A little help from friends

Before it all started how do you think Vaiala Beach School got the money to build such a big and prosperous school in 1984.

Rula Levi is one of the reasons why VBS is standing here today. Rula is a loving friend and a hard working woman who convinced Lorraine (the principal of the school) to get a loan to build our school. Rula was the Assistant Manager of the Development Bank of Samoa and helped Lorraine get the loan. Now why would a manager of a bank want to help build a school? She did this because she saw that our school had potential, and she also thought Samoa needed a new school at intermediate level and we needed new growth in education.

Now, to get a loan Lorraine had to package the loan and cut off a bit of the land so she can be free of debt and the loan will be shorter. Rula gave her that idea and then our school was able to become prosperous. Rula had five sons. Four went to Robert Louis Stevenson School and one went to Vaiala Beach School for half a year. Even though more of her sons were at Robert Louis Stevenson, she still helped Lorraine with a helpful heart.

Back in those days it was hard to trust people with a lot of money, and I mean a lot of money, so why did the bank trust her with a lot of money - I'll tell you. They had to look at the ability to pay. They need well educated schools for people to make Samoa wealthy. They saw how her school had developed and saw it was a good way to provide our people with options.

Now when you don’t pay the loan back you get penalised and the interest fee goes up and you have to pay the public what they paid. Lorraine of course was a very good payer, she always made her payments on time. The school was a very good investment to the bank.