SUNDAY 16 DECEMBER, 2018 – UWI TODAY
23
70
th
ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE
RAMONA BOODOOSINGH
I completed a BSc in Chemistry
and Management and a Post
Graduate Diploma inMediation Studies at UWI. Here I’mpursuing
a Masters in Development Studies at NUS. My thesis research
focuses on support services for survivors of Intimate Partner
Violence. The experience has been amazing.
As with all countries, there have been the good, the bad and
the ugly. I am grateful for the opportunity to be reminded of how
much I took for granted at home. I am a vegetarian and within two
days of being in Samoa, I realized starvation was a real possibility.
Vegetarians find it rather difficult here. I decided to eat seafood - it
is not full proof as I have often faced a plate of many meats which
do not include fish!
Electricity is very expensive, internet plans are done by data
and purchasing drinking water is advisable. Honestly, I miss
YouTube........a lot. It is amazing to live in a country where the
culture is thousands of years old and some parts are so strikingly
beautiful and unique. Artefacts tell of ancient stories and I often
feel that I am living an episode of National Geographic.
Samoa used to exist for me only in an atlas. When natural
disasters occurred, I felt sad but did not empathize. Now these are
About CARIBBEAN-PACIFIC MOBILITY SCHEME (CARPIMS)
CARPIMS nurtures cooperation and mobility between regions in the areas of postgraduate education and staff development. It is funded by the Education, Audio-
visual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Union. CARPIMS comprises 10 Caribbean and South-Pacific Higher Education Institutions which act as host
institutions. The University of Porto and UNICA provide technical and other assistance. The project forges strong cooperative links, enhances institutional capacity
and creates an active network of the host institutions to directly address common issues and challenges.
Life in
SAMOA
Where Adventure Begins
One minute it’s just a dream. The next you’re on a Pacific island and living that dream.
For
Melissa McAllister
and
Ramona Boodoosingh
, dreams do come true.
For details, one-on-one application assistance, visit:
or email
MELISSAMcALLISTER
I struggled to complete my application then
, while on the verge
of giving up, CARPIMS emailed about the application extension!
I had obtained a BSc Accounting Special degree at UWI and
I’mdoing aMaster’s inDevelopment Studies withmy thesis topic in
micro finance at the National University of Samoa (NUS) through
the CARPIMS programme.
My Samoan experience had a rough start... we were robbed
within the first night of my colleague’s arrival but the university
moved us within the day. I feel very safe here and the scenery is
lovely. I started teaching dance to children and adults, assisting
the dance group Salsa Samoa by conducting dance classes and
organizing performances at different social events. I am also
learning the cultural dances of the Polynesian Islands. Luckily
for me, most Samoans speak English pretty well. I speak slowly
because my “Trini accent” is a bit difficult to understand (but they
still love to hear it).
A Samoan funeral and the Si’i (gift exchange) are interesting.
The custom is for people to carry gifts for the family of the deceased
and in return the family gives gifts. We went with NUS staff to
present a bouquet and gift items to a staff member’s family and
among the many gifts to NUS were raw chicken, pigs and cows.
As a result funerals are so expensive that people often take loans
to cover the cost.
Living conditions generally are very simple and open. In
most villages, families live in open houses or “fales”. Samoans are
not very materialistic so they don’t desire many possessions and
they can manage to live in houses with no walls. For most families
in rural areas living conditions appear less than desirable though
they seem fine with their way of simple living. Samoans call the
areas where families live ‘better off ’, a “palagi”/foreign lifestyle.
They eat a lot of meat especially pork and do not cook with a lot
of seasoning. Their dress code, like everything else, is very simple;
it’s very normal to see men and women in a T-shirt and “lava lava”
(wrap skirt) along with a pair of slippers ( which they quite often
refer to as shoes).
Both Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago enjoy the closeness
of families, although this is more prevalent in Samoa because of
traditional customs of living in the same compound. Also Samoa
appears to be 10 years behind our country in terms of development.
Samoans are less vocal, especially when in the presence of authority.
The world now seems a smaller place. In Samoa I have made
friends from all over the world. The Pacific region is a culturally
enriched region, though with development challenges. I have
learnt to observe the customs and practices of a different culture
and use this information to better understand individuals.
Moreover I have learnt to be grateful for many things that I once
took for granted. You can live a simple life and be happy.
my friends’ homes and this is also my region. I was really blessed
to intern with the UN Women Multi Country Office, under the
Ending Violence Against Women Programme.
I try the Samoan language with sometimes tragic results.
I accidentally called a matai (chief), a chicken pen (pamoa) by
misspelling his name (panoa) in a group email. This resulted in
my “punishment” of fruit smoothies for all!
Traditions are deeply entrenched in Samoa; Fa’asamoa
(Samoan way) is an integral part of life. Family and the church are
very important. Modesty in dress for women is preferred with the
traditional dress being called the pulatasi, a top which reaches to
the knees or below and a floor length skirt.
Taro (dasheen) and coconut are as basic a food item as rice,
roti and bread in Trinidad and Tobago. Interestingly, cassava is
considered pig (pua’a) food it is not easy to find. The traditional
cooking method is the umu, constructed above ground using
heated lava stones to bury the food which has been wrapped in
some cases in banana or taro leaves. It is normally constructed on
Sunday for the Sunday lunch by the men in the family.
In closing, please send me salt fish, Maggi vegetable soup
and preserved mango.
Melissa at a Samoan beach
Ramona in Samoan print
CARIBBEAN-PACIFIC MOBILITY SCHEME (CARPIMS)
– ISSUE ARCHIVE MARCH 2014
