshape of the faleo’o. Once the frame of the roof is up, it is time tothatch the roof. The thatch is woven from a special kind ofcoconut tree called a niuolotuma. The branches (fronds) of theniuolotuma are much thicker and stronger than the fronds ofother kinds of coconut trees. They look real bushy. Thatch made from niuolotuma can last for ten yearsor more. If you make thatch from other coconut fronds it will only last a couple of months and if it rainsa lot, maybe it won’t even last that long. The Walls: There are no walls in a traditional fale! The roof is held up by poles and the polescome from a native tree called a poumuli. Poumuli trees grow straight and tall and the wood is verystrong and hard. Between the poles we hang the pola (like curtains) that can be raised up or lowereddown for fresh air or privacy. The pola is woven from the fronds of regular coconut trees. 12

The Floor: First of all, faleo’o is never built flat on the ground. A foundation of rocks andearth is formed first and the faleo’o will sit on this foundation. When the faleo’o foundation and frameand roof and poles are all complete, it is time to do the floor. Two kinds of stone must be collected forthe floor and both kinds have to be smoothed from water. The first layer of stones is black rocks thathave smoothed form the rivers. The last layer of rocks is small white coral rocks that have beensmoothed from the ocean. Building Faleo’o Can Benefit our Community By: Tu’i Ki & Richard SusugaIn order to continue to have faleo’o, we must take care of the plants needed to build them. Most of the shelters built today are small shacks made of used building materials that were imported to our island. Imported materials are expensive, which is why most people today just use old lumber and tin and tarp to build shelters and these kinds of shelters look ugly. But you can build a traditional faleo’o from our own natural resources. And it won’t cost you any money if you have taken care of the trees and plants used to build them. Faleo’o are not only cheaper to build, they look way nicer than scrap shelters and they are cooler - perfect for our tropical climate. Faleo’o are just as useful today as they were in the old days for our social functions.So where do we find the materials to build faleo’o? From the forests we get fau trees for the roof frameand poumuli trees for the poles; from different kinds of coconut trees we thatch for the roof and frondsfor the pola (curtains) and floor mats; from the rivers we get smooth black stone for the floor and fromthe seaside we get smooth white pebbles for the top layer of the floor. In conclusion, faleo’o are useful, cool, comfortable, look nice, and we can build them from ourown natural resources. Using our native, natural resources is convenient. It can save us money, remindus to take care of our lands and beautify the island. How a Faleo’o is Built By Rosie Faleao Building a good faleo’o is not that easy. You have to find all the resources that you need in order to build one. It is mostly made out of our natural resources which are a good thing so you won’t waste money on buying everything. For a faleo’o you need to get poumuli for the poles, river rocks and ocean rocks for the floor, curvy fau branches and niuolotuma branches for the roof, and afa (coconut twine) to hold everything together. The first step is to find a nice area to build then dig holesto put poumuli poles in securely. The poumuli logs have to be straight and tall and strong. Next youfasten the curvy fau branches on top of the poumuli poles for the frame of the roof. Now you can startbuilding the floor by loading dirt and gravel between the poles to raise the faleo’o above the ground 13

level surrounding the fale. Big lava stones are put around the dirt to hold it in. what you have then is anice lava rock wall. After that you pat the dirt down firmly before covering the dirt with smooth, blackriver rocks. Then, cover the black river rocks with smooth, super-white coral rocks from the beach(called iliili) and the floor is finished. Finally, it is time to weave the niuolotuma branches into sectionsand them to the faleo’o roof. Niuolotuma thatch looks really nice and the roof will last for about tenyears or even more. The final touch is to weave regular coconut tree branches (fronds) into panels forcurtains, called pola. You can raise up or lower down the pola as you like. After all the hard work, now you have your own faleo’o and all you have to do is enjoy feeling thebreeze whenever you use it. Go Back to Faleo’o By: Margaret West A fale can be built from our own natural resources instead of buying expensive importedmaterial. The trees for poles, the palms for the roofing, fronds for shades, and river or sea rocks for theflooring are all available to us. Fale looks nicer than shacks which are built using imported material. Ithink that one of the main attractions for our island is our Fale Samoa. It is appreciated by Samoansand visitors as part of our traditional culture. Most of the shelters built today are small shacks made of imported material. Since importedmaterial is expensive, most people just use old scraps like tin, lumber, and tarp to build shelters andthese shelters are an eyesore. Building traditional fale using our own natural resources can save money, beautify our island,and provide useful shelters for our traditional and modern functions. 14

