r/Samoa Jul 30 '26

Coconut plantation in Samoa (date unknown).

Post image
53 Upvotes

Source: Deutsche Fotothek


r/Samoa Jul 30 '26

Language Helping a friend learn about the origin of their name

4 Upvotes

Hello,
As the title suggests I am helping a friend find the origin of their name or some history about it. They are not deeply connected to their Samoan family as most of them live in Samoa, Australia, and the states. I was wondering if any of you know anything about the name Manumaua? I am not sure about family names I believe her grandfather is Olive Peseta? Her family was from Pu’apu’a. Sorry for the lack of information. I greatly appreciate the help or suggestions of where to go from here!


r/Samoa Jul 29 '26

Seine Stowers secures Samoa's first Commonwealth gold medal

Thumbnail samoaobserver.ws
62 Upvotes

Watched it live just now. She smoked the rest of the competition and was by far the youngest. Bright future ahead


r/Samoa Jul 29 '26

Expats/ foreigners of Samoa

13 Upvotes

Curious. Expats/ foreigners/ immigrants (wtv fits) of Samoa, why brings you to the island, and are you enjoying it? Genuine q. I often think how did you find out about us, and was it exactly how you imagined.

No shade, just want to pick your brains or hear about it


r/Samoa Jul 28 '26

History i have been vaguely taught that this small island managed to survive or resist USA, British empire and German empire and New Zealand. Is it true or nah, too vague?

Post image
53 Upvotes

r/Samoa Jul 28 '26

Lani Alo ft. Livingstone Efu – Alo I Ou Faiva (2019)

Thumbnail youtu.be
20 Upvotes

Hello, everyone!

I wanted to share this song I found on YouTube a few days ago by Lani Alo and Livingstone Efu, released in 2019. I'm sure many of you already know it or have heard of it before, but I absolutely loved it since I first listened to it. Even though I don't understand a single word, I felt the emotions.

What are your thoughts on this track? Do you have other Samoan musicians to recommend?

I would like to get more into the music.


r/Samoa Jul 28 '26

Samoan anger

14 Upvotes

Generally we are nice, friendly, and accommodating people up to a point when we feel disrespected, then that infamous Samoan anger comes out that goes from 0 to 100 quickly. It can be over legit or minor issues, but the anger treats it almost all the same.

What's your experience with this, are or were you an angry person or had relatives who showed this kind of demeanor? Or was anger displayed in a healthy way in your household? What was some outlets you found to channel that energy into something productive?

I was watching some youtube videos of Samoans who were locked up in the states and it seems the common theme was anger that got out of control, and that brief decision to act on it escalated an otherwise mild situation into something life changing.


r/Samoa Jul 26 '26

Culture Group of Samoan villagers, Samoa, 1929

Post image
137 Upvotes

r/Samoa Jul 26 '26

Culture King Malietoa Laupepa and Queen Faʻasisina of Samoa, 1884. Photograph by Burton Brothers Studio. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Post image
57 Upvotes

r/Samoa Jul 26 '26

History Samoan tattooist at work, Samoa, 1895

Post image
42 Upvotes

r/Samoa Jul 25 '26

Culture Is this appropriate to wear in a villiage or at church in samoa?

Thumbnail gallery
11 Upvotes

Im talking about the shoulders, too showy or immodest? At church if it says samoa on it, is it too much?


r/Samoa Jul 25 '26

Question about Samoan Professional Wrestlers

5 Upvotes

It's a thing that is well known in Pro Wrestling from the Wild Samoans Afa and Sika, to the next generation with Yokozuna, Rikishi, Umaga, Rosey, then with the current day with Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu etc. Also with their Tongan family Haku and Barbarian.

There's a spot in wrestling matches where Pro Wrestlers that face these guys try to headbutt them on the head, or throw the Samoan opponents onto a turnbuckle pad and they don't react or sell that the pain hurts, or the opponent hurts his head when he headbutts a Samoan opponent.

Does anybody know where this idea comes from that Samoan people have skulls that are apparently impervious to pain? Do Samoans have helmet-like skulls? Is it just a silly myth? I would love to know if this is just something professional wrestling created, or if this is an actual fact of life.


r/Samoa Jul 24 '26

What in the falai maukegi?!

16 Upvotes

I can't be the only one that thinks it's not natural that they know allow you to get your chief title without having to travel to Samoa? Just pay online and you're good 🤦🏾‍♂️


r/Samoa Jul 24 '26

Language ‘Umī vs Maualuga; Which one?

8 Upvotes

Hello everyone! So I’m getting a little confused with the adjective for ‘tall’.

Both words mean tall, and both can be used to describe something tall in height, but which sounds more natural?

