Masefau Drop Off

On Saturday I went to help Sandra, the founder of PICED- Pacific Island Center for Educational Development. She managed to get half a shipping container donated for tsunami relief. A company in the US donated canned goods, some basics supplies like ropes, batteries, and tarps, and clothes. On Saturday morning we sorted and put together ‘family boxes’ with an assortment of goods. We then loaded the back of her pick up full of boxes and headed out for the far northeaster village of Masefau which had been greatly effected by the tsunami. Scott, Taylor, Kate, and Thanh joined Sandra, Jim (a PICED employee) and I for the drop off. 

I had never been of the mountains to that side of the island, but was breathtakingly beautiful. Masefau is tucked into a bay and is extremely tradition due to its isolated, and therefore uninfluenced way of life. Once we reached the village, we found the head chief and directed us to a faleo’o (traditional hut) at the end of the village. Once he arrived, he asked us to unload the goods and place them in the center of the faleo’o. Next he asked us to unpack the boxes and lay everything out. (Everything in Samoa, especially in the more traditional villages, is done in a very ceremonial way and presentation is always important). For the next 30-40 minutes we worked as quickly as possible to lay out all the good and organize them by type. By now, much of the village had gathered to watch and see what we had brought. When everything was set out neatly, the chief uttered a prayer then a long speech of thanks. He then left, and let the second-in-command chief divvy up the goods. He had 4 men grab boxes and he specifically told them what to put in each family’s box. Taylor translated on very funny line, “Save most of the Spam for the preacher.” The preacher is help very high in society and apparently his favorite food is Spam :) 

Once everything was distributed we were invited to the head chief’s house for ‘tea.’ His children brought us cokes, cake, and a plate of puisupo (canned corned beef) and coconut rice. As we talked, we had to force a few bites of the disgusting puisupo down our throats. Samoans love puisupo and think of it as a delicacy but palagi find it absolutely horrendous. We felt it odd that we were bringing survival supplies to the village, yet were being treated to ‘fancy’ food. But it is all part of the custom and ritual of serving quests. The chief explained to us, how he left during the distribution ceremony, because he didn’t want to be blamed for anything unfair. Families might get mad if they felt others got too much more than them. He then told us of the Masefau tsunami story and how they had been coping since. 

The afternoon was quite a cultural experience as we got to see how a traditional village operates and be part of a ceremonial exchange. 

Cute Journal Entries

Each day, my class periods begin with a “Before the Bell” journal- a 5-10 minute writing assignment to get the students’ minds moving and get them occupied before the tardy bell rings.  

Each student turns in their weeks worth of journals on Friday. Over the weekend I get the long and tedious task of reading and grading them. While it’s a lot to read, I love finding out more about the students’ lives and thoughts. Occasionally they are insightful, others are laugh out loud funny, some are endearing, and others are simple but show writing improvement. Sometimes the students write funny notes about me and I though I would share a few from this week that really made me smile and laugh.

Question: “Think about the best teacher you have ever had. What made your favorite teacher so great?”

Response: “The best teacher I ever had is Ms. Jessica Weber. She is the best teacher in the world. She teaches us regardless of rain or shine. She gives us fair grades and does not condone fighting of any kind. She also likes to give all of the students candy for doing their work which is great. (More candy would make this teacher God) She's awesome.”

Question: “Which os more important- personality or appearance?”

Response: “So yeah, both of it is important, but your personality is more precious than your looks. Your attitude is much more important than your appearance. Plus, you look beautiful Ms. Jessie, and your personality is beyond awesomeness.”

Question: “Which os more important- personality or appearance?”

Response: “I’m the handsome guy in the world, a lot of girls tell me for when I blink my eyes to them, just a blink then they going to start talking to me. But I don’t want to do it to you Jessie because I don’t want you to broke with your boyfriend.” 

Violence at School: Riots

Samoana erupted in violence this morning, as riots between students of different villages broke put. 

