Anotherone rides the bus

Trip Start May 12, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Samoa Western  ,
Thursday, September 21, 2006

In Samoa, where private vehicles are rare and taxis an expensive luxury, everyone rides the bus. Every village can be reached by a network of small, family owned bus lines which provide cheap and friendly service. The busses begin life as 3-ton Toyota truck chassis which are given standard wood and sheet metal bodies by Samoan builders. Each bus line has its characteristic bright color scheme and its name painted on the side, sometimes fanciful (Poetry in Motion) or drawn from Samoan mythology (Queen Poto, Manu Samoa). There is sometimes a distinctive logo as well. My favorite is a cheeky Mickey Mouse sticking out his tongue. Inside, the body is varnished wood reminiscent of an old trolley car. There are plexiglass windows which can be raised, but rarely are except in driving rain, so the ride is quite breezy and pleasant. The seats are hard wood, though, and I yearn for my old football stadium cushion. There is a hatch in the back which lets down so that larger items can be carried outside, or long objects loaded into the aisle. I have brought lumber from town in this way. The busses are rated at 31 passengers but are not considered full until passengers are sitting on laps and standing in the aisles. The Friday afternoon busses leaving the capital may carry as many as 100, though this is illegal and can earn the driver a ticket. There is usually a crew of two, a driver and a conductor-known as a Supakaga-who helps with luggage and packages and generally keeps things organized. The Supakaga knows his regular passengers and can arrange the crowd so that those getting off first are sitting (or standing) near the front and makes sure that school children get off at the right stop. A not very crowded bus
A not very crowded bus
 Packages may be consigned to him-many stores along the route receive small deliveries this way. Passengers may stop the bus-to drop off a propane tank to be refilled, say, or to buy a cold soda or cigarettes. The elderly or infirm, or those crammed into the back may prevail on the Supakaga to carry out these errands. On longer runs regular stops are made for this purpose and so that the homeward bound may do last-minute shopping. There are regular places people wait for the bus-in front of schools or at convenient places in town and little shelters are sometimes put up-but the bus will stop wherever hailed, and will put you down wherever you like. The bus routes to all of the districts in Savai'i begin at the port where the ferry comes in and busses congregate there when a boat is due. If you come to visit us, get off the boat and board the first pink and green bus you see. Our bus line has one modern Daiwoo bus with padded seats in its fleet, but the traditional busses are more fun.


We have been very busy working with our Peace Corps committee. Our 90 day workplan calls for us to interview 9 families a week and meet with the various administrative groups in the village. There are the matai, the chiefs and orators, and the Women's Komiti, this is headed by the wives of the matai and includes the wives of the untitled men and the unmarried girls and women of the village. There is also a group for the untitled men. Each of the 4 churches, Catholic, Pentecostal, Assembly of God and Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, have youth groups that we want to talk to the priest about projects for them. Arriving in Samoa
Arriving in Samoa
 All in all there are about 89 matais, each representing a family or extended family group. That adds up to about 1000+ people in the village.

We are also trying to start some of the projects that the village had identified before we came. So far we have had the Ministry of Agriculture come out and run a cattle castration workshop. I am writing a training manual, about 3 pages with pictures, which will be translated into Samoan for use by those who didn't come to the workshop. I will also be conducting additional castration workshops. In addition, we have started working with 21 families to plant vegetable gardens. Luckily Tulipe was part of a UNDP gardening project and has had excellent training in gardening. I am just a figure head, lending my support, but Tulipe will do most of the gardening training. Last week, Tulipe, two of the other PC committee members and I went into Apia and met with the Ministry of Agriculture and the livestock department of the University of the South Pacific. We were able to get information on housing, feeding and breed availability of chickens and pigs in Samoa. The committee members were very excited about some new things we could try in the village. We will have the Ministry rep come out after White Sunday, a big holiday the first Sunday in October, and run a couple of workshops on pig and poultry husbandry to help the villagers decide how complicated a set-up they want to attempt.

Ray has been meeting with the District Secondary School principal to see if he can help with the vocational Ed classes. He has designed a workbench and is waiting to see if the school board will buy lumber to build them. Ray has also put electrical outlets in the bedroom and shelves in the wardrobe. Next are bookshelves. Did I mention that we had been busy?

Our kitchen is up and running though we are still eating most meals with the family. We also have a new double bed. The weather is good, the people incredibly friendly and helpful and the food is pretty good. What more could one ask for?
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