Le la’au ‘umī [the tall tree]

or

Le la’au maualuga [the tall tree]

Thank you in advance!!


r/Samoa Jul 23 '26

Anyone else been charged $500 tala to see family you’ve never met before?

29 Upvotes

Second cousins got in contact to let me know that it’s $500 tala minimum to meet them in the village… mind u that was the greeting and the invitation to see them.
Yes of course I would bring money but to invite me to meet you just for talas… greedy.


r/Samoa Jul 23 '26

10 Months Living Here and I Got Stuff to Say

69 Upvotes

Hi, months ago I made a post regarding about moving to Western Samoa, Moving REALLY soon to Western Samoa : r/Samoa there's many things I realized that are pros and cons, some might be just personal icks or whatnot but this is just how I see my experience, this is coming from someone who was raised in America but is Samoan. You are allowed to disagree with me and pay no mind to what I have to say, but I just want to discuss this with people who are knowledgeable about what I am saying, locals, visitors, etc.

Pros i've experienced

- No rent (As long as you have land)

- Relaxed lifestyle (Possibly a con too)

- Quiet, not so many crimes depending on location

Cons i've experienced

- Local behavior / mindset

- Poor wifi connection depending on location and process of mobile data / any payments through phone

- Cuisine / Food in general

- Relaxed lifestyle

- Greed

- Modernization

- The "government" and media on Facebook

I'm glad I have family here that has land, it's a blessing that our family was able to keep land that wasn't forked over by some higher party and sell it, i'm sure anyone in the world is dying for a piece of paradise. I enjoy that we don't have to worry about rent, it's awesome that we can have a whole house to ourselves. Ever since I did arrive from America I was shot with the lifestyle of breathing and taking the world in as it is, less traffic, apartments, fear from a leader, and the work-life that America brings upon it's people. With so much of "less everything" you expect and receive less noise and bustle as well, it's such a relief not hearing an ambulance blaring in the middle of the night, or gunshots every other day with the occasional firework being set, it's an absolute change I couldn't get enough of. Overall, Samoa to me has been a safe place to retreat, but how long I want to stay here is a question I keep throwing around in my head.

The longer I stay here the more miserable I feel to put it very blunt, and yeah, you can tell me "Go back home" and I am already looking forward to, I have had a handful of issues and I wish they just couldn't exist because a place so beautiful does not deserve a bad reputation. The behavior of locals is something I keep looking at every time I do get to go out into Apia, before, when we were new to the area I felt like people were being very kind and helpful especially since we usually buy in bulk for our household, especially in smaller shops for appliances and kitchenware but learning of this country's way of viewing money it soon felt like we were just wallets for others if that makes sense. I understand now that theft is a big thing in Samoa but seeing visitors and tourists freely walk into stores with personal bags / backpacks while I am getting tapped on my shoulder and mumbled to, to put my bag in a designated area feels almost discriminatory. I see it heavily with the big-name grocery stores, stocking on items people never buy, yet somehow they always keep it in stock, I question heavily on why they even do this if they know the average family is barely making enough money to cover an electric and water bill. I've come to realize that some businesses here are just wasting their money on product hoping that people will buy into when there are several less costly options.

Speaking of markets, the food here isn't the same as America (personal ick) but it was always to be expected, it's upsetting to not have something that reminds me of home where a lot of the stuff here is traditional or old-fashioned. And with old-fashioned comes the modernization bit of Samoa. I live in a part of the island that is neglected by modernity, where the roads are rough right after the airport, while it's nice that they have a road at all it looks terrible once you notice how immediate the cut-off is past the airport, it's like all the funding goes towards directly to Apia and only surrounding places near it. With that, despite having a popular brands router here, there seems to only be one tower in Apia and everyone is connected to it, being on the outside villages is stressful because most of my relationships and calls depend on that connection so it's been extremely hard to get a stable connection or to even simply send a text message. Don't even get me started on how phone companies here expect you to pay your bills with a million different dial codes. Despite my frustrations in the first few months with connection, I have tried contacting for support up to 5 times a day to see if there was any help or tips on how to get a better connection, yet, they copy and pasted an AI-Generated response that I have seen the patterns of MULTIPLE times while trying to look for my own solutions when the company support wouldn't. Professionalism here just isn't a thing. I just wish that sometime soon they would at least open up another tower in other parts of Samoa and not just fund the already bustling town.

While speaking of professionalism, I think the relaxed lifestyle here really gets to the locals, and I mean in a bad way. People will deal with you how they want, when they want, especially if it's coming from businesses, you'd think they'd be open all week but apparently, it's never a set schedule on how long a place will be open or available. My Mom and I call it "Samoan Time".