Tensions have been growing between the students of Fagatogo and Pago Pago. Cherry bombs have been thrown a few times each day this week, and yesterday the 2 rival villages met at the market to duke it out. When all was said and done many kids were beat up, a cop was hurt by one of the bombs, a police car was smashed, and 30 kids ended up at the police station. This morning the riots began again. Just before 8 am the yells of kids filled campus. The Pago kids and the Fagatogo kids each met at opposite sides of campus and yelled as they rushed towards each other to fight - much like in ancient times. For about 20 minutes fight after fight occurred. Neither the police nor the staff could totally control it. Kids had pipes, 2 x 4s, and the works. All this was joined by the sounds of cherry bomb after cherry bomb. Finally the cops and the teachers were able to get everyone into the gym, but it started up again. It essentially became a cage fight. Once all the commotion settle down and the biggest trouble makers were arrested, all the kids were forced to be seating in the gym. Village matai (chiefs) showed up as well as concerned parents, and they gave a stern talking to the students. 

Rumors are that the fights will only continue to get bigger and worse. More are planed for lunch time and after school. It's a bit scary when no one feels completely safe in school. 

After the riots ended, the school day continued on. Instead of our planned lesson, I asked my students to reflect on the day's events and consider and write about few things: 1) What is happening between the students? 2) What are the disadvantages to fighting with fists? 3) What could a possible solution to this problem be?

I was worried that all students felt fighting was their only solution to conflict resolution but I was excited to read that not all students believe in the cultural fighting. Here are direct excerpts from the students’ responses (most are from my most advanced kids): 

“...the way I see it looks more like war. Thats the way I see it and the way it looks like. I heard a fight yesterday between Fagatogo and Pagopago during lunch time. After lunch time Fagatogo and Pagopago told eachother to meet at the market. 3:00 pm all of the Pagopago kids were waiting at the market. Then when Fagatogo kids arrived thats when this war or nonsense thing happened. That’s why the road was blocked yesterday from the mall house all the way to the McDonalds. Then that fight ended yesterday. Yesterday’s fight was very dangerous someone could of died. Because Fagatogo kids through rocks and beer bottle’s at Pagopago kids. So they came today an start it all over again. Yesterday was boys fight, but today all of them went in boys and girls. So I explained most of it and the way I explained sounds like war. 

To me there are so many disadvantage of fighting. 1- someone might get in serious injury. Another disadvantage is you dont know if the person your fighting with is your cousin. I meant members of your family. Then both of you might get in serious trouble by your family.”

“Fighting in school is prohibited, but yet students still fight. Violence doesn’t solve anything, yes it will give you power, but it still doesn’t solve the problem. People will fight for control, pride, power, village, & anything that’s not worth fighting. For example today, todays incident was an incident that I will remember during my high school days. It affects everybody of Samoana High and the parents, especially the principal. Only 5% of the students that started this chaos, but all of us were affected by it.”

“Samoana is divided, corrupted by the Samoana students themselves. That’s whats happening, and how are they doing it? Its by fighting with one another by using anything they have to hurt each other and as always no one is doing anything about it. ...the students are not going to change anything because they have nothing to lose. ....What’s up with Samoana? What has happened to Samoana? 

...Our school is fighting and its not something good to have in a school. Unless its something good then its just useless to fight for no reason because you could waste your energy. I don’t know why fighting is a reason, is punishing a person feel good? Fighting is bad period.”

“Today, in the morning, our Samoana High School had a big fight...You could hear the screams of the people as they watch. ....Right now is like everybody is against eachother in this school. It like a war between different people with different background.. I saw that it took alot of police to control this fight. ...But the stupid part of the fight is that it was Samoana against eachother, family against family, and classmates against eachother.

When watching everything that happen, my friend and I was scared from watching the experience from outside the window. We got scared, that we wanted to transfer to a different school. The disadvantage from what happen is that you’ll get nothing out of it. You’ll just get hurt and go to jail. Also it’s like throwing your life away with every punch, kick, hit you throw at a person. Another one is that your disgracing for families name and where you come from. Fighting really causes more problems than fixing them. Fighting actually cuts the wound deeper and deeper then healing it. ...Don’t do stupid things and just cause more problem. Just do things that make yourself happy. Also control the anger or monster inside yourself. Don’t let anger get control of your mind, heart, and soul. Don’t try to prove that your better than the other person because that will make you become the stupid person if your trying to prove something that has no reason or cause.”