Traditional “Green” Gardening 15

A Group Essay about Our Traditional Gardens We traveled back in time and experienced the way our ancestors farmed for survival. We learned how our ancestors planted without chemicals and that this traditional, organic farming was healthier for the Samoan people and environment. Before outsiders set foot on our land, Samoans were subsistence farmers. Every family had maumaga (small farm or garden). We didn’t use money and we didn’t have stores. We planted and gathered and fished to live. Today, life is very different in Samoa; people need jobs to make money to survive. Most of the things we use now are imported and we have to buy them in stores. Notmany families grow any of their own food at maumagaanymore. The farms today are commercial farms, not familysubsistence farms and they use pesticides and chemicals tokeep pests away, make their crops grow faster and lookbigger. This helps them make money faster but it isn’t thatgreat for our health or for the health of our soil. In thisproject we learned about the advantage of growing at leastsome of our own food and using traditional “green” methods,without pesticides and other chemicals: It is healthy for ourbodies, for our soil and for our environment. We started tocall chemicals and pesticides “invaders” because they can killnutrients in the soil and eat up the nutrients in the plants wegrow. Our ANA project farm was organic and we learnedtraditional methods of planting and keeping the plantshealthy. We made heaps of compost from the dead leavesand grass and other plants to make organic fertilizer. It wasmore work, but it produced healthier food. It’s not that hardto “go green” when you have just a small garden for yourfamily. We can grow healthier crops to eat and our soil willbe healthier too because chemicals can eat up the nutrients inthe soil. In our project garden we grew both traditional andnon-traditional crops. Traditional crops are the ones Samoansused for hundreds of years like taro, banana, ufi, koko, laupeleand moegalo. These are whole foods and greens and they are 16

super healthy. Non-traditional crops we grew were vegetables and herbs that were brought to Samoafrom other parts of the world. We also planted these non-traditional crops using traditional Samoan farming methods. We chose healthy vegetables for the non-traditional crops we grew in our garden, like okra, tomatoes, and eggplant, green beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, Bok Choy and leaf cabbage. It was great to take home bags of fresh vegetables that we grew ourselves forour families to eat. A lot of our families don’t each manyvegetables anymore because mostly they’re imported and reallyexpensive. And our vegetables tasted so much better than theexpensive ones in the stores: not only because we grew themourselves and they’d been grown organically, but also becausethey fresher. They didn’t have to travel thousands of miles to get to our tables. Our organic vegetableswere nutritious and best of all, delicious. They only cost us some work (good exercise), not money. Research on Some of Our Garden Crops Conducted by Youth Participants Taro: is one of the main foods in the traditional Samoan diet. The root is eaten as a starch and the green leaves are a delicious to eat and very nutritious green. Taro has a low caloric content. The root has a lot of fiber and is good to help digestion. Taro is good for kidney health. It is a great source of Vitamin C and is good for maintaining healthy cholesterollevels. Also it provides more than 160% of the recommended daily need of Vitamin A. Both the leavesand the root of the taro contain a lot of antioxidants to protect people from cancer. It can also preventheart disease and help maintain good blood pressure. Taro contains a lot of magnesium too and is good for your muscles, bones and health. 17

Eggplant: This non-traditional plant is an excellent source ofdietary fiber which can help protect against Type 2 diabetes and keepthe digestive system regular. Eggplant contains a lot of Vitamin A. Itis low in fat and carbohydrates. Eggplant can be used in many ways,for food and even for medicine. Bananas: Bananas are a traditional crop that contain short chain fatty acids which are neededby the cells lining intestinal tract to stay healthy. This food can provide a lot of energy. If you eatbananas before or after a game it will give you a lot of energy. It isrich in Vitamin B6 and Vitamin C. It has a lot of potassium which is good to keep you calm because it has a soothing effect. Bananas can be eaten green (boiled, baked in the umu or fried) or ripe. There are many ways to prepare bananas andthey all taste good. But my favorite way is to make suafa’i (like a soup) from ripe bananas. Laupele: There are several kinds of laupele, a green leaf that grows like a shrub. At firstbotanists thought that laupele was a part of the hibiscus family, but now it’s been classified as part ofthe okra family. It is a super-healthy food (and a little gooey too, like okra) but most especially it issuper-delicious. You can cook it in many ways, with any kind of meat or fish or just cook it alone as avegetable. Some of the ways to cook it are steaming, baking, boiling, frying, or in the umu. Besides taroleaves, laupele was the most common green vegetable inthe traditional Samoan diet. Lots of Samoans today don’teven know what laupele is but once they have a taste, theywant to eat it. And the only way to get it is to grow yourown because they don’t sell it in the stores. This is goodtoo because it will get more of our people growing theirown food -- hopefully without chemicals and pesticides. Composting: We started a compost field made from dried leaves, twigs, grass and weeds from the land we cleared for our gardens. Today we plowed the compost field just like the way our ancestors did it. We shoveled the bigger branches and trash out of the field and we used a net to sift through the compost that was left to make finer compost. We shook the compost through the net and into a wheelbarrow to put around our garden plants to enrich the soil. We used the compost also to plant seeds. When 18

