A miscellany of news stories

ABC is reporting that the American Samoan delegation to the Pacific Arts Festival in Palau is having problems raising funds.

TerraDaily is reporting a ban of scuba gear introduced to help protect Samoa's reef fish.

Ofu Beach in American Samoa has been named one of the U.S.'s top 10 beaches by the Travel Channel

U.S. News Wire is reporting that ambassadors and representatives of Pacific Island States will hold a press conference to highlight issues of regional change on Tuesday May 4th in Washington.

Trevor Leota scored the winning try for Wasps which put them through to face defending champions Toulouse in the European Cup final.

27th April 2004

Previously

The Australian Broadcasting Company is reporting that the next Pacific Islands Forum (slow link) will be held in Apia from August 5th to 7th.

The Otago Daily Time is reporting about the role played by the church in Samoan society in New Zealand. A related story looks at the importance of the church in Samoa.

Oregon State University is holding a luau/fiafia on Saturday 24th April.

The New Zealand Herald has a feature about the Samoan hip-hop artists Viiz and Nainz Tupai.

Samoan traditional medicine is about to get an academic eye cast over it by a Thomas J Watson Fellowship recipient.

24th April 2004

Previously

Radio Australia is running a brief story about Samoa's struggling economy.

The Otago Daily Times has a concise overview of Samoa's education system. Few resources in Samoan education but primary system works well

A related story looks at the problems facing a Samoan scholarship student studying at the University of Otago in Dunedin. Cold, hard reality of Dunedin study

Meanwhile, Stuff earlier this month looked at cultural issues hampering Samoan children at school in New Zealand.

John Boe, after being replaced by Michael Jones as Manu Samoa's coach, appears to have found himself a position with the combined Pacific Islanders team .

The Houston Chronicle has an article about The Rocks recent exploits on the the silver screen.

The Provo Daily Herald is reporting that the couple at the centre of a Discovery Health Channel program about the adoption of two Samoan children have been charged with child abuse.

The University of Davis, California is celebrating Asian Pacific Culture Week 2004 starting April 19th, 2004.

21st April 2004

Football Word Cup 2006 sees both Samoas in the same group

The draw for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany took place in Frankfurt on Thursday December 5th. The two Samoas will face each other was well as Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea.

With Samoa ranked 176th and American Samoa 202nd, out of 204 there is likely to be very little to get excited about. Since Australia are not in the group, there is little chance of the World Cups biggest winning margin record being beaten - April 11th 2001 Australia vs. American Samoa 31 - 0.

6th December 2003

Good news and bad for the Pacific environment

The BBC is reporting that a bird, the long-legged warbler, that was thought to be extinct for over one hundred years has been found breeding in small numbers in Fiji.

The article also has a link to an interesting site, Pacific Birds.

Earlier this month CNN reported upon the environmental impact of Disney's "Finding Nemo" on the reefs on Vanuatu.

CNN has also picked up on, amongst other things, the threat to low lying Pacific Islands posed by the melting of the worlds glaciers. This seems somewhat far-fetched since the amount of water tied up in the Himalyan and Andean glaciers to which they refer is an insignificant fraction of that locked up in Antarctica.

30th November 2003

Polynesian Festival Evening 25th November

If you are in London on November 25th you might want to take a trip to Hammersmith for the Te Tau Polynesian Festival Evening.

More details can be found here.

16th November 2003

Listen to a BBC Radio broadcast about Margaret Mead

This can hardly be described as a timely posting since it relates to a broadcast that went out in an episode of Radio 4's Woman's Hour on December 14th 2001. It is an 11 minute segment discussing the life of Margaret Mead and touches on her experiences in Samoa and the controversy surrounding her research.

5th November 2003

Samoa almost had it

In what was probably the best match of the World Cup so far, Samoa led England 16-13 into half-time. With a massive 94% posession for the first 26 minutes resulting in a lead of 10-0 it looked as if Samoa could pull it off.

Samoa's ball handling and tackling was superb, but the second half saw England gradually struggle ahead. Right up until the last few minutes it appeared that Samoa might be able to pull it back. The scoreline of 22-35 fails to reflect just how close Samoa were.

With committed play like this the signs are good for next Saturday's game against South Africa.

Follow the link for the BBC's analysis of the game, or click here for the blow-by-blow detail. The BBC also has photgraphs from the match.

26th October 2003

One for the teines

Maraea Slade has informed us of some eye-candy that has recently become available. With Christmas coming up it could make a great stocking filler for a friend or a treat for yourself. What's more the money will be going to help Samoan Rugby in Australia which could mean more furture stars for Manu Samoa.

21st October 2003

Samoa hit the ground running

In a confident opening display Samoa racked up an impressive 60-13 score against Uruguay, running in 10 tries with Fa'asavalu, Lima, Tagicakibau, Fa'atau, Lemalu, Vili, Feaunati and Palepoi all crossing the line.

The BBC has play by play reporting and a summary of the match.

