The Samoan Youth Empowerment Initiative: Making a Splash!

Sharing Worlds, Changing Lives

The Samoan Youth Empowerment Initiative was founded in June of 2012 as a way to allow Samoan students a chance to develop cross-cultural awareness by traveling to the United States. The program seeks to engage the Samoan students in hands on activities and interaction with Americans with the understanding that Americans will gain just as much in terms of the sharing of cultures.

Our mission is to inspire the youth of Samoa to dream, but more importantly, to act. With a focus on sustainability, we are challenging the students to return to Samoa as bold leaders, active individuals and inspirational partners. They will reach out to share their experiences and then move to act on important issues facing their local communities, churches and families. They are the future of Samoa and we can EMPOWER them!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Making a Splash!

I contacted Splash Universe, an indoor waterpark in Northern Indiana about the possibility of a free one day pass to their facility for the boys and wasn’t sure if I would get a response. It wasn’t a day later and they contacted me saying they would be happy to meet my request, but that they would like to make it a two day pass to the park and a free overnight stay in their hotel!!! I was blown away and since neither Saulo, Milo or Neueli had gone to a water park or hotel before, I knew it would be a fun adventure for them.

We checked in on a Friday afternoon and the boys spent over 4 hours in the waterpark, going down the slides, in the lazy river and getting thousands of gallons of water dumped on them from the gigantic bucket that filled every few minutes!

I had been working them pretty hard with a busy schedule for a few weeks so this was a nice chance for them to relax and just be teenagers!