By Savea Sano Malifa
APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, August. 2, 2009) - Thirty seven days before the "road switch." The worry has not subsided; it is getting more intense instead.

Every time you’re driving up Vailima and meeting cars coming down the road there, a picture of vehicles smashing up before you flashes past. And the picture is inevitable.

You’ve just started driving on the left side of the road on 7 September, and your instincts are bickering inside your head with one of them telling you you’re wrong, you should be on the right.

You’re driving down a narrow, zigzagging road by the way, and as you’re turning a tree-camouflaged corner the car coming up is heading straight at you; it is on the left side of the road and a head-on collision is unavoidable.

But this is not fear-mongering as some may be sneering. It is instead a simple, rational warning.

What is sad though is that such potentially fatal road accidents can be avoided. They can be with proper logistic planning and adequate preparations, instead of haste.

And so despite what some supporting the "road switch" are advocating, we cannot stop speaking out against it; since doing so would be gravely irresponsible.

This "road switch" is without a doubt the most dreaded threat to innocent people’s lives this country has ever seen. The risks are grave, unprecedented, and lacking any credible justification.

We are looking at an enigma which seems to be suggesting we must now start preparing to leave this life on short notice, and get used to the idea of dying violent deaths.

Once again we ask: What is the government’s top priority? Answer: It is undeniable, the "road switch." Whereas more taxes are today being spent on the "road switch," spending on health and education have been cut.

And if the true and honest intention, as the government has been saying, is to narrow the so called gap between the rich and the poor, we suggest the intention was ill-conceived.

As the South Pacific Business Development Foundation (PBDF) launched in 2000 has proved, the people of this country do not pine for free cars from their relatives in New Zealand and Australia.

They would rather work for their own livelihoods if they were given the means and the tools to help them along. This is what PBDF has done, and it is still doing to this day.

Having agreed that women are more responsible than men, and are therefore more likely to be better business managers as well, they gave those selected the motivational drive to start their small businesses in the form of small loans.

Eight years later success is unmistakable. Today 11,000 families around Upolu and Savaii are much better off because of PBDF’s help.

But besides allowing loans for home improvements, PBDF also issues loans for children’s school fees. They want to make sure as many children as possible have access to a good education.

Last week founder Greg Casagrande made it clear the children’s education was his main concern. Indeed, he has trained his staff to "insist that all women receiving assistance must enroll their children in school.

"I get sick seeing children selling things (around town) during school time," he said. "Why aren’t these children in school?"

The answer is simple. The pressure from the demands of every day life on many parents is so harsh education is just ignored. Their vision for their children’s future stops the moment the word fa’alavalave is raised. The vision then recedes and becomes a total blank.

Some years ago the government looked as if it was trying to address the problem. It drafted a Bill aimed at making primary education compulsory, and then had the Bill passed into law.

But then no sooner had the law been passed than it was shelved; today it has still not been implemented and no one has publicly explained why. On the other hand, work is underway towards getting the "road switch" proposed just last year implemented.

In appears therefore that PBDF with its primary education policy now being fully implemented is helping out with children’s education, where the government has failed.

Furthermore, PBDF is now demonstrating the method being used by the government to help those in need is wrong. It says there has to be a motivational drive for such an effort to succeed.

In the "road switch" approach cars from New Zealand and Australia are free which means such a drive is lacking. But the government has assured free cars are not going to stop coming. It looks as if we’re going to be the dumping ground for those countries’ rejects.

Still, it is good to talk about a success story now and then. Perhaps PBDF’s real success however is derived from its recognition of the untapped strength called woman. With her patience, responsibility and the calm tenacity that enables her to keep the family together during the good or bad times, she can be counted on to deliver.

Explained Mr Casagrande: "The overall goal is to empower women to improve the quality of their lives and that of their families."

So far it appears to be working. (PBDF story.) Tell us what you think.

Have a peaceful Sunday Samoa, God bless.

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