15th October 2003

The Rock takes U.S. weekend box office No. 1.

The Rundown starring Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) was the biggest grossing film this weekend, but whilst not being a stellar success it is predicted to have a reasonably long life on the screens.

28th September 2003

Grim Asian Development Bank Assessment of Social Developments

A report published by the Asian Development Bank in July paints a rather pessimistic view of the quality of life for some of Samoa's residents.

"ADB’s participatory poverty assessment, Priorities of the People: Hardship in Samoa, indicates that there are still significant pockets of poverty. More people are without jobs, affected by higher school fees and dropout rates. Drug use, domestic violence, teenage pregnancies, and youth suicide are also said to be increasing. Urban slums are appearing in Apia, particularly in low-lying areas that often have poor drainage and sanitation. While there is evidence that the gap between rural and urban areas is increasing, hardship can be observed in both rural and urban areas. In urban areas the most affected are people who live on leased land, without enough space to grow crops, in flood-prone areas, or on traditional lands but with little access to transport, communication facilities, and water. In rural areas the most affected are people living inland who have limited or no access to land, product markets, and basic public services."

The Asian Development Bank produced a publication last year Priorities of the People: Hardship in Samoain which it discussed the causes, perception and steps that could be taken to reduce hardship.

14th September 2003

Updated Q & A Archive Search facility.

We have just imported a large number of Questions and Answers posts in to the Q & A Archive search database. There are now over 17,000 posts for you tosearch.

The output still leaves something to desire and there is no Boolean search function yet but you might be able to find some of the information you require by using it.

7th September 2003

Manu Samoa World Cup Squad named.

The 30 strong squad of players is available on the Manu Samoa website.One thing that stands out is the extent of the Samoan rugby driven diaspora with over a third of the players being called up from Japan, France, England and Scotland.

You might also be interested in the details of the All Blacks squad which features a few well known Samoan names.

28th August 2003

London Polynesian Night

Tali has sent us details of a Polynesian event taking place at the Menier Gallery, near London Bridge station on Saturday August 2nd from 15:00 - 23:00.With a Samoan DJ, sounds and tastes of the Pacific and prize for the most original Polynesian costume it sounds like an excellent way to spend a summer's afternoon in London.

20th July 2003

Web-based directory enquiries from SamoTel

SamoaTel now provides the facility to search both residential/white pages andbusiness/yellow pages from their online directory services page.

19th November 2002

Do you recognised anyone in these photographs?

We have received a request from a visitor to this site to help identify the subjects of some rather old photographs.

14th November 2002

Samoa come fourth in Commonwealth Games 7's.

After losing 31 - 12 to New Zealandin the semi-finals, Samoa went on to face South Africa in the play-off for 3rd place. In a hard fought game Samoa lost 19 - 12 (scroll down to bottom of link.)

4th August 2002

Samoa face New Zealand in Commonwealth 7's semis.

After struggling to qualify from their group, but then beating Australia in the quarter finalsSamoa now face New Zealand in the semi-finals.

Samoa also claimed three medals in the mens upto 85kg weightlifting on August 1st. Ofisa Ofisa taking silver in the Clean and Jerk and the overall bronze, while Niusila Opeloge took bronze in the Snatch. Their performance details can be found here.

3rd August 2002

Necrotising fasciitis claims Samoan victim.

A Samoan man has died in New Zealand of an incredibly unpleasant medical condition following his recent acquisition of a pe'a.

The BBC has more on this story.

Whilst it might be desirable to aquire your tattoos with traditional implements, make certain thatthe artist you visit adheres to suitable levels of hygiene and if you experience even the slightest problems with the healing process do not hesitate to visit your doctor or local hospital.

July 8th 2002

Search the Questions and Answers Archive

As you may have noticed the search function has some problems with the Questions and Answers pages. To help you get around this we have created a searchable database. It's not particularly pretty at the moment and it is not running on our main server, but we need you to test it. At present it holds about 9500 postings but this will grow.

Click here to test the search. Any problems or comments should be directed to webmaster@samoa.co.uk

Update, July 9th 2002: Fixed bug whereby links and images embedded within the search results were not properly handled.

6th June 2002

Trouble in Paradise

Civil unrest, AIDS and sinking islands. These are just some of the problems facing the nations of the Pacific highlighted in this CNN article.

Nothing new here, but it's nice to see it presented in a homogenous format for those that might not be familiar with the issues

3rd April 2002

The BBC is reporting that kava is being withdrawn from the shelves of shops in various European countries following reports of liver damage and failure.

18th December 2001

The BBC carries a news item about obesity amongst Pacific islanders which makes pretty depressing reading.

More information can be found about the survey at this location.

1st December 2001

Samoa scored one try and one penalty, but were unable to capitalize on a number of excellent breaks.

For match details take a look at the BBC's minute-by-minute report.

12th November 2001

Henry C. Ide was the American consulate in Samoa during the 1890's. The article was published in The North American Review in July 1899 and looked at the causes of the conflict and the desirability of the partition, amongst other things.

