fundraising

John’s been training tirelessly and is in the fifth week of a boot camp in Auckland. 

“My first fight is in May and I will be fighting with other people with disabilities in a fight night event. People with disabilities can showcase their skills and abilities,” he says.

“I am looking for a sports wheelchair to do boxing training and also fight in the boxing ring.”

Opeloge was belatedly awarded the silver medal for her weightlifting event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after the silver and bronze medallists were disqualified for drug cheating last year.

The government refused to financially reward her, saying they only did so to gold medal winners, despite the fact Samoa had never won an Olympic medal before.

The Samoa Observer newspaper organised a community fundraiser which raised over 15,000 US dollars for Opeloge and the editor Mata'afa Keni Lesa said even during the presentation this week, the government remained steadfast.

The Savalalo market, which has been a strong contributor to Samoa's tourism industry, was engulfed in flames on January the 18th.

The Samoa Hotel Association, alongside the accounting firm Betham & Company, says the fundraising effort will run for a month, and the money collected will be distributed out to vendor victims of the fire.

The fundraising appeal is in response to the plight of stall holders and small market vendors whose livelihoods were destroyed when the ‘Savalalo Market’ in Apia, Samoa was completely burned to the ground on Saturday evening 16th January 2016.