Samoa with a Purpose

One of the real purposes behind my trip was that I hoped I could help, and somehow make a difference while I am here. I am not saying I have achieved that purpose by any stretch, but there have been moments when I felt that being here has been well worth the effort.
One of those was last Friday. The foundation put on a health fair in Amouli. Amouli is at the other side of the island, and is one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami. The road to get there is not great, and since many people do not have cars, Amouli is not heavily trafficked. Having a health fair out there was a big deal! It was if the circus had come to town. The school even sent all the middle-schoolers and their teachers for the morning so they could participate. That is Ali on the right.


This was such a cute mom and daughter I asked her if I could take their picture. It wasn't until I had the photo on the computer at home later that I realized she was wearing a BYU t-shirt. No wonder she was so cute. GO BYU!!!

W-CAP put on three different nutrition puppet shows.

We had a great DJ who really had the kids out dancing up a storm. He talked about the importance of exercise, and how exercise can be fun!

It was such fun to see the kids play all the games, try the different foods, and talk to the different vendors there whose main goal was nutrition education.

There were people from Land Grant who had seedlings and shared gardening info, people from Sea Grant who talked about eating fresh fish in your diet, (surprisingly something they do not do a lot of. They eat a lot of corned beef and SPAM instead) Dept. of Health, WIC, and others, from the Nutritionists at the hospital, to Pizza Hut who brought veggie pizza's and salads to the gas company who provided burners for us to do cooking demonstrations with. It was all free for the families and I was amazed at how big and well organized it was, given it was put on by W-CAP, the foundation I am here with. This really means my boss, Ali and 2 local women, and it was a huge job. While there are a few others on the non-profit board, the day to day work is done by Ali who is regularly still up at 10PM on her computer. She is tireless in her efforts for the women and children she serves and on Friday it became clear just how big a difference she makes. I am happy to play a small part in helping her with that for a very short time. Lucky me!