It’s who you know… (Written 6/22/07)

While Mom was here last month, the Head of State for Samoa – Malietoa – passed away and the Parliament was tasked with the job of electing a new head of state. Unlike Malietoa, this new Head of State would only serve a 5 year term instead of a lifetime term. Well this past week (I think either this week or last week) the Parliament elected the new Head of State – and he was the only person nominated – and he is named Tupua Tamasese. Now when I first heard about Tupua all I knew – from his last name – was that he is related to the Training Coordinator for Peace Corps (H.P. Tamasese – Tupua is HP's uncle). That was basically the extend of my connection to Tupua…until today.

Or to be more exact, that was until a few months back. Remember at the start of the school year when we had our opening mass and we also had the opening of a new chapel underneath the FaleSamoa (aka my house) – it seems that Tupua and his wife were there for the opening. In fact, I have a picture of them at that opening ceremony and Tupua's wife is the one that cut the ribbon for officially opening the new chapel (this was before Tupua became Head of State). So as is required for big events in Samoa, there was a feast after the opening but then comes the surreal part…Tupua and his wife actually visited my lab. Which means that I've had the Head of State of Samoa actually view all 4 of my computers lab and he was quite impressed with how many computers we actually had. Never thought I would have the leader of a nation actually in my classroom, but this Peace Corps experience has brought about a few things I would have never expected.

We are having a group from NZ come visit us on next Friday and they will be here doing a case study on Samoan history. Tupua is a big Samoan history buff, so during our staff meeting today, Kevin was talking about having Tupua come talk to this group. That was when I made the mental connection that Tupua had been there at the opening of the chapel and viewed each of my computer labs. Now it would have been just a nice story of remembering a cool experience I didn't even know I had, but it gets better.

I was suppose to go into town today for a meeting but the meeting got cancelled which meant I had no reason to go into town and instead I washed my clothes (it's easier on a Friday night when no one else is washing). This meant that I was around when Kevin was looking for me to invite me down to the tennis club for a special dinner for Tupua Tamasese – it seems he enjoys playing tennis at the Chanel Tennis Club. I was like 'Sure, I'll come have a free meal with the Head of State'. So I went down there and once I saw Tupua in the flesh again, it really hit me that the Head of State had actually visited my class before and I didn't even know it. Seti – a guy I know from Peace Chapel – is also a very frequent player at the tennis club, so he was there as well. I asked Kevin what Tupua's connection to the school was – he's not a former student of Chanel College. It seems that the Tamasese family had a lot to do with the building of the FaleSamoa at the school (aka my house) and donated some money for the creation of the chapel – so in essence, I'm living in the house that the Head of State helped build! How crazy is that!

It was fun watching Tupua, who's about 69 years old, play tennis. While he's not as mobile as he used to be probably he still has that certain level of energy about him (in fact he kind of has the same kind of personality as my grandfather – there's just always that special level of energy about them, regardless of how tired or sore they are). After the tennis playing was done, Kevin got up and gave a little blessing for the event and then Tupua stood up and gave a speech. I was very impressed by the genuineness of his words – it sounded like he actually meant what he was saying. He spoke about friendship and rapport and how the glitz and glamour of being Head of State are nice, it's nothing compared to the personal relationships one has formed before getting such a high honor. He really emphasized that it's important not to forget where you came from and you could see that he really meant it. He was funny, articulate and spoke in English so I could understand what he was saying – which was very considerate. So Samoa is definitely in good hands for the next 5 years.

So to sum all that up in one sentence – I had dinner with a Head of State of country….how freakin' awesome is that! You know there are times when you get kind of down and beat up about the whole being away from home for 2 years (being a Peace Corps Volunteer) but then you get a cool opportunity like tonight and you realize…wow, this probably never would have happened had I not been here. I love my job!