they sprout and get stronger we will transplant them into the garden. Composting is a lot more workthan spraying on fertilizer but the result is much healthier for our bodies and it feeds the soil too,keeping it healthy. Traditional Gardening in American Samoa Group Essay Did you know that the way Samoans gardened back in the day before contact with the western world is now considered to be the “progressive” way to garden? That’s right – we were more progressive in the old days of Samoa than we have been recently. Back then we didn’t use pesticides and commercial fertilizers, wemade compost. Our plants, our bodies and our soil were all much healthier then too. Every family andvillage grew their own food on small plots. The food we ate was fresher and didn’t have to be shippedin from thousands of miles away and cost lots of money. In our ANA project we learned that too many farmers on our island today are (unfortunately)using and abusing pesticides and chemicals. Of course there are reasons they do this but we don’t thinkthey’re very good reasons. They do it because it’s easy and convenient to just buy these things insteadof making your own compost. But you lose so much – like the nutrients in the soil and in the plants.They also do it to make the plants grow faster so they can harvest faster and make more money faster. These things should not be as important as our health and our environment. Yes, it’s harder, it takes more time and energy to make compost, prepare the soil, and check the plants for bugs and disease. But if you have a small garden, it’s not that much work and the benefits for your family are terrific. Your garden will be so healthy that you’re sure to have enough produce left over to share with others or to sell at the market. Let’s learn from our ancestors,let’s go back to our past ways and let’s at least decrease the use of chemicals, let’s go back to goinggreen! Our Home Garden By Seini Tautua’a Well, Darlene and I started our home gardening planting vegetables such as cucumbers, beans,and cabbages. We live in Faleniu, but decided to do our home garden in Leone. Darlene’s uncle was kindenough to offer us a portion of his land to start our home gardening. We would have done it where welive, but because the area is cluttered and there is not space enough for a garden, we decided it wasbest to do it at Darlene’s uncle’s house. Another reason why is because there are too many kids in the 19

area we live at. They are sure to destroy our plants if we did decide to plant at home. Over theweekends and some days of the week, we would go out to check on our garden. Our uncle, who ownsthe land, helps us maintain our home garden. We don’t always go out to our garden during the weekbecause we attend school. We are sure that we plan to go out every day of the weekend to maintainour garden and make sure that it is still growing. When we first started our garden, we had already known what to do. We cleaned out the areaand made sure that the soil was healthy and was ready to plant. Before planting the seeds, we hadthem growing in little bags to have them sprout first. We did this at our project site. We built rows tomake sure that each vegetable had a row and space enough to grow. We built trellises out of nets andwood for the cucumbers and the beans to grow on. When all this was ready and done, we shifted ourplants. We used compost already made from our project site to help us with our garden. We made surethat our vegetables were watered at least twice a day – in the morning and in the evening. We alsomade sure that we did a lot of weeding and maintenance that was required. Our main problem withour home gardening was the rats, snails, and chicken. Therats and chickens would eat our vegetables and the snailswould kill our vegetable plants. We were frustrated at firstfinding a solution, until Tilani Ilaoa and Rory West gave us anidea of building a net like green house to protect our plantsfrom invasive. The project provided us with nets, bamboos,and gardening tools. Just like what we and the specialistsbuilt at the project, we try to do the same to our homegarden. It was a success. Our garden isn’t a big garden whichmade it a success. Overall, our garden turned out to be fruitfuland beautiful. The vegetables were delicious and up to this day, Darlene’s uncle is using our homegarden to plant his own vegetables. He thanked us for showing him how to start gardening and tellinghim how organic farming is a healthier way to farm because it provides our bodies with a lot ofnutrients. My Own Home Garden By: Jordynn LiuKuey My home garden is big and magnificent. My garden is at the back of my house. When my aunties, uncles, and brothers, and I included began my home garden, it was hard work. We had to clear out a big space and make rows for our plants. It was such hard work. My garden had to be perfect and had to have no insects that would kill the plants. My home garden has nets go around it so it would keep the animals away. In my garden I planted cabbages and eggplants. The cabbagesgrew but the eggplants haven’t. Making my home garden was very hard but then it became easy tomake it. Home gardening is much easier because I get my vegetables for free and they have nochemicals and pesticides in it. 20

