SWAP Internships are now available for Camp Samoa Duty Managers and Tour Guides in Samoa. [Read more...]
2013 Camp Samoa Internships
February 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Vacancies: Palolo Festival reporters
September 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Calling all reporters, bloggers, music lovers, food lovers, people and culture lovers . . .
The SWAP Foundation has opened several opportunities for Ambassadors (anyone who can write or blog, reporters, journalists, photographers etc) able and willing to visit the inaugural 1-day Palolo Festival in Savaii in early October 2012. [Read more...]
A Camp Oven Project
September 19, 2012 by 1 Comment
Successful Project: A cheap and effective Camp Oven
An oven project got underway at SWAP HQ with the words, “Your mission Etienne, should you choose to accept it, is to design and build a camp oven, Samoa style.”
Mission Possible it was, and so now SWAP HQ sports a 44gallon Camp Oven! [Read more...]
We’re back in Savaii, with a secret!
August 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
SWAP has returned to Savaii* and is helping a small Beach Fale operator in Safotu with business strategy, branding and online marketing. Owners Pelasio and Onosai Tapusoa originally named their business Sevemanaia Beach Fales, but will now be operating as Samoa Village Stay hosts. (Samoa Village Stays of course is a SWAP initiative.)
Mid-year update 2012
August 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
View down to some of the gardens currently being cleared of logs and stones, our two-pole marquee, the new Fale Samoa bunkhouse (awaiting thatched roofing), plus our our lean-to “living-shack” against the 40′ container. Ablution block behind camera and a good acre or more of bush still being cleared to the right. Taro and banana plantation plus main road out to the left of the picture.
Greetings all from Sunny Samoa. Thirty degrees in the middle of winter and we all love it that way!
A few snippets of information as a mid-year update from SWAP HQ in Paradise follow.
We’re all alive and well in case you were asking. The year 2012 has been one of pushing through the pain barriers – financial, emotional, faith and physical hard work. [Read more...]
Dale Redpath – Ambassador 22
August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Dale definitely has the right idea – live and work in New Zealand in summer and slip on up to Samoa in the winter! Some lucky people can do this.
While interested in language, different cultures, and much more, his real interest as a botanist is in plants that are useful. Dale, in Samoa every plant produces a food, drink, flower, aroma, medicine, weaving, building product or just plain old firewood – nothing is wasted here!
Welcome to a botanists heaven where plants grow like weeds and everything is used!
Bérengère (Bej) Oriol – Ambassador 21
July 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
Bej is a chef from France, on a working holiday in Waiheke Island, Auckland. She joined the SWAP program to help with a single project in Savaii August 2012 after volunteering on the Samoa WWOOFing programme. She loves Samoa – it’s relaxed lifestyle and friendly people.
Of her experience in Paradise she says, “Oh la la!” which translated into polite English means something like, “Maybe I am a little bit surprised!”
Audrey Cauet – Ambassador 20
July 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
SWAP appointed Audrey as the project leader for a pre-marketing survey on a Beach Fale resort in Savaii. The owners had asked for help in marketing as they had very little business and been given no practical assistance from the Samoa Tourism Authority.
Her project brief included a SWOT analysis (identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and reporting back with her team’s opinions.
Samoa Campsite Opens
June 27, 2012 by 1 Comment
In June 2012, SWAP opened Samoa’s first camping site.
Located in the heart of rural Samoa, in the middle of coconut and banana plantations, Camp Samoa is available for camping from one-man pup tents through to larger family tents up to six metres in diameter. [Read more...]
Thomas Duquennoy – Ambassador 19
June 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Thomas joined the SWAP Programme for a good four-month stay in mid 2012. He looked forward to swinging the machete and learning about the country.
Thomas first heard about Samoa on a TV programme three years previously (Is Samoa not in French school books?) and had always wanted to visit. Originally joining the WWOOFing programme, he alternates between photography, blogging and section-clearing depending on the tasks available.
Very manaia (nice)!