BIG PART IN SAMOAN LIFE BOYS MOVEMENT

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 2

BIG PART IN SAMOAN LIFE BOYS MOVEMENT

A pastor’s wife in Western Samoa has many duties, and with active participation in the Life Boys’ movement, a full-time position as a clerk, and a family of three young daughters, Mrs May Faletose has, not surprisingly, no time for hobbies.

For the last six weeks Mrs Faletose has been travelling through New Zealand conducting training courses and meeting life boys leaders, and this week she is in Christchurch taking part in the national training course for more than 40 boys held at Tyndale House.

In 1960 her husband was appointed full-time organiser of the movement sponsored by the Congregational Church in Samoa, and Mrs Faletose assists him in planning activities and week-end courses, and visiting groups spread throughout the two islands. “My husband does most of the visiting, which means that he is away from home a lot,” she said. “But I am quite content with our life, for I feel it is the work we are called to do."

Mrs Faletose was impressed with the strength of the movement in New Zealand, and her only wish was that some day it would be of the same standard in her own country. Closer To Church “Many more boys are joining all the time, and we are sure this and other youth movements will be a great help to the country. Our main

aim is to bring young people closer to the church, and to prepare them for the more complex life they will lead as our country develops," said Mrs Faletose. Translating the English text books for the movement into English is one of Mrs Faletose’s major tasks. “The boys are only aged between eight and 11, and it is not enough for the leader to read the instructions, so I translate the books and duplicate copies.” English was taught in all schools, and the standard of

education was rising rapidly. Many Samoans now took positions of responsibility in all walks of life. Although New Zealand seemed almost like a second home to Mrs Faletose, for she has many relatives here, one aspect of our life was quite foreign to her. “It seems so strange to have homes for elderly people,” she said. “It is our custom in Samoa to look after our parents, and when they are not able to care for themselves there is always a rush to be first to take them into our homes.”

Mrs Faletose and her family at present are living with relatives, but are looking forward to moving into the new European-style home which they are building.

GIUSEPPINA and Santina Foglia, the six-year-old Siamese twin girls, on Thursday took their first steps since they were separated in an operation in a children’s hospital in Turin last month.