Samoan Youth Empowerment Initiative
My plans to take three of my former Samoan students back to the United States for a one month cross-cultural experience have become so much more fruitful than I could ever have imagined! I meet with people who give me amazing ideas, who tell a friend who then reaches out to help. Some people know me well, others not at all, very few even know the three boys that plan to travel back to Michigan, yet they all give as though they are family and with an urgency and upbeat attitude that is contagious.
This past weekend we had our first fundraising event here in Samoa—a Trivia Night at the Apia Yacht Club. We filled a room full of generous people who felt a call to give. They came to have fun, yet they came knowing they were helping a cause.
Forming teams of 6 people, they battled against each other on a variety of trivia that stumped them more than once, yet with determination they pressed forward. Although there could only be one winning team, several people won prizes from the raffle drawing which proved to be a great success. Gift cards, food baskets and even a Samoan kava bowl were some the great gifts we had donated, with the kava bowl being carved by a father of one of the students who plans to travel for the program.
We even had a prize for the table that did the worst, a bottle of sea slugs, which some people consider a treat, yet many more consider foul. In my two weeks of traversing the streets of Apia for sponsorship from businesses, I saw people give from their hearts and give what they had.
The bottle of sea slugs is a perfect example. The day of the trivia event I went to the market to purchase the bottle, which normally takes in $30.00 tala for the vendor selling it. However, in bending down beside a women at the market and explaining my program using Samoan, she seemed to realize the value of our mission and wanted to be a part of it. Although she wasn’t able to give as much as the big companies in town did, she gave an equal amount, based on what she could afford. I ended up paying only $7.00 tala for that bottle and thanked her, knowing she had given up a fair amount of her day’s earnings to help our program take another step forward.
This Saturday, the day before White Sunday, which is the busiest shopping day in Samoa, we are having another fundraising event, but this time the students of the program and their families will be taking a more visible role. Together they will be making and selling some Samoan favorites, such as vaisalo, kokoaraisa, as well as niu (coconuts). There will also be raffle tickets on sale for some gift cards to a hardware store in town.
They will be set up in front of Chan Mow, a very busy street corner, where we are hoping people will once again take a moment to give from their hearts and make a difference for Samoa’s youth. But it’s not just Samoa that is giving; those in America are stepping up to act for this cause.
Besides Monsanto Company, a worldwide agricultural conglomerate, making a sizeable donation, my own church has reached out to help, planning to hold bake sales, sloppy-Joe dinners and 50/50 drawings to help us reach our goal to get these Samoan students back to the United States where they will be able to grow in their understanding of the world, and then be challenged to act in it.
In the States, they will be meeting with youth their age to share Samoa and in turn, learning about America. They will be visiting with students with special needs, helping them to become more sensitive to those who require more time, more patience and more assistance. They will be visiting the dentist, where they will have their teeth cleaned for the first time in their lives, and then be challenged to come back to Samoa and remember the importance of good dental health. They will visit with doctors and nurses and learn about a profession which many Samoans only dream about, but which these young students will be encouraged to work for, if that is what they want.
This program is about a group effort, about us working together to build up the youth, to become more aware of ourselves and our role in supporting causes which will better our countries and our world. We don’t live by ourselves in bubbles anymore, we are more interconnected and more outwardly exposed to new ideas and ways of thinking. We can’t look in at ourselves, at our own country or our own villages and towns as if we live there alone. We have to dream for something bigger, and in working together, we’ll be able to accomplish that, for ourselves and for these young Samoans—the future of tomorrow!
Editor’s Note: This dream we are building couldn’t be done without the help of the generous businesses and organizations listed below. Please, I invite you to take a minute to read through the list of all those who have given from their hearts!
American Community (Including program host partners)
Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo, Michigan
LOGAN Center, South Bend, Indiana
Central Elementary, White Pigeon, Michigan
St. Joe Valley Dental Clinic, Constantine, Michigan
Monsanto Company, Constantine, Michigan
Ladies of St. Joseph's, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, White Pigeon, Michigan
Samoan Community:
Bluebird Hardware & Lumber
Samoa Builders Supplies
Niu Pharmacy
Lusia’s Lagoon Shale’s
Safua Tours
Mackenzie’s
Janet’s
ACE Hardware
AvanoaTutusa
Seabreeze
Samoa Business Machines
Ree’sHirage
Apia Traders
La Chic
Imagelab
Apia Pharmacy
Apia Yacht Club
Bistro Tatau
Italianos
Funway Rentals
TV 3
Radio Polynesia
Samoa Observer
New Zealand Community:
Abodo Wood Ltd.
What Power Crisis Ltd.
Announcing raffle prizes during Trivia Night.
Dave and Karen from Peace Corps Group 83 ran the Trivia Questions for us and did an awesome job! Notice the kava bowl on the table as one of the prizes, which Saulo's dad carved.
Ed Mulitalo, former NFL player for the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions was with us at Trivia Night to show his support! He even won a two night stay to Lusia's in Savai'i.
What a great time to be with friends and support a great cause. We had people from America, Samoa, New Zealand, Japan and Australia there to support us! Thanks to all.
No comments:
Post a Comment