Tigi: Keeping the Faith

Feels like just yesterday Keith was shaking my hand… and now look what he has done to my family

I believe in the old ways…  sometimes it hurts when I ask myself why did I come here – my heart is in Samoa, my ways are Samoan, everything about me is Samoan. To find out today from Kavana and Lilly that the factory is going to be sold – after 40 years of working the factory floor myself.  Now Keith wants to sell it to the Chinese people – what did I sweat for??  That’s why I had to go to his house – that was my idea.  Kavana didn’t think it was a good idea but that’s how we sort out our problems – you’ve got a problem, you go to the person’s house like a man and you tell them face to face.

Keith’s Father was a great man who saw the Pacific people as his friends.  A good friend of mine, right until the day he passed away.  Today, Keith you spat on your Father’s grave by selling a small but important part of South Auckland to foreign hands.  Not a good time for us and the family – hardship I see ahead.   We must keep believing in the dream, always – but when will it happen for us.  Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to pack up and go back home.

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