From this account it appears that Samoa could actually have been split three ways if things had been handled differently.

27th October 2001

This website is run by Jenkins & Vera Tesese and sells a wide variety of Samoan Music, traditional and contemporary. Also available are Samoan Videos including festivals and faleaitu's. If you are lucky enough to be in Auckland, NZ you can always pop along to the Avondale Market on a Sunday to meet Jenkins and purchase your music and videos in person.

12th June 2001

Jean-Robert Goulongana is the Secretary General of the European Union's ACP (Africa Caribbean and Pacific) Group.Today June 5th and tomorrow June 6th, 2001 he will be available to discuss your issues on-line. Details can be found here.One topic that may be of interest is the dispute over the use of Polynesian words by Denmark's Lego. Whilst this might seem atrivial issue, bare in mind that Samoan companies cannot market 'Noni' juice in the States under that name because it has beentrademarked by a U.S. company. Probably far more pressing though is the issue of climate change.

5th June 2001

There are various web sites out there that have links to web sites related to Samoa/Samoans. We have decidedto look at this another way and try and find out what servers/sites are physically located in Samoa.

5th June 2001

This document is open to comment from interested individuals and institutions. Details of howto make your submissions can be found on the introductory page to the report.

4th June 2001

From May 14th - 20th 2001, the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries will be taking place in Brussels, Belgium.

In preparation for this conference, the Samoan government has produced a country presentation.

This document discusses the economic fortunes of Samoa and more interestingly the government plans for further development of the economy and infrastructure.

There's a lot planned, but one thing that caught our, technically oriented, eye is a plan to upgrade the Samoa/Am. Samoa link from 256kbps to 2Mbps. Perhaps more important though are upgrades of water pipelines around the islands, electricity to Manono, bridge replacement and road repair plans and lots more.

4th May 2001

If you look at the top left hand corner of this screen (click here if you can't see it - requires java to be enabled), you should see a number of different news summaries appearing. Clicking on the text will take you to the news story associated with this summary.

The display is updated automatically and is based upon stories appearing in the Pacific Islands Report, Samoa Observer - Local News and Samoa News

21st January 2001

We are working on providing a couple of minutes of RealVideo to give you an idea of what Cardiff was like the day of the Samoa - Wales rugby union fixture. This is somewhat experimental, we are running RealServer over an ADSL link from home and cannot tell how well, if at all, this works. Any feedback to webmaster@samoa.co.uk, apart from criticism of the alcohol assisted camera work, will be appreciated.

14th November 2000

We have provided a brief summary of the three major international sporting events this weekend that are certain to keep Samoan's around the world riveted to their television sets.

10th November 2000

Samoa's victory against Scotland ensures that they qualify for the quarter-finals, where they will meet Australia.

Samoa dominated the first half of the game going into the break 14 - 2. Scotland came out fighting in the second half, scoring 2 tries in the first three minutes and continued to apply pressure to Samoa right up to the final whistle.

Samoa meet Australia next Saturday at Vicarage Road, Watford. We wish them all the best for what is sure to be gruelling encounter.

5th November 2000

Following the defeat of the New Zealand Maoris by Ireland, Samoa move to 2nd position in group 4 of the Rugby League World Cup, on points difference.

Tomorrow Samoa play Scotland, who have yet to win a game. So long as Samoa lose by no more than 1 point they are assured a place in the quarter-finals, where they will meet the championship favorites, Australia.

4th November 2000

This afternoon Samoa will play their first game in the Rugby League world cup. The match, the opening game of the tournament, against Ireland is being played at Windsor Park in Belfast, with the kick-off at 15:00 UK time, 14:00 GMT.

If you have RealAudio installed you can LISTEN to the game live on BBC Radio 5.

The Samoan captain, Willing Poching was interviewed for this BBC article about Samoa's prospects in the Rugby League World Cup.

28th October 2000.

More of the Reverend George Pratt's dry but authoritative Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan language. This time all you ever wanted to know about Important Prepositions, Pronouns, Verbal Particles and Moods.

REMEMBER: If you are interested in helping with the dictionary please send an e-mail to webmaster@samoa.co.uk

24th October 2000

Over the next few months we will be adding sections of the 4th edition of the Reverend George Pratt's Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, 1911. It is envisaged that we will only add the Grammar, which is quite substantial in its own right (131 pages). The dictionary comes in at 612 pages, so unless there are a substantial number of volunteers wishing to assist in the proofing of a large number of scanned pages, it is unlikely that we will ever find time to put a copy on the Internet.

Click for The Notes and 1st and 2nd chapters.

If you are interested in helping with the dictionary please send an e-mail to webmaster@samoa.co.uk

15th October 2000

For full details of all the Samoan athletes who competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, go to our Samoan Olympians page. It will provide you with a summary of their performances and links to more detailed analysis

We wish to congratulate all of you who succeeded in qualifying to represent your countries at the world's premiere sporting event.

