Samoa’s 50 Years of Independence

June 1^st marked 50 years of Independence for Samoa. (Actually, the independence date was 1 January 1962, but the Independence Day celebrations and holiday are held on  June 1^st each year). 

As you can imagine, this was a pretty big event for the country.  There were plenty of events organised and lots of visitors came to join in the celebrations including many dignitaries from around the world.    

In the week leading up to the big day there was quite a buzz around town. Everyone was busy putting up flags and decorations, painting fences, buildings etc and making other efforts to make Apia look good. A bonus for us was the sudden urgency to get all the roads around town re-surfaced, so no more potholes for now! And the big clean up effort has the town looking cleaner than usual.  

Because it was the 50 year anniversary everything seemed to be bigger, with more people involved. The upside of this was instead of our usual Independence Day holiday, we got 3 days public holiday so a 5 day weekend!  

Angela was away in Adelaide on June 1^st, but after she got back we managed to check out some of the cultural performances. There are plenty of photos on flickr, so check them out.  

I ran in the Independence 10km fun run again. I came in 5th overall and second in the 'veterans' division, only 6 seconds behind the leading vet, but 3 minutes quicker than last year. (In this event once you are over 40 you are considered to be a veteran!). 

Staff and students of USP Alafua practice for the 50th anniversary march