Our Elders 21

The Elders By: David James To’o Two of our elders, ladies who are in their eighties, had been friends all of their lives. They toldus about their lives as young girls in Manu’a. Their lives sounded hard even though they told us thatthey had easy lives compared to their friends because both of their fathers were faifeau (Christianministers). A can of corn beef today cost four or five dollars today. When they were young, it cost onlytwenty-five cents. But even though that sounds cheap to us now, it was expensive in those daysbecause there wasn’t much money used in Samoa at that time and few people had jobs that paidmoney. They talked about evenings in their family homes where tala fagogo (stories & legends) weretold nightly before everyone went to sleep. It was interesting how at that time, people always left somefood between the two center posts of the Samoan house to appease the spirits. When they were olderthey both went to San Francisco where they met again and continued their friendship until today whenthey have both returned to Samoa. They loved our project. Our Elders By Asomua IlaoaMy grandmother Lagi told us about all the rules Samoans had when she was growing up inSamoa in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Some of those rules were nottalking loud on the roads or anywhere in public, never beingdisrespectful to any elder but treating every elder like your owngrandparent. There were also a lot of rules to appease the spirits like notwhistling at night, girls not going outside with their hair unbraided,covering mirrors at night, not leaving any light on in your house late atnight, and being especially quiet when walking up the mountains. She told us how her grandfather told her that when he was young, Samoans were not allowed to touch each other, like holding hands in public. Then when papalagi (Westerners, especially sailors) came and Samoans saw them walking in public arm in arm or with their arms around each other’s shoulders, they started to copy that behavior – but only boys with boys or girls withgirls – never would a boy and girl hold hands together in public. Peka is an elder who liked to tell us old legends and sing thesongs that went with the legends. Most of the legends were kind ofscary and had bad endings. She told us that these legends were theway to make Samoan children think about the right way to dothings and the consequences for not doing things properly liketaking care of your children. Taking care of the children is more 22

important than any other work; so is being respectful to all elders. Finally when you are an adult and an elder you should be a fair and kind leader. It was fun and interesting hearing the legends and experiences of our elders. All of the elders really enjoyed our project especially the Samoan food we prepared for them in the umu (traditional oven). Most of us never spent much timewith elders before but this time together with them was real fun. Allof the youth in the project had to go to elders in our family or in ourvillage and spend time with them and ask them to tell us theirstories. Stories from their Past By Rasela To’o We often hear stories about how our ancestors struggled for survival; how life back then wassimple but full of hardship. This is a new generation and we are rapidly adapting to so manytechnologies. We’ve had the privilege of meeting two beautiful ladies who had lived between threegenerations and are still working. They both sharedtheir experiences on how life was back then forthem, and how a big change of society has evolvedtremendously. Their fathers were pastors whichmade living for them a piece of cake compared totheir peers. They didn’t have to worry much aboutdoing any chores. The church people would preparetheir meals and do all the cleaning. One of theelders, Pouiva, told us how it was difficult to walkfrom one end of the island to the other to get toschool. After school, along with other people, they would walk back home. She later on went to theStates to reside and to further her education, and became a nurse. The other elder, Litara Alaimo,moved to Savai’i, Samoa when her father passed away and life changed for her. She then experiencedlabor and admitted that work was not easy. 23

Both elders pointed out that money back then was not as big as the amount we spend onthe daily basis now. A dime and nickel was worth so much for them, and if we compare it to now, wecan only buy candy out of a dime and a nickel. Despite all these, they were best of friends and bothwere nurses in the war and are still working as nurses up to this day. I conclude that living back then was so different from now. We do things the easy waynow which can be good, but our life is more complicated in so many ways. We have to remember totake care of our island and take care of our culture. Our culture has survived for many, manygenerations and it can continue to help us if we don’t neglect it. Before Samoans didn’t have much andthey didn’t need that much. All they did was embrace what they had and they were simply thankful foreverything they had. 24