“What’s happening in this school right now is chaos. Like about 40% of the school right now is causing all of the chao’s right now. The other 60% is trying there best to try and hold it down. But it seem’s like everyday, it get’s worse. All because of villages. Honestly I’ll just say it’s all STUPID!!! I mean if they want to fight why not just use pencils. Fighting with fists just prove’s that their pencil doesn’t have an eye. It’s totally useless. The school is a beautiful place, all that messing it up is the kids. Fighting just leads to chao’s.

Fighting, violence, aggressive, all those things can ruin your life.”

“I think this is a good school for education but it’s not safe.

The fighting is going to be hard to stop because the two villages that are fighting is big and very violence. I am also worry that someone might get killed. The kids need a big lesson...

...I ams so sorry for them who got hurt for no reason. I almost got hit by a rock this morning. I thank God for protecting me this morning.”

“We all wanna be tough but sometimes losing can cause you pain. But today was so violence because people, teachers, staffs member, and even cops can’t even handle a single thing.”

“Well there were many kids were fighting today like monkey. But if you want to fight then fight with your mind. We are Samoana student!”

Tsunami Counseling

Today a group of 3 Christian missionaries came to meet with my group of tsunami kids. Their goal was to come in and facilitate a group discussion to help continuing the healing process. To be honest I was a bit skeptical, but I really liked how they ran the session. We split the kids into 2 groups of about 20. They first started out with a simple ice breaker: share your name and where you were at when the tsunami hit. From there they were asked to share their feelings during the disaster, their reactions immediately, how they are coping, and what good has come of this terrible event. While some of the kids weren’t able to talk about it yet, others were very forth coming and honest. The students were also given some helpful information on coping mechanisms, dealing with their PTSD, and how to help the symptoms (like reoccurring thoughts and nightmares) It was great to see them opening up and sharing with each other! A group of about 5 students stayed in my room all lunch period and we continued to talk about their lives post-tsunami. They said that they really got something out of the talk, and would like to do it again maybe every few weeks or so. After hearing that, I might lead a small “talk group” for those students interested just to provide a safe environment where they can express their feelings and know they won’t be judged. 

Though this post-tsunami situation is very difficult, I am very thankful that I have become close with this group of students. Not too many of them are in my classes, so I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get to know them. My Fagasa gang of students are really special. They are such intelligent, sweet, honest, good-hearted kids. They love finding out more about American culture from me, and, in return, teaching me more of the small details of their Samoan culture. They have offered to take me to church with them and have invited me to their Sunday family events. They really want to take me to their village so they can show me around and show me how they are living now so that I can better understand what they are going through. I am truly grateful for being able to meet these kids. They have expressed great thanks for all my efforts, and all I can do is thank them back for returning the favor ten fold. 

Cheering Ms. Jessie Style

Cheerleading has still be going well! The girls did really well at their big performance this past Saturday, and they are anxious to keep on improving. I’m definitely so proud of all the work they are putting in. Dakota informed me this afternoon that the girls coined a new term: “Ms. Jessie Quality.” If someone isn’t being sharp, dancing full out, or performing with a big smile, they tease each other about not being up to “Ms. Jessie Quality.” Or if I am not around and Gabby, the captain, is leading practice, she’ll ask the girls after a bad run through, “Now, was that Ms. Jessie Quality? No. Do it again.” As tired as they get during practice, I think they like knowing that they are getting pretty good! 

Tisa's Tattoo Fest

Every year, Tisa’s Barefoot Bar on Alega beach on the east side throws a tattoo festival. Tattooing is very much apart of the Samoan culture and this event celebrates the art. On one of Tisa’s decks about 5 or 6 machine tattooists and 1 traditional tattoo artist were set up. Awesome ink was everywhere. 

There was also a little show with traditional dance costumes made of flowers and leaves and a display of the traditional tatau (tattoos). In Samoan culture select men and women of Matai families are chosen to wear the pe’a (for men) and the malu (for women). The tattoos go from waist to knee and involve a very long and painful process. It is said that if one can undergo these tattoos, then they are strong enough to endure anything. 

Cultural Lesson: “In Samoa, the tradition of applying tattoo, or tatau, by hand has been unbroken for over two thousand years. Tools and techniques have changed little. The skill is often passed from father to son, each tattoo artist, or tufuga, learning the craft over many years of serving as his father's apprentice.  Honoring their tradition, Samoan tattoo artists made this tool from sharpened boar's teeth fastened together with a portion of the turtle shell and to a wooden handle.

