Education is Samoans' tool

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

One Samoan chief calls them "modern warriors."

Maxine Aulelava, left, instructs May Avapalu and other students in "Intro to MS Word 2000," one of the classes given by the Samoan Service Providers Association. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

The "modernization process" represents a significant change in attitude for Hawai'i's eighth largest ethnic group.

"We would like to see our people modernized but not necessarily westernized," said Leusogafofoma'aitulagi "Bill" Emmsley, director and chief executive officer of the Samoan Service Providers Association, who is a titled chief from the American Samoan village of Leone.

"In order to survive (in a modern world), we need to retool ourselves," he said. "In the old ways, our tools were whatever we used to get food. Nowadays, the tool is education."

SSPA, a Kalihi-based nonprofit organization, has been trying to provide access to educational and employment opportunities since it was founded in 1984.

The steady flow of Samoan migration to Hawai'i began in the 1950s, after the Navy closed down its base on the American Samoa island of Tutuila. According to the 2000 Census, 16,166 Samoans live here. The total is 28,184 when part-Samoans are included. Most are from American Samoa, which has a population of 67,000.

Despite the presence of Samoans here for more than half a century, their socio-economic status has remained on the low end.

In 1990, the median family income of $23,914 for Samoans was the lowest among the eight largest ethnic groups in Hawai'i and nearly $20,000 below the state average, according to census data. The 2000 census data on median income for the ethnic groups will be released later this year, but University of Hawai'i-Manoa ethnic studies professor Jonathan Okamura doesn't expect any significant changes.

The Samoan Service Providers Association is one organization trying to help this ethnic group. SSPA's mission is to prepare Samoans for quality employment through job training and placement programs, the awarding of scholarships and the establishment of a Business Service Center to offer a program for developing and expanding business activities.

Assistance to 10,000

Since receiving its first grant in 1986, SSPA has assisted more than 10,000 Samoans. By Emmsley's estimate, in the early years the organization helped 250 to 300 clients annually; since the early 1990s, the organization has been helping between 900 and 1,100 clients annually.

In the past six years, SSPA has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships from the proceeds of fund-raisers.

There are 200 clients in SSPA's job-training programs, which are for Samoans only, and 150 more being helped at a business center open to all Native American groups, immigrants and Hawai'i residents at low- to moderate-income levels. The programs are financed by government grants and private donations.

"There are a lot more Samoans going to school and getting on with careers now," said 24-year-old Tanya Tuitele Fiaseu, who earned her degree in family resources from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa with the help of scholarships from SSPA and the American Samoan government.

"The view among Samoans is starting to change, and they're trying to broaden their horizons."

Help for certification

Mele Wells, 43, who returned to Hawai'i six months ago to care for her cancer-stricken sister and disabled father after living in New Mexico for 20 years, is a medical technician receiving assistance from SSPA for certification.

"I'm receiving support and training," she said. "SSPA wasn't here when I left, and it's giving us a lot of opportunities."

Through acculturation workshops, SSPA is creating bridges between Samoans and and other communities, said Emmsley, SSPA's top administrator since 1993.

"We're trying to develop modern warriors — warriors who hold the basic inherent values of our culture and also the tools to survive in a modern high-tech world," he said.

But changing a mindset based on the dependent style of life in isolated villages to a more independent style of life has been difficult, he said.

"Samoans see Hawai'i as a stepping stone, an extension of what they have at home. Their ties are summed up in one word: relationships. All relationships are tied to land, and the land for them is in Samoa.

"Relationships have carried our people through their journeys for over 2,000 years. Where modern society puts credence on self, in our culture the self belongs to other selves."

Okamura agrees.

"Samoans, for example, have no concept of rent because in Samoa, you have access to your village," Okamura said. "You'll always have a place to stay. Here, you have to come up with cash right now."

Less isolation

But change is happening, Emmsley said.

"By de-isolating our community, we are making our crawl into mainstream society," he added. "For us, the modernization process is a journey, not an end."

SSPA scholarship recipients like Fiaseu and Eric Malutoga, 22, of Waipahu, have benefited from their parents' exposure to a Western lifestyle.

"My father always pushed doing well in school on me," Malutoga said of his father, Siaosi, who is a YMCA outreach counselor. "My education was his main thing."

Eric Malutoga attended Waipahu High and recently earned his degree in business management from Harding University in Arkansas. SSPA's business center is helping him find a job.

Fiaseu's father, Liuato Tuitele, is stationed at Schofield and is an Army chief warrant officer assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division. Tuitele's military career exposed his daughter to a life away from American Samoa.

"Education is the key to my success, everybody's success," said Fiaseu, a Honolulu police officer whose great-grandfather was one of four paramount chiefs in American Samoa. "To survive in Hawai'i, you need a job. To get a good job, you need education."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.