Local Marketing 25

A Group Essay about Local Marketing In our project we learned how to save money by growing some of our vegetables and fruit andhow this is not only cheaper, it is also healthier. We learned about taking care of our own natural resources and using them to make things for the house like brooms and strainers and scrubbers and cooking tolls instead of buying everything from the store. And then we learned how to market the things we grow and make to make money to help our families. First we should get used to growing and making things for our families to use. Once this is done and it gets easier for us, we found that we could easily make extra things that we couldsell. Especially when our small home gardens got growing good, a lot times we had extra vegetablesand fruit that was more than our family eats. Mostly we shared the extras with our neighbors or gavethem to people who needed it. But we learned that we can also sell these things here in Samoa to makemoney, even if it’s not a lot to sell. We had marketing lessons and marketing practice. Our lessons started with financial literacyclasses. One of the most interesting things we learned in these classes was the idea of “paying yourselffirst”. This means. When you make money, the first thing you should do with that money is to decidehow much of it you can save. Before, all of us thought that you should save whatever is left afterspending what you need and want to spend; but really itshould be the opposite and you should decide first what tosave and then spend. This will keep you from wastingmoney on stuff you don’t really need and you’ll always havesome savings, even if it’s just a little. We also learned aboutbanks and banking and when credit is useful and when itcan get you into trouble. So how about marketing? We practiced marketingright in front of the NASAC building in Pavaia’i village andlots of people stopped by to buy things, especially peoplewho want to eat organically-grown produce. We learned toset prices and when to lower them or raise them. Welearned what produce most people will buy and even thebest days of the week to have a market. The best days were Fridays on government pay week. Where will we sell our produce and products in American Samoa when this project is finished?There are basically two reasonable places to market our goods since we don’t have a whole lot to sell atone time. 1) At the Fagatogo Market Place in town on a Friday night but you have to pay to use atable so it’s good if we put our goods together and sell together. If you process laufala plants (used byweavers_ you can sell each roll for $25.00 at the marketplace and make good money. 26

2) You can set up a stand on the roadside in your village and near your garden. This doesn’t costanything and if your produce looks good and you put up a sign that it isorganically grown, people passing by will stop and buy from you. There is also a third place to sell our produce and products andthat is to the local grocery stores. The main problem with that is theyusually only buy if you have a lot to sell them and most of us don’t havethat much to sell yet. Marketing is fun and it’s an extra reward for the food we growand the products we make for our families to use. 27

LEGENDS Told by our EldersWho heard from their Elders & Retold by Us 28

Tapitofau & Ogafau Retold by Jesaiah LiuKuey Once upon a time there was this old couple. The old man was named Tapitofau, and the old lady was named Ogafau. They both worked on a plantation. Every day before heading out to the plantation, they would always leave their baby at home, cradled in a woven coconut basket. One day, while they were working out in the plantation, they could smell the umu in which the village had prepared. When theywere done working, they went home to find out that their baby, they had always cradled in a wovencoconut basket, was missing. They went out to the village to search for their baby and there was nosign of the baby. Every day when they go to work they would always hear a baby singing. Tapitofau ma Ogafau Lua galulue le mafaufau O au ua tautau I le fau *This legend was told by my grandmother, Elizabeth Baker. Legend of Taema and Tilafaiga Retold by: Richard Susuga Taema and her sister Tilafaiga (Tila the supportive) were the goddesses of tattooist. They brought art of tattooing to Samoa from Fiji. We call it “le tatau.” As they travel, the sisters sang a song that woman gets tattoos, not man. As they got near the village called Falealupo at the western end of Savai’i, they dived to get a clam. When they emerged, their song changed. Only man gets tattoo, not woman. However, Samoa has traditional tattoos for both males and females. The traditional male tattoo is the “pe’a.” The female tattoos is the “malu.” In a similar legend, Taema’ssister Tilafaiga was the mother of Samoan goddess of war, Nafanua, the daughter of Saveasi’uleo, godof the underworld Pulotu. The reason why they got their name was because of the storm that hit theirboat and they went on separate ways. One girl got her name on the mast, Tilafaiga. The other didn’thave a name until a piece of human execration passed by and she inherited the name Taema. So thesummary of this legend, the girls are very famous Siamase twins. They went to Fiji so they can learnabout the art. The elder that told this story was my mother. I like to listen to my mother when she’sstory telling because it’s very interesting how people get their names, or how places in Samoa cameabout and much more. Thanks to my mother, I now know how Samoa inherited the tattoo. *Merita Susuga told us this legend. 29