3rd October 2000

From assorted journals, this page contains 8 brief articles written in the 19th century about various aspects of Samoa. They tend to concentrate on the conflicts, but a few deal with other aspects of Samoan culture.

10th September 2000

Today marks the start of the BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race. Chris Laufale is a member of the CGNU Challenge team, one of the 12 boats which left Southampton just after mid-day GMT today.

We wish him all the best on his 10 month, 30,000 mile journey around the planet. He believes when he completes the journey it will make him the first Polynesian to circumnavigate the globe under sail.

10th September 2000

A London print shop was where we found these two 19th century illustrations of Samoa. They probably come from an American periodical, and the signature, on one, of the engraver, "F. Meaulle", leads us to believe they can be dated to the 1880s.

Also accompanying the prints is the, by today's standards, non-PC text found on the reverse of the page.

3rd September 2000

Reading old accounts of European exploration in the Pacific can be quite confusing. Place names used by the earliest explorers bear little resemblence to those in use today. This detail from the 1851 Tallis Atlas showing islands in the Cooks, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa may be useful.

3rd September 2000

It seems that the French have made a habit of upsetting people in the Pacific. It's not just nuclear testing at Mururoa and sinking "The Rainbow Warrior" in Auckland Harbour with a mine.

Back in 1787 La Perouse, a French explorer, had a bit of a misunderstanding in Samoa. You can read about his experiences here.

For the Samoan version of events, read George Turner's brief account of the incident.

Updated 17th July 2000

Do you want to make someone feel homesick?

Do you want someone to see where you spent your last holiday?

Are you looking for an unusual place to send an e-postcard from?

Why not send them one of our virtual Samoan postcards. As with everything else on this site it's free, and you have a number of images to choose from.

21st May 2000

On May 10th, 2000 at the Waikiki Aquarium Jim Maragos of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will present a slide show detailing the damage done to a coral reef in American Samoa when a ship ran aground in 1993.

6th May 2000

"Moana", filmed by Robert Flaherty at Safune, Savai'i in the early 1920s was the first film to be given the label "documentary". Read some of Robert Flaherty's comments about his experiences in Samoa.

3rd April 2000

WWW. .WS

The Internet top level domain for Samoa - .WS - is now being commercially developed. Reservation of a domain name 4 charcters or greater in length costs US$ 35 a year. A 3 letter domain name costs US$ 250 a year, and a 2 letter domain name costs US$ 500 a year. To find out more or to reserve a domain name click on the link opposite.

11th March 2000

About 20 new entries have been added to the Samoan bibliography.

A bug in the Samoan Telephone Directory which meant that search terms between 10 and 19 characters in length would fail has been fixed.

5th March 2000

New Zealand born Samoan Chris Laufale is preparing to become, what he believes will be, the first Polynesian to sail around the world. He is a participant in the gruelling BT Global Challenge around the world yacht race, the only around the world yacht race to sail against the prevailing winds. To make it even more of a challenge the skipper is the only professional member of the crew, the rest being comprised of amateur volunteers of which Chris is one.

Follow his progress through training, fund raising and the 10 month event itself at his web-site www.fobchallenge.com.

29th January 2000

The group draws for the Rugby League World Cup, to be held later this year in the United Kingdom, has taken place. Samoa has found itself in Group 4 along with Ireland, Scotland and Maori. The date, time and venue for each of Samoa's first round games is show below.

Ireland - Samoa, 28th October 2000, Windsor Park, Belfast, 15:00
Samoa - Maori, 1st November 2000, Derwent Park, Workington, 19:30
Scotland - Samoa, 5th November 2000, Tynecastle, Edinburgh, 18.45

29th January 2000

New York Hawaiian Film Festival

Allen Hanaike writes:

Aloha & Talofa,

I’m writing from Honolulu, Hawai'i in an attempt to distribute information to Samoans and those interested in Samoan, Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture who live on the East Coast of the United States. I’ve attempted to search the web for New York and East Coast specific Samoan Cultural organizations, but have been unsuccessful. I’d appreciate your kokua (help) in passing the word to others whom you feel might find something like this of interest.

We’re a US non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a perpetuating Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture outside of Hawaii. For more information about the Hawaii Cultural Foundation, please visit us on the Web: http://hawaiiculturalfoundation.org/

Were featuring a few films which have Samoan themes that we believe would be of interest to members of the Samoan community. Many of these films would not otherwise be seen in New York. There are several other wonderful independent films, workshops, lectures, theatrical works, live music and dance at this year’s Pacifika.

For additional information about the film festival, please visit: http://pacifika.org or take a look at the attached brochure.

Mahalo!

Hope to see you in New York City!

6th May 2004

ASCC to perform Girl In The Moon Circle

On May 6th the American Samoa Community College will perform a dramatic adaptation of Sia Figiel's Girl In The Moon Circle.

4th May 2004

The Townsend Cromwell

NOAA has detailed information about the Townsend Cromwell. This is the ship that the government of American Samoa has sold at a bargain basement price of USD 100,000 to a Samoan consortium.

