KINGDOM HALLS NEEDED

In the 1990’s, most congregations in Samoa and American Samoa met in private homes or in buildings constructed from bush materials. “These meeting places were often looked down upon by the local community,” says Stuart Dougall, who served on the Country Committee between 2002 and 2007.

In 1999 a new program to help build Kingdom Halls in countries with limited resources was instituted by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The first of these halls in the Samoan islands was built at Lefaga, an isolated village on the south coast of the island of Upolu. The congregation of ten Witnesses in Lefaga had previously met in an open-sided thatched room attached to the front of a publisher’s house.

The building project was supervised by Jack Sheedy, an Australian who had served with his wife, Coral, in Tonga for seven years. “From a distance,” he writes, “the construction crew of farmers, fishermen, and housewives looked like ants scurrying back and forth over the building site.”

When the 60-seat Kingdom Hall was finished in 2001, local villagers praised its appearance. “Your halls have a dignity and simplicity that make them attractive,” they said. “How different they are from our churches, which are ornate and filled with furnishings that often appear untidy and unclean.” Attendance at the meetings also increased dramatically. In 2004, 205 persons attended the Memorial of Christ’s death in this new hall.

By late 2005, the construction program for lands with limited resources had built four new Kingdom Halls and renovated three throughout the Samoan islands. In addition, the Sinamoga Assembly Hall in Apia, Samoa, was renovated. As is true in other places with limited resources, the Samoan publishers deeply appreciate this loving support from their Christian brothers and sisters around the world.​—1 Pet. 2:17.