Origin of the Tonumaipea title Retold by Theresa To’o The Tuitoga Manaia had two wives, one a Tongan and the other a Samoan. Leutogitupaitea, the Samoan wife, was the daughter of Muliagalafai. After some time the Tongan woman bore a child, but Leutogitupaitea remained childless. As the Tongan teased her because of this, she became vexed and finally resolved to kill the child of the Tongan woman. One day, they both went to their common bathing place. When they reached it, the Tongan said, “Let me bathe while you hold my child.” This Leutogitupaitea did, for she thought that hour to revenge her had come. As soon asthe Tongan was out of sight, she took a tuaniu (midrib of a coconut leaflet) ad forced it into the brain ofthe baby. The Tongan, hearing the sudden wild cry of her child returned, but her child already wasdead. Of course she suspected Leutogitupaitea of having killed the child. Looking for proof of hersuspicion, she soon found the tuaniu and reported the evil deed to the tuitoga, who became so angrythat he ordered that Leutogitupaitea be burned alive. The unlucky woman was then dragged by theangry people into the bush and bound to a fetau tree. Soon a tall heap of dry wood surrounded her.Then the people set fire to it and, not willing to hear the shrieks of the miserable woman, they wentback to their village. Suddenly, thousands of bats flew by with their mouth full of water and pour it onto the fire. The people were shocked when they found out about this. They bound her up again, thistime on an uninhabited island. This island was haunted by mischievous aitu (ghosts) named Losi and theking. Losi didn’t kill her because he thought she could die from hunger and thirst. Losi was shockedwhen every day bats brought food for her. After some time, the Tui-Uea happened to sail along thatisland. Leutogitupa’i called him and begged him to take her with him. This he gladly did and as she wasa good looking woman, he married her. She bore him a son whom he called Fa’aasega. When the boyhad grown up, she sent him back to Savai’i. But before he left she gave him three titles to be taken toher family. Tonumaipea – in memory of what the pe’a had done for her. Tilomai – in memory of the aitu looking after her. Tau’ili’ili – because she had to use stones to cover her oven instead of leaves. *Sione told us this legend. The Turtles of Tigilau Retold by: Temukisa Faleao There was a man named Tigilau who was looked upon as a semi god of the district of Amao inSavai’i. He lived in the western part of the village of puapua. In a pool at this spot he kept two bigturtles and the names of these turtles were Toga and Utuutu. Tigilau was well known in Samoa, Tonga,and Fiji. When an orator of the king of Tonga heard of Tigilau, he paid a visit to Puapua and stayed withTigilau. The orator’s name was Ae. Ae after being well treated for many months asked Tigilau to sendhim back to Tonga. He did not wish to go by boat and asked Tigilau to return him to Tonga on the backsof the turtles. Tigilau agreed but pointed out that these turtles were highly thought of by the Districtand the people would be very angry if any harm came to them. Tigilau promised to consult with his 30

District and also get their approval to the proposal. The district agreed and Tigilau then went to thepool and asked the turtles if they were willing to carry Ae back to Tonga. They were and Tigilau askedthem to get ready. He further told them that he would watch the passage “Togotogo” through whichthey would pass from the lagoon to the open sea every day and if he ever noticed that the water in thispassage was splashed with red or blood he would know that something had happened to them. Tigilauthen said to Ae “sit on the neck of the turtles. They will carry you to Tonga.” He also asked Ae to get offthe turtles when came to the reef at Tonga where the water was too shallow for the turtles to safelyswim. Ae was then to send the turtles straight back to Samoa. When the turtles arrived to Nukualofa inTonga where the water was too shallow to safely swim they recognized the spot as a place calledTafola and they asked Ae to get off. Ae begged them to take him further in where he can stand on thebottom. This was done and Toga said to Ae, “jump off I cannot swim any further.” Ae jumped off andcaught hold of the front legs of the turtle and called to his people on shore to come quickly as he hadpromised. When Toga was killed by the Tongans, Tigilau saw the water change to red and he knew thattrouble had happened to his turtles. Utuutu returned to Samoa and was caught by the fishing partyfrom the Salega District. This was the turtle caught by Saumaniafaese. * Oriana Faleao told us this legend. Turtle and Shark Retold by Masina Faleao This legend is about an old lady and her granddaughter who was rejected by their families as too much burden, and so they decided to throw themselves into the ocean and cast their fate. Then they magically transformed into a turtle and a shark. The old lady and her granddaughter sought out a new home. As they were traveling they came across this village, Vaitogi, and decided to stay there. While they were there, they transformed back and went on land and people from the village gave them food and yet she still hears the sea calling so she told her hosts that they have to go backand that the village water will be their permanent home. Before they went back to their home she toldthe village people a song to sing and promise tht her and her granddaughter will come. Up till nowpeople at the village sings the song and people can see them. * Auntie Christine Siaumau told this legend. The Legend of Salote and Lemalie Retold by Megan West The story took place in Afonotele, Tutuila. Back when I was in elementary at Afonotele, we useto sing a song about this story. The character of the story is an ancestor of my mothers, Fualole Ki. Thishappened about 100 years ago. One day when the whole family woke up they decided to go watch the cricket game but theywanted someone to stay and watch the house. They then told Salote and Lemalie to watch the house 31