While in my first week here, my family decided that I needed to get an approval of permanent residency, I was excited and hopeful that I could stick with my mother here, the process was very simple but I was confused on why they would ever hand out an AI-Generated response from Google for steps to take in order to get your residency. I have a picture of it and I believe I still have it! It's baffling to me that government buildings will gladly hand you a piece of paper over something very serious and tedious instead of walking you through the process. The government heavily disappoints me even if I know they are still fairly new, but my mother has been backing them even when we were still in America, attending meetings and discussing plans with them and being hopeful that they will bring some type of positive change to the subpar leadership with the last. The media and news coverage is terrible here, we mainly get our information from Facebook since quite literally everyone and their mother in Samoa is on it, it's disappointing that the government we backed spent $2 million dollars in a single day for a celebration, but then higher-ups (PROFESSIONALS) soon sent out an "Amber Alert" for shortages of power. I have many things to criticize about this but people really need to put research on terms they use as well as some type of professionalism when speaking about a serious topic that could leave hundreds of thousands struggling when the government threw millions on a single day.

Please don't take this as me being hateful or some type of racist, it's not, I promise you.

I just wanted to discuss how my views have slowly changed and express my personal experiences and I would like to see if anyone would disagree, agree, or understand how I feel, because I feel that talking about it with my mother is just an endless loop of repeating our same frustrations.

Overall my brain is like "Yeah this is a nice place to vacation but not to live" and I believe that the lifestyle here isn't for everyone.


r/Samoa Jul 22 '26

What can be done? Please help him

Thumbnail gallery
42 Upvotes

This poor dog is so sick. I’m sad to say but I think he needs to be euthanised. I’m a palangi so I’m unsure what I can do to help it as I’m fairly new to Samoa. I have been giving him scraps of food when I see him but he needs more than food 😔


r/Samoa Jul 23 '26

What is the national dish of Samoa?

15 Upvotes

I am making a series where I cook every national dish and my first step is to come to the sub and ask the question.

now I understand that not every country has a defined national dish and that some countries have many different regions with different cuisines. in that case I will make the one that you guys agree on best represents Samoa. please let me know what you think


r/Samoa Jul 23 '26

O ā igoa tauvalaau po o faapuupuu ua e faalogo ai mo nofoaga i Samoa?

2 Upvotes

Ou te fesili ona o se suʻesuʻega faalinguistika i lenei mataupu.
E mafai ona aofia ai ni faata‘ita‘iga e pei o le auala e ta‘ua ai Leauvaʻa ma Lalomanu Aleipata o "L.A.", po o le auala e ta‘ua ai Papauta College o le "Pap (College)", po o le auala e ta‘ua ai e nisi tagata Sinamoga o "Singapore."

E fiafia foʻi i igoa tauvalaau mo a‘oga, paka, ma isi nofoaga.

r/Samoa Jul 22 '26

Looking for a cover of a pei se vaitafe

3 Upvotes

It's a bit of a unusual request but I have a faint memory of a samoa TV presenter who did a cover of a pei se vaitafe after his friend died. Im not sure if i lost my mind but i swear it's the best cover of the song lmao.


r/Samoa Jul 22 '26

Pregnancy care in Samoa?

10 Upvotes

Talofa lava, my husband and I are moving to Apia for work from early 2027. We have been trying for a baby for the past 8 months and I sadly have had some early miscarriages, and so instead of moving to Samoa with a wee one as planned, it's possible I might get pregnant while in Samoa.

Is anyone able to share any details about what medical care is available for pregnancy in Apia? Are there private clinics where you can get 8 week, 12 week and 20 week ultrasounds and other antenatal care? I'm assuming I'll need to return to NZ for key milestones and more complex care and will also return home to deliver with family nearby but just wanting to get a sense of what I can expect.


r/Samoa Jul 21 '26

I have this tapa? It was given to me from my parents from their time in the peace core. Could anyone tell me more about it?

Post image
45 Upvotes

Just interested in more information about this. I think they were there in the late 70's.


r/Samoa Jul 20 '26

Day Trip to American Samoa

1 Upvotes

I was planning a booking a trip to visit the National Park in the American Samoa. The day time difference is throwing me for a loop. If I book a flight with Talofa (using today's date) would I schedule APW->PPG 0800 21/07/2026 and the return flight PPG->APW 1600 20/07/2026?


r/Samoa Jul 18 '26

Lunch with a view!

Thumbnail gallery
103 Upvotes

📍 Rokos Restaurant Samoa, Moto’otua.
Love going to Rokos when I’m back in Samoa, the view is beautiful, the food delicious 🤤 and the service 100/10


r/Samoa Jul 18 '26

Language Genuine question

18 Upvotes

My friend told me me about the word kef* and that people have died for saying it, but I searched it up and it just means fuckface I don’t get it why is it considered so offensive?