How my dad finds motivation, from Samoa to the States

When RadioActive's Terina Papatu pictures her dad, Failelei Papatu, she sees the motivated father of three young girls, a hard worker, and a proud Samoan. And she says his dedication to his family has only gotten stronger since moving to the United States.

Terina has this story about her family.

[RadioActive Youth Media is KUOW's radio journalism and audio storytelling program for young people. This story was entirely youth-produced, from the writing to the audio editing.]

M

y dad, Failelei "Lei" Papatu takes pride in the friendships he develops.

He also shows that even from the small, sunny island of American Samoa to the gray and rainy state of Washington, people don’t change much.

"In Samoa, most of the times people are laid back, relaxed," my dad said. "Up here… hmm, it's almost kind of same. There’s some good people and some bad people."

My dad didn’t plan to move away from Samoa. But about 18 years ago, on a work trip that was supposed to end after Alaska, he ended up in Washington.

He’s always been a strong and motivated person when it comes to putting in hard work. He teaches me and my sisters the same.

One of his motivations is the most important person in his life: his mom.

"She never gave up on me," my dad said about his mom. "No matter how hard life was, she never gave up on me."

When it comes to our personalities, my dad and I are almost polar opposites. But one of our similarities is how much we show up for each other. For example, he changes his work schedule to help me out. So, as a message for my dad for when he hears this: oute alofa ia te oe. I love you.

This story was produced in a RadioActive Youth Media one-week Intro to Radio Storytelling workshop for high school-age youth. Production assistance by Merk Nguyen and Lucas Galarneau. Prepared for the web by Kelsey Kupferer.

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