while they go watch the cricket game. When the family left, Salote and Lemalie were hungry and didn’t know what to do. So, they left the house and went for a walk. While they were looking for food they found guava and ate some. Later on, the family came back and they could not find Salote or Lemalie at the house. The whole village of Afono came and search for Salote and Lemalie but they couldn’t find them anywhere. As the search went on and on for days and months and years, Lemalie and Salote was never seen or heard of again. The villagers believed that Lemalie and Salotewere taken by spiritual beings. Because they couldn’t find them anywhere, the families of Salote andLemalie including village came to a conclusion that the sisters were taken by spiritual beings or rudespirits that needed a body to possess or to make their own. All I know is these kind of spiritual beingsare very powerful and can overpower any living being at will. The song goes like this: I le a’ai ua so’o.Taliga mumusu e fa’alogo, Ua so’o ole ala sopo,I le tala pa mai Afono. Ua so’o fo’I le vao loloto,I se alaga ua fa’atilomai, Salote ma Lemalie pele ua goto. Legend of Vaea Retold by: Darlene MeliVaea was a giant who lived behind the village. One day, he insulted the king of Fiji, Tuifiti.The enraged king sent his four sons with orders to kill the giant. Their vessel was so large that itcould not enter the harbor. So they rounded Mulinu’u Pointand anchored just beyond. The vessel reached fromMulinu’u to Safune.When Vaea heard of the arrival of the Fijians, heknew that they had come to avenge Tuifiti. This, however,did not disturb him. He calmly walked down to the bay, liftedthe vessel out of the water and placed it on top of the treesgrowing near the shore. It was not until morning that theFijians discovered their precarious position. Such a wonderfulfeat could have been performed only by Vaea, for was not their vessel over 500 fathoms long? Toappease the wrathful Vaea, the brothers offered their own sister, who had accompanied them asransom. When Vaea saw the pretty girl, he accepted but bade the brothers to leave immediately.Glad to have saved their lives, they departed, leaving their sister, Apaula with Vaea. The girlquickly became resigned to her fate. After some time she became pregnant and returned to Fiji toawait her confinement. When she left, Vaea stood on a stone in Savalalo looking after the fastdisappearing canoe. Long before they reached their destination, Apaula gave birth to a boy and inremembrance of her last view of her husband she called the child “Tuisavalalo.” Fiji was reached at 32

last. Fearing of her brothers would kill and eat him; Apaula hid him near the shore and mange to visithim daily. Tuisavalalo grew up and became strong. One day, he was discovered by his uncle and thatwas the end of the poor boy. Apaula sailed back to Apia and asked Vaea to avenge the death of hisson. She delays her return too long. Grieving for the absence of his wife, Vaea had turned into amountain but only his head is still alive. Vaea ordered his wife to Savai’I where she would find hisbrother that could avenge him. In Lealatele, Savai’I, Apaula found Vaatausili catching butterflies. Shecould not believe him because of how short and skinny he was. So she continues her search as theyoung man following her. They came to cave and rest there for the night. Suddenly, Vaatausilistarted to change into a handsome giant but the problem was that the cave was too small for him. They travel to Fiji and there, armed with a coconut tree, Vaatausili slew the four cannibalbrothers. Vaea was avenged, but meanwhile he had turned into a mountain which even today bearshis name. The Legend of Sina and the Eel Retold by: Margaret West One day, while Sina’s mother went to get water, she found an eel in the bucket while she scooped up some water. She decided to take it home for her daughter Sina to take care of. Sina loved her eel and took good care of it. Every day, she fed the eel and cared for it, and every day the eel becomes bigger and bigger. One day, Sina’s family was planning on leaving the eel. The problem was, the eel loved Sina and it followed her anywhere she went. Sina and her parents ran but the eel kept following them. Then the father told Sina and her mother to keep on going and he will stay to try to stop the eel. Sina and her mother ran and ran, but still the eel was following.Then the mother told Sina to keep on going and she will stay to try to stop the eel. Sina ran and ranand stopped in a river. The eel jumped in the river and Sina looked at it disgusted. The eel looked upat Sina and she said with anger, “you stare at me with eyes of a demon.” This is why the river iscalled “mata o le alelo.” Sina ran and ran until she came to a village where the matais of the villagewere having a meeting. Sina disturbed the meeting and apologized. She told them that the eel wasafter her. The matais agreed to kill the eel. So when the eel arrived, the people of the village startedkilling the eel. Before the eel was killed, the eel told Sina that he had a gift for her. He told Sina togrow his head. Weeks and weeks came after until the coconut tree grew. Sina looked at it and sawthe face of the eel. * Elder Setefano Umaga told us this legend. 33

