Don’t waste money and time on smoking and drinking alcohol, these are useless things.

That is a message from Manu Puamo of Lauli;i to the youth of Samoa.

He was approached by the Village Voice team as he was getting some sea water for one of his relatives. 

The 22-year-old told Village Voice he has never been the type to ever think about trying those “bad habits.”

“I don’t know why some people are attracted to these things but you know for me, I’ve grown up hating it.

“It’s my choice and it’s my life and I always tell myself that this is another thing that a lot of money are being spent on by some people.”

They said if you want to be a great leader, then you must always walk the talk; that is exactly what Manu is doing for his other younger siblings. 

“I have a big family and I’m one of the members of my family that helps out in things such as getting food from the plantation.

“I go to the plantation every week from Monday to Wednesday and then I rest on other days and spend time with families.

“I do chores and I even cook for my family sometimes.

“I don’t work so I always make sure to do things that I know contributes to the welfare of my family instead of doing foolish things that the other youth are doing.

“All of us, we have different responsibilities in our families, while some of us work to support the family financially, the others especially the younger ones, we take care of our mother and other things in the family.

 “It’s nothing big, it’s just a simple life for all of us.

“An as I said before to all the youth out there, don’t waste time roaming around and living a life of just drinking and smoking. That doesn’t help your family at all.”