USD 100,000 appears to buy an awful lot of boat, and whilst it should be an excellent investment for the group that purchased it, one has to question the wisdom of the American Samoan government.

3rd May 2004

Bryan Willams to coach NZ Barbarians

As well as being coached by the great Bryan Williams, the squad will have two Samoan's taking on the World Champions, Tanner Vili and Fil Tiatia, at Twickenham on December 20th.

What's more, the two proprietors of this site have managed to obtain tickets for the game. We wish Bryan all the best for what must be quite a challenge.

9th December 2003

GIS in Samoa.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been all the rage in computing for a few years now. Recently SOPAC has rolled out a GIS map server for the Pacfic nations, but this is still embryonic in form. Public domain GIS datasets for Samoa are very limited; we've been looking for them for a couple of years now and haven't come across anything worth deploying, but various bodies in Samoa appear to be having some success with their own systems.

Page 4 of the May-August SAPA newsletter discusses a Samoa Forestry Project for the mapping and classification of vegetation.

A presentation given earlier this year at the Samoa has I.T. seminar also covered the use of GIS for Coastal Hazard Mapping, amongst other things.

23rd November 2003

What a difference a week makes.

Samoa suffered a 60-10 defeat at the hands of the South Africans. The Springboks capitalised on the weak Samoan pack's performance, dominating scrums, rucks and mauls, scoring tries and setting up opportunities for theirbacks.

Samoa looked tired and were unable to respond except for brief spells, but these were usually spoiled byhandling errors. Brian Lima must take the title for the best tackle of the tournament, so far, after his bonecrunching interception of Derek Hougaard.

Click for the BBC's blow-by-blow commentary, or follow the link for the match analysis.

1st November 2003

Samoa lead Pool C

A less than impressive 46-9 victory over Georgia sees Manu Samoa at the top of Pool C ahead of England and South Africa.

Click for play by play details, or read the summary of the game from the BBC.

19th October 2003

An overview of Samoa's Natural Resources

Whilst reading the the SOPAC Annual Session Press Release we came across mention of a study to investigate the use of biomass as an energy source in Samoa and five other Pacific nations. Google led to this report that appears to have been compiled as part of the project. It provides an overview of forestry, agriculture, energy and water in Samoa.

16th October 2003

Nesian Mystik performing in London

Natalie sent the following e-mail:

Talofa all my homies!

Just spreading the "word" about the new polynesian sensation soon to behitting the shores of London town shortly. I heard them back at home when I was there and they are fantastic.

There are four or five of them, one being a Samoan, that's all that reallymatters of course, anyways, they have a gig on Wednesday 22 October atMadame JoJos in Soho.

So gather round the "posse" and get on down and support the Samoan!

If you want to learn more about them their website is http://www.nesianmystik.com

28th September 2003

The Miss Samoa Pageant 2003-2004.

Jody Jackson sent us an email reminding us that it's that time of the year again. Follow the link and you can help select thewinner of this years Miss Internet category, but act quickly as voting closes September 6th 2003.

Expect to see some activity shortly at the Miss South Pacific Pageant website as well.

26th August 2003

Te Vaka nominated for Radio 3 world music award.

Our favourite contemporary Pacific music group, has been selected as one of the four entrants from the Asia/Pacificregion, for the BBC's classical music channel's Awards for World Music.

Starting January 1st 2003, it will be possible to vote for the audience award. We'll provide a link to the page when it goes live, and if you all vote you might be ableto help bring Pacific music to a wider audience.

5th December 2002

17th April 2002

25th April 2001

Pacific Island Volunteers Sought in London

We have received this flyer from the organisers of the Pacific Contingent of the Queen's Jubilee Commonwealth Parade on June 4th 2002.

If you are interested in participating contact Letila, before Friday 17th May.

14th May 2002

New Site Dedicated to Siapo.

SIAPO.COM is a site, designed by Tupito Gadalla of San Diego, dedicated to the Samoan form of tapa cloth. It contains many examples of traditional and contemporary siapo, information regarding methods of production as well as supplies for those who wish to experiment themselves.

29th April 2002

Vili, Von't he - tell the truth

You've read about it in newspapers across the world. You might even have seen the film. Well the story continues. The boy who had found his "soul-mate" and his family are now suing the school district and city of Des Moines for not providing protection for her son - there must be a joke about safe sex somewhere in there.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has plenty of news about this on-going court case. For more read the links below.