How Fire was Obtained by Samoans Retold by Rasela To’o The Samoan culture has of many traditional stories or legends. These legends were passed down orally since the time of our ancestors. In school I read legends from other countries about how they got fire and I was always curious about Samoan fire legends. I asked Meli Vailoaloa if she knew a legend of how fire was obtained in Samoa. From there, she told us a story her great uncle told and her siblings when they were young. Samoans long ago lived without fire and so they had to eat their food raw. There was once a woman named Talaga who had a sonwho was born premature. When sh thought her son would not survive, she let him go. One brightearly morning, an elder passed by and saw a baby washed ashore. He took him in and took care ofhim as his very own. One day upon meeting the birth mother of the baby, they were introduced toeach other. Talaga then took her son home and had him ride on her shoulders. There his name cameof origin “Ti’eti’eotalaga.” Every morning, the elderly father of Ti’eti’e would rise up to go to work.Well at least that was what everyone thought. Nobody reallyknows where he goes, when one bright morning, Ti’eti’edecided to follow his father. He climbed the Nonu tree to seewhere his father was headed. He was amazed when his fathercommanded a rock to divide and then entered it. Ti’eti’e wasconfused by how this could be done. He did what his father didand he entered the rock too. His father caught him there andcommanded him to leave. Ti’eti’e’s father was afraid thatMafui’e (the earthquake God) might kill him if he saw anunwanted person in that secret place. But Ti’eti’e refused toleave. He was amazed to see how food was prepared there – itwas cooked using fire. Ti’eti’e asked the father why their foodisn’t prepared that way. The father replied because the firebelonged to Mafui’e, and only he can eat his food cooked. Ti’eti’e said he will take some fire homewhen suddenly Mafui’e caught him. They fought and fought when suddenly, Ti’eti’e caught him bythe arm. Ti’eti’e told Mafui’e if he lets him take some fire back to the village, he will spare his life.Mafui’e agreed and Ti’eti’es wish was honored. The earthquake god showed Ti’eti’e what to do if thefire dies out. You rub two woods against each other and flick the fire on the pulu (coconut husk). Thisis the story of how fire was obtained in Samoans. This method is still practiced today. Whenpreparing for the umu, the taule’ale’a (young village men) would rub two woods against each otherand burn the coconut husk instead of using a lighter or a match. Fire is truly a gift. *Meli Vailoaloa told us this legend. 34

Afa Fasavalu Youth ParticipantsAj MasunuAkeripa Sekai Lela WaetinAlfred Gray Lela WestAllison Fitisone Lisa AfoaAngella Fitisone Losavati DirasiseAnthony Letele Lourdes AfoaApril Iosia Maelynn AiavaAran Ilaoa Malakai LatuAthena Fasavalu Maranata TaliauliBenji P Marcella FitisoneBrook Masunu Margaret WestCatherine Gray Marina WestChanel Latu Masina FaleaoCharlene Mataiasi Matalin WestCraig West Megan WestDarlene Meli Mel TasiDavid To’o Mele Tautua’aDouglas Lam Yuen Michaellene AiavaEmerald Leleifi MisiletiEterei Fanolua Omeli WestFaga’alu Smith Otimara ViliFanolua Fanolua Peniamina PoasaFisihea T Pinemua NofoaFuelafo Mauga Pita FanoluaHaylee West Puna SusugaJames LiuKuey Rasela To’oJared LiuKuey Richard SusugaJennyfer Fatafehi Roselyn FaleaoJesaiah LiuKuey Sa IosiaJohn Patau Sauniatu WestJohn Similai Sealiitu MaugaJohnny Lam Yuen Seini Tautua’aJordynn LiuKuey Suma kiJoshua Taliauli Suniu WestJustin Lomu Tafa LeaupepeKarl West Tala MisaalefuaKarrallyn Fitisone Tana TamapoluKerisimasi Kapisi Temukisa FaleaoLeilani Vili Theresa Ping Theresa To’o Tu’I Ki Tufui Tautua’a 35