Alofa Filiga is thirteen and lives in the village of Malaefou in Samoa. Growing up in the village, she learns to come to terms with violence, womanhood and her own personal search for identity. However this is not just Alofa's story but the story of the island. Sia Fiegel uses the traditional storytelling form of su'ifefiloi - likened to the threading together of different flowers to form a lei - to create a powerful collage of the community and village life that subverts Western stereotypes of an idyllic, tropical Pacific paradise and de-romanticises our perceptions of Pacific Islands women. Where We Once Belonged evokes the laughter and the pain of adolescence and of a culture caught between the past and the future. A moving, courageous and original debut by an outstanding writer and performer.
