We've started booking our accommodation there, with flights already booked for three of us to travel from NZ.
It's going to be very interesting, as it's my paternal late dad's side that I know some of the stories about and looking forward to learning a lot more.
We're also hoping to visit the island of Apolima, where my dad was born, which is a little way off from the island of Manono that my youngest and I visited earlier this year (earlier blog).
My aunt (my late dad's sister) in Samoa is organising and arranging transport to all of the sites that we will be travelling to and following the various villages that our ancestors lived in, spanning from Matautu close to Apia, where I stayed with my gran in 1989, to Savai'i on the big island.
I'm also looking forward to visiting with all our cousins from overseas, with visitors coming from not only NZ but also Australia (where my brother is travelling from) and within Samoa itself. No doubt there will be many stories to share and much to learn at this Faletui Family reunion.
Faletui is my dad's grandmother, who lived in Fasito'o-uta, where our family house is on our ancestral village lands. I remember my dad telling me that he would meet with this gran when he would be running errands and she would call to him to come visit her.
Now, with more descendants descending into Samoa in the new year to share more ancestral stories, travel to ancestral villages, and to find out about the ancestral land, stories, people and places. I'm also hoping to source some information for a book that could be helpful for next generations...
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