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""I have a lot of stuff to upload." Do you have computers for the Internet?" I asked.
"Yes." The girl lead me around to two computers, side by side. I am the only customer. The girl pulls out a chair for me.
Twenty minutes later the screen goes blank. I hear a little exclamation. The girl said, "That machine always does that!"
"Does the other machine?" I ask.By now a local man not using Internet occupies the other computer.
"No. It works fine!"
"Then why did you put me at this machine?" I ask.
"I dunno. I wasn't thinking."
Churches are the center of village life all over the island. I do not think that the London Evangelical Society, when they arrived a hundred years ago, undermined the people with religion, as was the case on many islands. Christianity merely dressed the old aristocracy in new robes. The chiefs here molded the new religion to suit their own purposes. In the old days it was the chiefs and the talking chiefs that held the power. However, in this less absolutionist age, the local village church serves as their instrument of persuasion --- since they can no longer just kill off those who disagree.
Like all Polynesians, they are communal. Somehow they have been indoctrinated into the idea that there is nothing more enjoyable than building a bright new church. The village may work hard for years to afford it --- volunteering a great deal of time as well as money. Of course "tithing" is the financial foundation --- from 10 to 30%!
In NZ we worry over the living standards of Samoans and Pacific Island people. No one knows quite how to bring them up to local notions of decency. I believe much of the problem may be purely cultural. Even back home in Samoa, when they have money to burn, their homes would be seen by us to be basic, with many things broken. In NZ, Samoans would feel alien in wall to wall carpeted rooms, fitted kitchens and modern bathroom fittings. They are not "fixers". When things break or tear --- so what?
Mich said he loaned his boss his entire CD movie collection.
They were returned in such a state that he felt certain the man had let his children play with them. They were covered in fingerprints and had food stuck to them
None of this is new of course. We are talking about culture here, not the goodness of people's hearts. On an island where people live without privacy, who ceremonially give away their most precious possessions (fine mats and tapa), who feel compelled to give to the church until it hurts, it would be pushing water up hill to concern themselves with ownership rights!
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