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The passion project that took Ruth from high heels to gumboots

A promise to her dying dad saw her fulfil the dream of a lifetime and leave a legacy for generations to come
Ruth Aickin smiling in front of a blue backdrop with a flower in her hairMain photo: Sean Aickin.

Growing up in Samoa, Ruth Aickin ran free and wild with her 11 siblings on hundreds of hectares of family land.

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But after being sent to New Zealand for better education opportunities, she fell in love with a Kiwi and a more modern way of life, and never thought she’d move home again.

That was until her father, Tui Papali’i Tofa Magele Edwin Rea, was dying in 2006. As she cared for him in hospital in his last hours of life, he spoke of sadness that their family land lay empty.

And without realising quite what she was doing, Ruth made a promise.

“I really didn’t think I’d ever be back here to live, but I promised my father I would return and look after the land for the next generation,” shares Ruth, 65.

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Talking to the Weekly, the proud grandmother is sitting in a lush, green garden surrounded by tropical fruit trees. One of the first things she did after arriving eight years ago was plant pineapples, pawpaw, dragonfruit and passionfruit.

“The land I am on now used to be our weekend house where we grew all our food,” she explains. Ruth then confides that back in the day, she’d buy mangos for £8 a pop while living in the UK.

Ruth with two bottles of champagne
Cheers! Here’s to a happy future for all the family.

She laughs at the contrast of her present life to her more glamorous past travelling the world with her late first-husband Barry Aickin and sons, Sean and Lloyd.

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“When I got here, my cousin said, ‘Last time I saw you, you had 10-inch heels on and you were all dressed up flying first class to London. Now your jeans are torn and you have gumboots on.’

“I have a very privileged life before. The boys’ father worked for [global technology business] IBM. We also had a very successful business installing ATM machines around the world.”

Ruth and Barry eventually separated and while she has fond memories of the high life, she’s also always loved to garden.

“I’m in my element here too,” says Ruth of her move home to Samoa. It took 10 years after her dad died to fulfil her promise while she waited for youngest son Lloyd to finish school and move out of home.

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Then, never afraid of a challenge, Ruth went to Australia to save money driving trucks in the mines. It was something she’d never done before.

It was here she met her now-husband, Waikato born-and-bred farmer Kelvin Bell, 60.

With Kelvin in front of a hedge
Ruth and Kelvin transformed her family’s overgrown land.

In October 2015, they took a trip to Samoa and were shocked to find the 200 hectares of family land almost fully overgrown in dense jungle.

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“I cried my eyes out when I saw the land,” she recalls. “It was just bush everywhere. Kelvin loved the place, but the work we would’ve had to do to farm here was just enormous. So, we decided not to come back.

“We went back to our jobs but couldn’t stop thinking about it. One week later, Kelvin turned to me and said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’”

They arrived in February 2016 ready for the hard work.

“I stood on the road and thought, ‘Where the hell do we start?’ she admits. “At the same time, I could feel my ancestors, especially my father. He used to smoke a pipe and as I was crying, I could smell this beautiful whisky tobacco. It was like he was saying, ‘Get over it and get on with it.’”

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Slowly the pair slashed back the bush by hand, leaving them with 40 hectares of usable farmland.

With her grandchildren on a quad bike
The young ones get a tour.

They tried growing crops, before realising it was better suited to cattle. Now they have a successful herd of 100 cows, and provide meat for themselves and the community. Ruth has also opened a homestay, Florence’s Place, in the Savai’i village on another plot of family land.

“We’re supposed to be semi-retired,” she laughs.

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“My mother was a pillar of society. She’d go shopping and come home with no food because she gave it all away. It’s what I do now too,” says Ruth, adding they were rich in the ways that mattered most – love and food, rather than money.

Ruth and Kelvin also give back to the local community with work and upskilling opportunities on their properties. They hope their story encourages other Pacific people to considering returning to their homelands.

Most of all, Ruth dreams that her sons, nieces and nephews or grandchildren will take over their beloved land one day.

“It’s a beautiful life,” she enthuses. I might not be able to get [Champagne] Veuve Clicquot up the road, but this is why my father kept these lands. For the family and the future.”

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