As the number of people residing in the Vaitele area increases, the more problems we have come to witness.

This is the belief of a resident from Vaitele named Samuelu Tasi.

“Being someone who has lived here for such a long time, I have come to realize that a lot of our people have complained about the many problems arising in our territory especially the youth.

“I believe the reason why we are always in bad situations is because we don’t have any form of governance so you know, everyone is free to do whatever they want.

“Vaitele consists of many sub-villages with a lot of different people and that’s why some problems occur because they are not familiar with each other especially when it comes to the youth.”

According to Samuelu, a lot of these fights happen during the weekend. 

“You know, the weekdays are okay but when the weekend comes, it’s like we were waiting for the world to end because we know that there will always be fights when these people drink alcohol.

“The only authority we turn to for help is the Police because no one else is capable of stopping these young people when they fight. 

“You know the thing is with the youth nowadays is that they drink but they don’t know how to control it so that’s why they always end up having these arguments in the middle of the night while everyone else is sleeping. It’s annoying.

“The youth should be focusing on ways to make Samoa a better place but not ways to destroy it and ruin the good reputation of our people.

“This has always been a concern for me as I grew up here. And it’s something that we need to work together to put an end to because we deserve a peaceful place.

“I know you can’t change other people but you can change the situation and that’s the only solution right now; to initiate our own village council or governance. That’s where it should start from.”