Boy who fathered kids with Letourneau wants no part of suit

Letourneau-related lawsuit allowed to proceed

Lawsuit over Letourneau to move forward

Letourneau's young lover can't sue city, schools for child support

Letourneau may testify from prison in civil suit

Fualaau's suit says he wasn't protected from Letourneau

Civil suit puts the Letourneau case back in the spotlight

Depressed Fualaau: 'I wish I wasn't who I am'

Fualaau details 6th-grade affair with Letourneau

Vili, mom see a pot of gold at end of civil case

Fualaau says he lied before about Letourneau affair

Fualaau testifies about night police found him with teacher

10th April 2002

WANTED!!! Polynesian/NZ Bands

Lucy has been approached by the NZ High Commission here in London, looking for Polynesian/NZ bands based in the UK or that will be in the U.K. during the period June 1st - June 4th 2002. They have been contacted by a company organising a huge music event in Hyde Park that will be broadcast by BBC Live.

Please contact Lucy at lucy@samoa.co.uk

7th April 2002

England cancels South Pacific Tour

England's plans to play Samoa, as well as Tonga and Fiji, on successive weekends in June and July of this year have been dropped, the BBC is reporting.

This would have been great exposure for Pacific Islandrugby as well as a source of tourism revenue.

26th March 2002

Now the U.S. is concerned about Kava

CNN is reporting that the U.S.'s Food and Drugs Administration has decided to issue an alert regarding the possibility that Kavacould cause liver damage.

The alert refers to "kava-containing dietary supplements". It's been used in Polynesia for a few thousand years, but never as a "dietary supplement". Perhaps this is where people are going wrong.

26th March 2002

Countrywatch is reporting the story of two Samoan fishermen who managed to survive for 132 days after drifting 4,000 km to Papua New Guinea. Two of their fellow fisherman were, sadly, not so fortunate. The BBC has also picked up on the story.

12th November 2001

During the night of the terrible hurricane in the harbor of Apia, Samoa, Lieut. Carlin was the executive officer of the Vandalia. In shipping the crew at Mare Island he had given preference in the selection of sailors to those who were baseball players, as he was an enthusiast in the game. While in this port on a previous voyage his baseball team of the ship's men had been badly beaten by the Honolulu team, and he determined to meet it again with a better set of men. The Vandalia, however, left this port for Samoa. After the vessel struck the reef, and the men were clinging to the rigging, and the surf was making a clean sweep over the deck, and many of the men had been washed overboard, Lieut. Carlin determined to make a desperate attempt to carry a line from one part of the vessel to the main yard. He shouted out in the howling wind: "I want some volunteers; good sailors."

A voice out of the dark tempest replied: "Lieutenant, there ain't no sailors here; but plenty of baseball players."

Army Navy Journal, February 19, 1898

28th October 2001

Donna Lou Kamu has setup a website selling children's books she has written in both English and Samoan. This is one of the few sources of Samoan children's books that we are aware of.

4th June 2001

Even if it isn't, you may be interested in the FACT SHEET we have put together about the islands of Samoa.

It contains the answers to the majority of the most frequently asked questions we receive by e-mail or in the Question and Answers forum, all on a single sheet of paper. There's even a PDF version you can print out.

18th May 2001

Regular visitors to this site will have noticed the appearance of commercial banner advertising. Hopefully this will not cause any technical hitches, but if you start experiencing problems, where none existed previously, let us know by sending an e-mail towebmaster@samoa.co.uk.

Any other comments or thoughts you might have about the layout, appearance and content of this site will also be welcomed.

18th May 2001

Those of you who enjoy the intricacies of Samoan politics may find this copy of the Constitution of interest.

17th May 2001

Just a few days ago the Samoa Observer launched a new look website. The use of an index for the current stories and the fact that there is only one story per page, mean that it is much quicker to load than the old format as well as being far easier on the eye. Perhaps of even greater significance is the appearance of the archives, which although at present somewhat unpopulated, should grow to become a significant resource.

Congratulations to Savea Sano Malifa and his team for this significant upgrade to the quality of news coming out of Samoa.

2nd May 2001

It has been reported that The Rock, a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson, has been offered the role of Duke Nukem, the eponymous hero of the first person shoot'em game. It has not yet been reported whether he has accepted.

It also seems that The Scorpion King, the follow-up of the yet to be released Mummy Returns, in which The Rock makes his film debut as the Scorpion King, has been approved in principle.

5th April 2001

We have just received an e-mail notifying us of an event orgainsed by the team to raise money for their new strip.If you are in or around the London area on the 31st March why not stop in and help the team by having a drink with them.

More details can be found here.

21st March 2001

We're back to the task of preparing more of the Reverend George Pratt's dry but authoritative Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan language. This time it's a chapter dedicated to the word AI.

REMEMBER: If you are interested in helping with the dictionary please send an e-mail to webmaster@samoa.co.uk

17th March 2001

It was in one of the many second hand bookshops in Hay-on-Wye that we found this copy of the 1917 book, by R.M. Watson, entitled History of Samoa. It provides an excellent insight into the history of Samoa, post-European arrival to the First World War.

1st January 2001

One of our servers is now running a streaming audio server. We have ripped a substantial part of our CD collection and have created a random playlist of those CDs which are of a Pacific flavour. If we are working on the website, then what you hear is what we're listening to.

