Traditionally, Samoans lived seaside in fales, large flat platform huts, with helmet shaped palm leaf roofs supported around the perimeter with large tree trunks. The breeze from the ocean would flow through at night; blinds would be rolled down for privacy. I’ve read in Western Samoa many families still live in these structures.
Here in American Samoa, fales exist still but their platforms are concrete. They aren’t used as much for living and sleeping but largely for family gatherings. The fale usually sits directly in front of the concrete family house. Many family members will have houses on the same family property. Multiple generations will live in the same house and some will occupy the property that is officially another family member’s: “I am living in my Auntie’s house, she’s in Hawaii.”
For the most part, property is owned communally by the family. Owning and living in a house of your own is very, very rare. From what I understand, if family owned property is to be sold all family members must sign off and agree to the sale.
Part of the communal nature of the property is the tradition of burying family members directly in front of the house. Large above ground concrete mausoleums abound. And with the rain the way it is burying people above ground in this way is probably wise. One of my friends described being terrified of driving by the cemetery (a strange concept here to begin with) when it is raining torrentially in the middle of the night. She said that she was terrified that the crunching under her tires was that of old bones. “I don’t mind having dead people in my front yard, those are my ancestors. These people I don’t know!”
Somewhere I remember reading that the concept of burying ones ancestors directly in front of the family house presents a fairly permanent claim on property, it’s hard to argue that someone doesn’t have rights to land that has their family buried on it. In island life, where land is so valuable and can be a point of dispute, this seems brilliant. The burial in public view is also a show of strong Samoan familial ties and respect.
Moving over here I was told that the hospital would be responsible for finding and furnishing a house for me. However, policy seemed to change without my contacts being aware. Two weeks after arriving I hadn’t heard from the housing coordinator. I made a call and was told that new employees would have temporary housing for 60 days and then would be on their own, and that LBJ wasn’t holding leases with property owners nor helping them find a home. They would still be providing a housing stipend but after that employees were on their own.AAAAAHHHHH!
Property can only be bought and sold by resident American Samoans. This has allowed the Samoans to retain their culture. Combined with the communal property situation this means there are few rentals and obviously no houses for sale.
My first venture in the rental housing market from the “for rent” section of the newspaper was distressing to say the least. I quickly learned that “furnished” meant has refrigerator and oven, “unfurnished” didn’t. When I asked if a house had A/C I was universally laughed at-most houses have A/C because the concrete structures are stifling otherwise, but apparently this is supplied by the renter. As the A/C units here are semi-permenent this is head scratching. I saw houses with slime mold; pigs corralled nearby, and barely running appliances. Houses advertised as being by “McDonald’s and KFC” as a selling point. I got horribly lost trying to find one rental. The palangi surfer guys at the lodge I ended up at, laughed and scratching their heads asked, “How did you get lost out here?” Oh, maybe because of the Samoan driving directions? “Turn right at the coconut tree and then go towards the ocean . . .”
I finally found a house through word of mouth, which is apparently the way most things work out here. A man in finance dept had a cousin who had built a house for his sister on the family property and as she was in Hawaii for a while he was looking to rent it. The Samoan driving directions are evidenced by the following to the house that I rented on sight when I finally found it. “Go around the bend in Pago, past the cricket field, past the Korea House, past the new soccer field they are building, it’s right across from the Banyan tree.” Or simply “The Foster Family’s House” as most places are known by ownership. There are no street names or numbers. The roads have numbers but I’ve only seen a few signs and no one refers to them when giving directions. Mostly if I tell people I’m renting from the Foster Family in Pago people will know immediately where the house is.
The house is great. Brand new construction. On a hill with a view of the harbor (without the sewer plant). It has two bedrooms. A giant “Samoan style” bathroom-which means a shower area that’s half the bathroom and open like a gym. I’ve yet to see a bathtub. A major luxury I’ll be missing. The kitchen and living room are huge. And there is hot water. This is apparently something most people do without and don’t miss. It’s so hot here the hot shower is not a necessity. Cleaning is mostly done with cold water. There is a large yard that I am excited to start planting with avocado, papaya, mango and flowers.
The house isn’t furnished and now I am so glad I brought my bed. Something I was vacillating about since my house was supposed to be “furnished”. As long as I have a place to sleep I’ll be happy.Markus and Einstein arrived safe and sound though a little frazzled from the long flight and all the paperwork hoops to jump through. Of course money had to exchange hands in the form of paying Customs and Agriculture “overtime” at the airport. This is humorous to me, as these civil servants have to be at the airport anyway when a flight arrives and if no one needs their service, who pays their overtime? Puzzling.
The cargo ship with the container of car and household goods didn’t arrive until the Tuesday before Markus got here and the goods weren’t delivered until this Monday. We are now settling in. Our A/C should be up tomorrow in the bedroom (Hallelujah). We will have to piece together furniture as we go but we have what we need for now. And most importantly our kayaks and fun gear are all here. Hopefully, we will get a bed for the guest room so all you out there planning on visiting will have comfy accommodations.Markus' Home Sweet Fale Likes
- Plenty of Room
- Air Conditioning
- View
- Too Close to Cannery (the winds blowin’ from Charlie The Tuna’s House Today!!!)
- Tile Too Painful on Tender Tootsies
- Thin Shower Head
- View!!!!
- Garden Space
- Lots of room
- Roosters everywhere crowing all day long (mmm freerange poultry . . . )
- Ants (Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant . . . )
- No shade trees
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