Christmas was an extra special homecoming for one Santa Fe family.
Their 28-year-old daughter and UNM graduate returned home from Samoa on Christmas Eve. For two years, Angelina Velarde lived with a host family in the small Pacific Island nation.
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“It’s a really eye opening experience to see how other people live and the customs and their ways of life,” Velarde said “It’s really beautiful.”
The U.S. Peace Corps sent her there to teach English in the schools. Her first challenge was surviving a deadly cyclone her first two months there.
“Around this time two years ago, we didn’t have electricity or water for about two weeks,” she said.
Even when the water was running, she said it was never hot. She also had to walk around bare foot, and endure the heat and humidity.
“Other challenges were no privacy,” Velarde recalled. “Samoa is a very small country of 180,000 people. My village alone only had eight families. So everyone knew what I was doing at all times. “
She said she now appreciates the little things, like the style of our homes here in New Mexico.
“Having a house that’s enclosed because a lot of the traditional homes in Samoa are called open houses,” Velarde said. “So they’re more like a porch type of deal so it’s nice to be in a house that has a locked door and what not.”
Velarde also had to wear sarongs every day. She said it was too hot to wear pants, and it was disrespectful to wear anything that was shorter than knee length. Despite the challenges, she said you can’t beat living right on the beach, the island hospitality, nor the Samoan dancing.
Before she left, she got a Samoan tattoo on her back, to forever remind her of the life changing experience.
Velarde recommends the U.S. Peace Corps to others because it taught her how to overcome challenges in life. She said living there was one of the hardest things she’s ever had to endure.
But, now she feels if she could survive living there, she can survive any challenge she faced with.
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Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Al Stewart said road users needed to drive to the conditions, wear appropriate restraints and allow enough time to make informed decisions at intersections or before changing lanes.
"In wet conditions, as we had overnight in the city, allow more time for your journeys, keep speeds down and nominate a sober driver," Stewart said.