This weekend, as well as having some R&R (rest and relaxation), I'm also catching up on some much-needed work that I'm a little behind in my studies and I've been particularly interested in the Samoa proverbial saying or alaga upu "E lele le toloa ae ma'au lava i le vai" which if literally translated it means - the toloa (duck) flies but always returns to the water.
Last year when our family travelled to Samoa, our girls would have a Samoan songs playlist that we would listen to in the car especially when travelling to Apia and back which is sometimes like a 45 minute car ride depending on traffic and weather. One of the songs that we would listen to a lot was a song that has the proverbial saying in its lyrics.
In my studies, I'm particularly interested in the experiences of diaspora Samoans regarding measina (treasures) a Samoa and also in the Samoan Early childhood centre that I'm on the board of we are also looking at developing a 'toloa framework' which looks deeply into the proverbial saying and taking a metaphorical understanding of what that lessons we learn from ancient wisdom of old that is expressed in proverbial sayings.
That's where I'll stop as there is a lot more to unpack but suffice to say that this song begins to discuss this important alaga upu regarding Samoa as a nation. Still I get nostalgic and miss the times that my family could easily cross the Pacific Oceanic ditch and look forward to a time that we can do it again but in the meantime, I'll just enjoy the music and dream...
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