This service is bandwidth throttled and will only allow about 8 people to be connected simultaneously. No quality of service is guaranteed; if we are chucking large files around our network your listening pleasure will be impaired.

To access simply point Winamp, Sonique or another MP3 player which supports streaming audio at B>http://tutuila.samoa.co.uk:8000/test - audio will be delivered at 32kbps. Alternatively, if your browser is correctly configured simply click here to listen. If you wish you can check the server status.

If these links don't work, try substituting 62.49.253.181 instead of tutuila.samoa.co.uk.

Updated- 28th April 2001

We are testing a new affiliate program which should allow you to book flights, car rentals and hotels from this web site.

NOTE: We are not certain if any hotels in either Samoa or American Samoa are covered by this booking system and are trying to obtain clarification of this issue.

27th March 2001

Conny and Gerhard Plume, from Germany, have very kindly given permission for us to reproduce their account of a cycling trip to Samoa and California.

They retain the copyright to the article and any request to reproduce it in part or full should be addressed to Connie and Gerhard Plume, Plume@t-online.de.

20th March 2001

Whilst perhaps not as dramatic as some of the previous changes to the appearance of this website, the work involved has been quite extensive: more than 8,000 pages (including each and every Question and Answer posting) has had to be modified.

There are three main changes, two you will notice and one we hope doesn't have any adverse effects.

The frames have gone - this should mean quicker access to pages which are now more easy to bookmark.

The background siapo is several shades lighter which should make text easier to read and has allowed us to move from all bold text.

Thirdly, almost all pages are now handled dynamically which means we have been able to get rid of the little java applets that scrolled text and embed exchange rates, weather and news information directly on each page.

If you have any comments or complaints about the new layout please let us know by mailing us at webmaster@samoa.co.uk

11th March 2001

The popularity of the Questions & Answers page had caused a few problems with our search engine. The simple script which drives it, could not cope with the number documents that this site now holds and as a result none of the Q & A pages were being searched. This has been corrected.

The web server will now give you a somewhat more friendly error message if you go to a page which no longer exists, and allow you to search for it. We have removed the bottom frame from all pages. Instead advertising, if anyone ever decides to make use of our generous rates, will be automatically appended to most pages.

5th November 2000.

Samoa's defeat of the New Zealand Maoris, 21 - 16, in their second Rugby League World Cup game leaves them with a chance of qualifying for the quarter finals. Although currently third in their group, a victory against Scotland on Sunday, of more than 6 points and a loss by the Maoris against Ireland, will ensure they progress to the next stage ofthe competition.

Read the BBC match report.

1st November 2000.

Ireland got ahead to an early start with a converted try just 2 minutes into the game. Samoa replied with a try 4 minutes later scored by Leauma, but Willie Poching was unable to convert it. 20 minutes into the game Willie Poching missed a penalty kick. 2 minutes later Ireland went through to score their second converted try. Laloa Milford went through a gap in the Irish defense just before the 28th minute to score a try which was converted by Simon Geros.

Ireland went into half-time 2 points ahead of Samoa, with the score 10 - 12.

3 minutes into the second half Ireland stretched the lead to 8 points, after another converted try. On the 47th minute of the game Ireland ran home another try which they failed to convert, taking the score to 22 - 10. A penalty in the 55th minute took Ireland's lead to 24 - 10. Two minutes later, following referee error, Ireland had scored another converted try. In the 66th minutes Monty Bethan benefited from another referee's mistake when he was awarded a try which was converted by Simon Geros.

The final 14 minutes of the game showed, that although Samoa had been beaten by Ireland, they had neither given up nor were too unfit to play a full game, as some commentators had predicted. Considering that a number of the major players had not been released by their clubs to play for Samoa, and that there were only three players from the previous world cup squad, this young Samoan team acquitted themselves well, playing in very unpleasant cold, wet and windy conditions.

28th October 2000.

Lieutenant William Reynolds was part of the U.S. Exploring Expedition to the Southern Ocean which took place between 1838 and 1842. He wrote a series of letters to his sister, two of which include references to Samoa.

The first of those letters is reproduced here.

3rd September 2000

In 1839 Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition drew up the following piece of legislation intended to protect the interests of both Samoans and Western governments and shipping companies.

3rd September 2000

We received a call from those considerate people at Air New Zealand to tell us that our flight from Samoa to Hawaii in January next year has been cancelled. A quick trip to the Air New Zealand web site revealed that they have actually dropped the AKL-APW-HNL-LAX route in favour of AKL-APW-LAX, effective end of October.

Bad luck if you live in Hawaii and wish to fly direct to Samoa.

Werner, a frequent visitor to our Questions and Answers page has pointed out that when Polynesian Airlines take delivery of their new aircraft, they will be flying direct to Hawaii from Samoa.

11th July 2000: updated 15th October 2000

Te Vaka. are touring Europe again this year and will finish off with a few concerts in the U.S. Check their itinerary to see when they are in a town near you.

25th June 2000

Damon Salesa, sent us notification of a lecture about Samoan tattooing taking place at Goldsmiths College, London on June 20th.

