Stuff We Like

It was June 14, 1902 when Otto Tetens arrived in Samoa to set up the Apia Observatory for Germany's Royal Society of the University of Goettingen. Samoa had not long been a German colony after prolonged rivalry over the group among Germany, Great Britain and the United States of America.

Since that time, the Apia Observatory established by Tetens is credited with providing an uninterrupted collection of scientific data on weather, climate, magnetic and seismic activity from this part of the world.

As for Otto Tetens himself, he returned to Germany after three years to continue a distinguished career as a scientist. He died during the final stages of World War II. His descendants say while his body was never found, he left amongst his possessions a small suitcase, which remained largely untouched until half a century later.

Tetens' great niece Christiane Niggemann says that suitcase turned out to contain more than 800 photo negatives and plate prints of pictures Otto Tetens had taken during his time in Samoa.

An extensive selection of Tetens' photographs is now showing at the National University of Samoa. Christine's husband, Herwig Niggemann, says the collection will probably be shown at the Nelson Memorial Library in the center of town, before being housed at the National Museum of Samoa. --Afamasaga Toleafoa

ON DVD/VIDEO NOW:
Poking Fun And Fact At Governments

Tough development issues are what the Pohnpei-based Micronesian Seminar likes to sink its teeth into. The latest video/DVD produced by the organization headed by Fr. Francis Hezel, S.J., has the somewhat bland title, "Island Government: Making It Work". The content, however, is anything but bland. It is alternatively funny, ironic, hard-hitting and serious.

"What does good governance mean for island nations in the Pacific?" asks an introduction to the new video/DVD. The video then provides an extended conversation punctuated by several mini-dramas that "underline some of the tensions between government and culture." The dramas lampoon the difficulty of getting supposedly public information out of tight-lipped government officials in the Micronesian area; deliver a fall-off-the-chair hilarious look at the realities of "work" in government offices; bluntly takes on special interest abuses by depicting a contractor bribing a government official to get a school building contract-with the result that the school is never completed; and uses two Micronesian men chatting about government of, by and for the people-one who believes that it should really be this way, the other a skeptic, who likes things the way they are-to raise many different so-called good governance issues for viewers to consider.

"Good government is supposed to take care of the people, ALL the people," says an introduction to the new production. "Yet, in small societies there are always relatives and a small network of friends that demand preferential treatment."

The 45-minute video/DVD can be ordered through the Micronesian Seminar Web site, www.micsem.org, or by mail to PO Box 160, Pohnpei, FM 96941, for $10. -- Giff Johnson