Deadly Tsunami strikes in Samoa

The 2009 Samoa earthquake with an 8.0 magnitude took place in the Samoan Islands region at 06:48:11 local time on September 29, 2009. Instantly, a tsunami was generated which caused substantial damage and loss of life in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Twenty villages on Upolu south side were reportedly destroyed, including Lepa, the home of Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi. In Lepa, only the church and the village's welcome sign remained standing following the tsunami. The hardest hit areas in Samoa appear to be Fagaloa Bay on the east coast of Upolu, Lalomanu on the south east coast, and along the rest of the southern coast of the island. Many of the resorts, located on the south coast are also entirely destroyed. According to "The Guardian", 189 life's were lost; 149 in Samoa, 31 American Samoa and 9 in Tonga.

Nissan Serena

This is an Nissan Serena, year 1998 and it is also our first company car. We will ship it over to Samoa before Christmas because it would be too expensive to buy one over there. This car was a real bargain and, fingers crossed, we hope it will serve us many years from now.

Samoa on business

Everything is happening so fast. We are actually going on our first business trip. Oh my gosh...that just sounds so damn unreal. We are flying out of Auckland, with Pacific Blue, on the 6. of October. We have 9 days to finalize the "deal", which means getting paper work sorted and getting quotes for all kinds of stuff. We have to get our little resort registered, get a copy right on our name and get some final information on tax and laws. Furthermore, we have to find out prizes for an awful lot of stuff such as tools, building materials, installation of power and water and so on and so on.
We will be staying with Sanes brother for the entire time right across the land where we start the business. While we are in Samoa, we will be giving green light to clear the land which is still overgrown from bushes and trees at the moment.

I do not want to wait any longer.

Lotofaga

Just to inform our readers about where we Lotofaga is a village on the south coast of the main island, Upolu. Lotofaga is also still home to Sanes brother who lives with his family, just across the road from where we are planning our little resort. If i have to guess I would say Lotofaga has not more than 250 citizen. Everybody knows everybody, people are very solidary, religious, kind and you can feel a strong sense of community.

Lotofaga is possibly one of the peaceful places I have ever been. You just get the feeling that the world in Lotofaga, is still in order.

Two worlds, one goal.

These folks are mine and Sanes parents. Sanes parents, Mafi and Melei (picture above), are from Samoa but have been living here in Auckland since 1988. The entire family was thrilled by the idea When we informed them about our idea.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank Sanes parents and family for all their support. This two here are my parents, Andrea and Horst from Germany. When I first told them that me and Sane are planning on building a little resort on a pacific island, well, of course they thought that's sounds a bit too good to be true. After an extensive talk, they understood that it might be possible and to cut a long story short, my parents became a silent investor. I am in contact with them weekly to update them. Sane and I are always very grateful for great suggestions and constructive feed back.
Guys, great to have you on board.

The idea

In July 2009, Sane and I had a business idea. Sane was born in Samoa and his family own a beautiful piece of land right at the beach. The land is not used and is overgrown with bushes and coconut trees. We have decided to set up a "Beach Fale Resort". "Fale" is the samoan word for house and the picture below shows how a "fale" could look like.
I would like to add that this fale is more of an luxurious version but this is exactly what we are aiming for.