Samoa (part 2) - Le Amosa: Josiah & Tasi at school

Vaitele, Upolu, Samoa

I have been unexpectedly (and richly) blessed to see distant lands, meet choice people with vast and varied life experiences, and taste cultures different (and yet not) from my own.  Many of these experiences have been related to education - attending BYU-Hawaii for my first year of college, teaching English to elementary children in Russia and China, working in primary schools in Samoa and Ghana.  It has been a life path that I would never have guessed I'd be on.  After all, I cried my eyes out on that first plane ride to Hawaii (who cries on their way to live in Hawaii!?!) for fear of being so far from my family and in a new and unfamiliar place.  But then I shouldn't be surprised that my Heavenly Father's plan was much grander than one that I could have come up with. 

One of the activities we did while in Samoa was to go with Josiah and Tasi to school.  I've been interested in it since Brett first told me about it a year or so ago.  It's called Le Amosa and they teach in a traditional Samoan fale (pronounced fall-ay) .  Here is the path up to the school. 

It is a one-room school with small classes taught in Samoan. (I stole some of these pictures for this post from Brett when he's visited the school on other occasions.) 

They begin with a morning devotional that includes singing, dancing, and some recitations.  When we came to visit the teachers got chairs for us so we had front row seats for the singing.  It is so fun to watch Samoans sing.  They simply can't hold still.  They sang for about 30 minutes, here is about 2 of those minutes.

Here's Tasi during devotional.

Tasi was on the front row with all the other little ones.  Josiah was a few rows back.  It was hard to get a shot of him where his face was not blurry, but we sure don't want to miss a face like that (he's the smiley one in the middle). Good, good kid.

The school was begun by this woman, Aiono Fanaafi.  Truly a remarkable woman.  She has a PhD from the University of London in education philosophy and applied linguistics.   She talked with us for some time about some of the challenges that come from starting a school like this one and experiences she's had in her life.

Josiah in class. 

Tasi's class. It is called fuafotu which means "seedlings."

The focus of the curriculum is the traditions and culture of Samoa as well as academics.  So the school day includes typical subjects (reading, math, etc.) as well as chores (Josiah sweeping, some boys caring a basket of garbage they just swept up)...


...a school garden which the children help care for and a kitchen...

...and the pig...

It was so fun to see the boys in school but also to see this unique school.  It's a model I'd love to have in my house as I raise my kids... learning about reading, gardening, chores, math, culture, cooking, social studies, animals, language.  I so enjoyed it.