Villages reconcile, resolve issue

By Ilia L Likou 20 March 2018, 12:00AM

The Village Councils of Falefa, Lufilufi and Luatuanu’u, met yesterday to reconcile and reassure the Police Commissioner, Fuaiavailili Egon Keil, that there would be no more fights.

Falefa Village Mayor, Fanualelei Purcell told the Samoa Observer that it’s not easy to reconcile when such a situation arises.

“Our chiefs were called in for this reconciliation so that’s why we gathered here in our village early this morning (yesterday) before heading to Luatuanu’u,” Fanualelei said. 

“More than 50 chiefs from our village with 10 from Lufilufi went together to meet at Luatuanu’u."

“We stopped our untitled men (aumaga) from attending the meeting because we never know what could happen.”

Fanualelei said yesterday’s reconciliation was difficult.

“We are all Christians in times like these, we don’t have to point out who is right and who is wrong."

“The goals and visions behind reconciliation this morning were to bring villages involved together in equality and harmony."

“We all need peace of mind, and peace in body and spirit, so to us, no matter what has been said inside during the meeting this morning, we just want to let it go."

“That’s the main aim of our Village Council here at Falefa. We need to work together to restore relationships, not harm each other and also trust each other and not to be vengeful in the future.”

Fanualelei believes everyone has the ability to either choose to forgive or not to forgive someone.

“This is why the gathering this morning (yesterday) by the three villages is very important, it is a sign of God’s love for us."

“God expressed his love by sending down his only son Jesus. When Jesus was left to die on the cross, it is written that he begged his father to forgive us."

“That’s why it’s important for us to forgive others and live in peace and harmony."

“Forgiveness comes down when taking responsibility for the choices we make and doing what we believe is right for our children, churches and our community as a whole."

“And the authority of our own lives can be regained by letting go of the conflicting objects and misunderstandings of yesterday and moving into a more significant direction." 

“May God bless the villages involved and may His peace be upon Samoa always.”

Luatuanu’u chief, Pulemelei Tala told Samoa Observer it’s good that everything has been settled between the villages.

“That’s the whole purpose of the gathering this morning, and we thank God that everything went well."

“Honestly, we don’t teach our children to act in such a way, it’s just that they don’t want to listen and we all know that this is normal with our children these days."

“But for our village, we’re now working closely with Police towards the matter.”

In a statement to the Police, the Luatuanu’u Village Council named 10 suspects from their village after the meeting yesterday.

By Ilia L Likou 20 March 2018, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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