13th June 2000

We have just received this Press Release about a series of debates to be screened in Hawaii, California and Washington about the challenges facing Samoan students in U.S. schools.

The first debate will be shown in Hawaii on Sunday June 4th.

31st May 2000

This document will provide you with a brief overview of the state of the coral reefs around the islands of Samoa and the natural and man-made problems which face them.

24th April 2000

Learn more about the steps being taken to protect the only non-aquatic mammal indigenous to Samoa.

21st April 2000

This report from the New York Herald recounts the loss of life and damage suffered by the German and U.S. navies in Apia harbour in March 1889.

9th April 2000

The Samoa Film Database is a work in progress. It contains varying amounts of detail for over 120 films pertaining in some way to Samoa and American Samoa.

1st April 2000

Tala o le Vavau

We have added a brief review of this book about the myths, legends and customs of Old Samoa.

It's unusual format means it can be used by those who also wish to improve their Samoan as well as by people who simply want to found out more about Samoan culture.

5th March 2000

Sonja Maggoss has, very kindly, translated the text associated with four of the prints we recently added to this site. The article actually tells us more about the German attitude of the time to their Pacific possessions than it does about the islands themselves.

5th February 2000

The Samoan Embassy in Brussels has answered some of the more frequently asked questions that we receive about visas for Samoa.

16th January 2000

Have you ever wondered where abouts in Samoa a particular village is. This simple gazetteer will let you locate it at the click of a mouse.

16th January 2000

This web-site is now reachable through 2 domain names. The original www.samoa.co.uk will continue unaffected, but we have created an alias, www.samoan-sensation.com.

16th January 2000

It appears that a California based company, Global Domains International part of the Planet Earth Communications group, is about to start marketing the Samoan domain name .WS, using the marketing idea that it represents a WorldSite.

8th January 2000

The use of this site has been increasing steadily since it first appeared. We currently receive visits from about 1000 different host computers every week. The figures on the following page are reset at about 12:30 am every Sunday. Due to a slight error in his Perl script, Tim seems to have lost several months recent data, but we believe this will be rectified shortly.

The book and print shops of Frankfurt are turning out to be a good source for oldimages of Samoa. Take a look at the latest batch all from 1900 or earlier.

19th December 1999

Anivas - "Tolu / 3" - CD Review

Read a review of the new album "Tolu / 3" from the LA based Samoan band Anivas.

5th December 1999

On Sunday December 5th, 1999 at 3:00pm local time, Hawaii, a moderated discussionwill take place on TV SAMOA Channel 53. For more information read the press release

7th November 1999

The New Zealand based group, Te Vaka has just completed a new album. Entitled "Ki Mua"the album will be available initially just in New Zealand, but is also available to purchase over the Internet.

Following the release of the album, Te Vaka will be returning to the UK and Europe for another summer tour.

We will provide you with more details about the album and tour as we receive them.

This article appeared in Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine. Volume 9, Issue 1, July 1872 and was written by John Manning.
20th March 1999

We have now completed scanning images from the second volume of Dr. Augustin Kramer'sThe Samoa Islands. All photographs and their subtitles from Volume II can be found on these pages.
14th March 1999

Do you need to get in touch with a government department, official body or school in Samoa?This list of telephone numbers could make things easier for you.
6th March 1999

From 1881 to 1885 William B. Churchward was British Consul in Samoa. This was a time of much political intrigue with Britain, Germany and the US all vying for supremacy in this part world. He discribes the very hands of British approach towards Samoa in detail, as well as day to day living in Samoa at the end fo the last century.

This work would not be considered politically correct if it were published today.

3rd February 1999

Below are a few links to web sites we have recently been informed off

Vaiala Beach Cottages	Samnet Online - Samoan Online Community
Lesamoa Internet Service Provider	Richard A. Goodman's Samoa pages

31st January 1999

Following requests for more images of Samoa as it used to be, we have started scanning images from Dr. Augustin Kramer's seminaltwo volume work on Samoa, The Samoa Islands, written at the end of the last century. All photographsand their subtitles from Volume I can be found on these pages.Volume II contains almost three times as many images and so will take somewhat longer to appear.
10th January 1999

Pacific Vision website.

23rd December 1998

We have started to put up George Turner's book Samoa A Hundred Years Ago and LongBefore, which was first published in 1884. It presents various aspects of Samoan cultureand history that he learned about during his time in Samoa. So far we have scanned in thefirst 4 chapters, but more will follow.
1st July 1998

To assist you in your quest for information about Samoa, why not use our new SEARCH FORM. This will scan all theweb pages on this site including the visitorsbook, address book and the questions and answers page.
10th May 1998

We are endeavouring to track down out of copyright texts that relate to Samoa orPolynesia in general and will be placing them on these pages as and when they arescanned/placed into HTML. Why not take a look at Robert Louis Stevenson "A Footnoteto History, 8 Years of Trouble in Samoa".