We all have a role to play in our families. 

Parents and even children have a responsibility towards the daily survival of their family. 

Such is the opinion shared by Eli Lauvi, 21, from the village of Faleasi’u. 

Mr. Lauvi supports his family with whatever he harvests from his plantation.

“There’s only one person here in our family who works at the moment to support our family.

“I also have three other siblings overseas and they also help out sometimes by sending money to my parents.

“So for me, this is my job and this is my contribution to my family, providing them with food from the plantation.”

Mr. Lauvi was returning from his plantation when he met the Village Voice team yesterday afternoon.

He says he is eager to get a job, but no one would fill in his shoes at home.

“I really want to find a job to help out with my younger brother who is the only person working for our family at the moment.

“But the problem is that my other younger siblings are too young to do what I’m doing here at home.

“I do the plantation work almost every day and I also do the cooking and I tidy up our kitchen every day.”

Mr. Lauvi says life is really hard right now in Samoa.

“Life is not that simple anymore here in Samoa; we’ve got to have money in order to do whatever we want and also to support our families.

“We also need money to support church and village matters and also pay our bills.

“So that is why I am working hard here on my plantation to help my family and we also save money, so instead of buying food, we provide for our own so we can be able to have enough for other stuff.”

Mr. Lauvi adds life today is all about helping out.

“We know that life is hard and we have to seek any opportunity that comes our way to be able to take care of our families.

“It simply means that when life is hard, we have to do something good or work hard to support our families,” he said.