Elderly mother sells koko for a living

By Aruna Lolani 28 May 2017, 12:00AM

When you are a mother, you always have to think twice.

That’s because the choices you make will not only be for yourself but for your children as well. 

This is thought expressed by a 64-year-old mother, Peka Moli, from Tuana’i and Malie.

When the Village Voice caught up with Peka around Leauva’a, she had a bag on her shoulder and she was sweating from not only the hot weather but from walking all the way to try and sell her koko Samoa.

“This is all I can do to try and help my children,” she said.

“I have five cups of Samoan cocoa here, $5 for one but so far I haven’t sold anything yet."

“But what else can I do? Even with my eldest son working, we can’t seem to live off that everyday."

“I’m a mother I can’t just sit around and not worry about that.”

Peka said she came with some of her children to sell of their Samoan cocoa; they decided to go separate ways just so they could find families faster who need Samoan cocoa. 

“We are short on so many things and we don’t have a lot; at the moment we don’t have electricity and we don’t have any water."

“So due to a situation of no electricity, we try our best to make our dinner before it gets dark."

“We have a water tank to store water and let me just say, a rainy day is always a blessing because that’s our easier way of accessing water."

“On sunny days, we try not to use the water from the tank and use the village’s river to shower and for other errands." 

“A mother has to do whatever she can for her family no matter what and I know my children are learning to live that way too."

“My son who works at A.S.T. Industries has days to be off from work but he prefers to work because he knows we need the money.”

Peka is a mother of seven children with only one daughter and you can see why this mother is so determined to sell Samoan cocoa on most days of the week.

“We used to stay at my husband’s family but when he passed away last year, we decided to move here where my son is staying because we all know you can only find freedom in your own family."

“We have a big family right now and we are all trying to fit in our house so you can see where we are in this life."

“It’s not easy and to tell you the truth, we do need help especially with water and electricity.”

By Aruna Lolani 28 May 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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