Solidarity in Crisis by Rev Dr Alesana and Lemau Pala’amo
Malua Theological College 3rd Year students visiting Bereaved families who had a 12month old son pass away. The other 2 children in this household survived after being infected. We offered spiritual and emotional support in Mar 2020, just before lockdown from Covid-19. L-R: Sekuini Fiavaai, Fuifui Anae, Nepo Anae, (2 students and a student's wife-Nepo's wife) bereaved family members and children, Rev Dr Alesana Pala'amo (Team Co-ordinator).
A s a CCCS (Congregational Christian Church Samoa) minister and minister’s wife teaching at Malua Theological College in
Samoa, and Co-Founders of Soul Talk Samoa Trust, joining the MHPSS Mental Health Psycho Social Services unit at the outbreak of measles in Samoa was an inspiring and humbling experience on many levels. As frontline responders to the Samoa Measles Epidemic in 2019 (MES-19), we were inspired by the resilience of the Samoan people during tragic times. In the face of possible death once infected with measles, many Samoans still placed their faith in God for peace amongst the uncertainty they faced. We were further moved by the immediate and professional response of the global EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) and volunteers mobilised from different countries around the world to help a crippled nation impacted by disease. By the time MES-19 was contained and foreign personnel started to return to their sending countries, 41 different rotating teams from 12 countries, and nations from Europe and the United Kingdom, made up the 557 foreign personnel dispersed to help Samoa during this tragedy.
Samoa Measles Epidemic 2019: MES-19 The first reported case of MES-19 was around October 2019 that coincided with the White Sunday event in Samoa. White Sunday is celebrated annually in Samoa and most Samoan churches abroad, as a special day to celebrate children as God’s gifts to families and villages. On such a day the children and the youth are given utmost importance. These young members of parishes lead local worship at their congregations, and share the Gospel of Christ by re-telling Bible stories through song, creative dance, reciting of Bible verses, and drama. Although White Sunday is a joyous day for most, the weeks and months that followed in 2019 was anything but happy times with 83 unsuspecting lives lost to the outbreak who mostly were children. An incident in Samoa two years prior where two infants died from malpractice when immunised for mumps, measles, and rubella (MMR), sparked hesitation and fear amongst Samoans to immunise their children. An outbreak of measles occurred in South Auckland in New Zealand just before the first reported case in Samoa, yet the outbreak was contained with no fatalities. Several medical practitioners believed that the measles outbreak in nearby New Zealand together with the remarkably low immunisation rate on island at the time, were key contributing factors to the 30
measles outbreak in Samoa. As the epidemic developed from its first known case to around 5,700 infections by the time the outbreak was contained, Samoans were shocked at the ease of spread of measles that took the lives of many children, a disease that rarely leads to fatalities in the modern era.
Contribution After the official announcement of the outbreak of measles in Samoa, Soul Talk Samoa Trust was summoned by the Ministry of Health (MOH) Samoa for assistance. The Director General of MOH Leausa Dr. Take Naseri mobilised selected non-government organisations (NGOs) and community leaders to join the Mental Health unit at the National hospital, and form the MHPSS Mental Health and Psycho Social Services unit. The primary task of this unit was to provide spiritual and emotional support to those impacted by measles, through counselling, hospital visitations, and home visits. The Mental Health unit staff provided the clinical support through its doctors, nurses, and social workers, while the selected NGOs and community leaders provided the spiritual and emotional support. Soul Talk Samoa Trust, the agency that we founded and operate, contributed our pastoral counselling and social services to the MHPSS unit as frontline responders to MES-19.
INSiGHT | August 2020
June 2019 | 8