Traditional Samoan tattooing of the “pe'a”, body tattoo, is an ordeal that is not lightly undergone. It takes many weeks to complete. The process is very painful and used to be a necessary prerequisite to receiving a matai title; this however is no longer the case”

Of course no one was receiving the pe’a at the festival, but many other tattoos were being given using the traditional method. And, boy, was it painful to watch. The process, though, was very exciting, and I think the traditional designs are very beautiful. 

Check out these sites if you interested in reading more about the traditional tattoos: 

http://www.samoa.co.uk/tattoos.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tattooing#Samoa

Murder in Sin City

In the spirit of Halloween Steven and Alex decided to host a murder mystery party. 13 lucky guests were invited to Vatia for a night of murderous Las Vegas themed fun. 

After practice on Friday I met up with Max to figure out a way to Vatia. (Vatia is over the mountains and only accessible through a long winding mountain road via Aua and Afono.) Another group heading to the party told us they would give us a ride if we met them at the Fagatogo McDonald’s at 6pm. As we were waiting outside, Srgt Allen, the ROTC teacher at our school, pulled up and told us to get in. We were terrified to tell him we were traveling to Vatia, since we knew his since of hospitality wouldn’t leave us stranded but also knew that Vatia was probably way out of his way. As we drove along the main road, I saw a ton of my students playing sports and hanging out along the main road. It was really cool to see them outside of school and going about their daily lives. Srgt Allen made a pit stop at his home in the village of Aua. He took us around their land and introduced us to his 80 year old mom, his brother, his sister-in-law, his daughter, and his son. He was a proud father as he even showed us his son’s university degrees. He then walked us across the street to where he built a faleo’o (tradition hut) and a barbeque pit for their Sunday feasts. He has a perfect view of the entire harbor! After talking with him and his family for a while, his brother and sister-in-law actually took us the rest of the way to Vatia. Vatia doesn’t really get phone connection and we didn’t know where Steve and Alex lived so they dropped us off at a church. We asked one of the guys hanging out outside where the 2 palagi teachers lived (they are the only white people on that side of the mountains), and he gladly walked us to their house. 

The  events started after we arrived, as we were a bit late with the Srgt Allen detour. Steve and Alex had transformed their little Vatia beach bungalow into a Vegas casino, and we all got into costume and character and began playing the murder mystery game. My role  was Ms. Cole Conway the sports agent bookie. The other guests in attendance were Ace High (big time gambler and millionaire), Lucy Legs (Vegas Show girl), Paul Piano (lounge singer), Elvis impersonator, Mimi the cocktail waitress, Security Sam, Ronald Trump (casino owner) and Iguana Trump (Ronald’s wife), Jim Bean the bartender, and Hustlin Haley (hustler and Ace’s new wife). 

Saturday morning we all woke up and relaxed on the beach. Vatia is one of the most ( if not the most) beautiful villages on Tutuila. Around 12:30 Max and I left the beach scene and hitched back to the main road. The road to Vatia is prime riding for the back of the pick up truck! Once in Aua, I had the greatly luck of meeting Scott and Taylor. I was debating heading east or going back home when S & T drove by and told me to jump in. They weren’t going to let me miss the tattoo fest! (Read the next post “Tisa’s Tattoo Fest” to find out more about my day!)

Corruption Unveiled

So now the world knows what every person living in American Samoa knows: Corruption is rampant! 

Report: Tsunami warning funds squandered in American Samoa - CNN.com

Apparently a tsunami warning system was paid for, but our leaders squandered the money on plasma screen tvs and trips to Las Vegas - unfortunately, not such a surprise to those of us that live here. 

Obviously the warning system would not have prevented the tsunami nor would it have prevented any of the damage done to the villages, houses, and property. It could have, however, lowered the death toll. It’s unfortunate that something like this finally caused the U.S. to take a closer look at where all it’s money is going once it’s sent to Samoa. 

Visitors! It's Official!

IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH! I’m officially getting visitors! Both Mom and Ethan have booked flights to The Rock! Mom is coming for 2 weeks at Thanksgiving and Ethan is coming for 3 weeks at Christmas! I can’t contain my excitement! Visitors! Ahhh! 

Tofa Halloween

My good friend Brigit had to leave the island this past weekend. Six months before coming to Am Sam she broke her foot very badly and about 1.5 months into our stay she started experiencing unbearable pain that left her barely able to walk. After doing everything possible here on island, the doctors came to the determination that she should return back home to the States for better treatment.

Of course I was sad to see her leave, but we got to celebrate her time on the island once more with a great Tofa  (Good-Bye) party (10/24/09)! Taylor and Scott, again, generously volunteered their house, and we decided it should be a Halloween themed bash. Since I am horrible at coming up with costume ideas, Ms. Brigit chose my costume, and I made it. After telling her that I was a Hershey’s Kiss when I was 4, she decided that was also the perfect costume for my 21 year old self. 

As you can imagine, creating an impressive Halloween costume from scratch on a little island in the middle of the South Pacific is quite hard. On Friday I went to Forsgrens in search of something to bring the idea to life. I found some shiny silver fabric to make a Hershey’s toga, and some shiny blue fabric (the color of the words on the candy’s tag) to make a belt. I then found some plastic-stick-things that I used to make my tag stick out straight. Unfortunately, the 24 hours before the party weren’t so smooth.... 

After buying my costume goodies plus about $35 of classroom school supplies, I got on a crowded bus home. When buses are crowded it’s customary to leave packages at the front next to the driver. At my stop, I squeezed out of the bus, I took 3 steps out of the way, the bus began to pull away, and I realized that I left my big bag of stuff on the bus! Loosing $50 of stuff is a big deal when your on a $400 a month stipend! I was so upset! It was close to 6 o’clock (when the buses stop running) and the bus was headed far west to Amanave; this meant that the bus wouldn’t be passing back by again. (At least some kids in Amanave got some great new school supplies!) So on Saturday I had to wake up early, go back to Forsgrens, and re-buy all my purchases before going on my other planned errands. At 3 I decided to catch one of the late buses out to Amanave (buses stop running by 4 on Saturdays). Just as I reached the street to wait in front of my house, Jess, a friend living on the east side, got off a bus. She saw me and decided to finish the rest of her journey with me. We waited for an Amanave bus for almost an hour before giving up. Instead we figured we could take a bus as far as Leone and then hitch the rest of the way. 

Once off the bus in Leone we began walking. (Hitch hikers tip: walking while trying to hitch gets far more rides than standing still while trying to bum around. I think it adds to the whole I’m-stranded-and-pitiful-and-will-be-walking-for-hours-if-you-don’t-pick-me-up vibe.) A few cars past but they weren’t pick up trucks (a Samoa hitch hiker’s dream) when all of a sudden we heard, “Hey girls! Where you headed?” An old man cleaning up the rubble in front of his “house” was waiting for our reply. I shouted back, “Oh..um..we are headed out to Fa’ilolo!” Nervous that he would commit to a 15 minute drive west. With out hesitating he replied that we should stay where we were because he was going to get his car, and he would be taking us the rest of the way. We felt slightly bad since we were clearly making him go out of his way but knew that he was just full of Samoan hospitality and wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t honestly mind. He was a great man and told us his story as we drove. His house, gas station, and store were all taken by the tsunami. The foundation he was standing in front of when we first saw him was what remained of his house. He had just gotten out of the hospital a week before and was still feeling the pain of his cracked ribs and soreness from all his cuts and bruises. He was thankful, however, that he was now walking without a cane. During the wave, he held on to a post with one hand and held onto his wife with another- they were almost washed away. He was still filled with such life, however, and was such a happy old man. When we reached Scott and Taylor’s house, he got out of the car, gave Jess and I hugs, and introduced himself warmly to Scott who was grilling out front. Random Samoan moments and meetings like this are truly special moments that will always stay with me!

After finally getting to Scott and Taylor’s we hung out with our west side crowd: Cynthia and John, Brigit, Kate, Thahn, Rosemary, and Julia. We spent a great afternoon  sitting on their porch, chatting, and staring off into the water. 

At around 7:30 the other WTers began showing up, and we all changed into our costumes for the night. My Hershey’s kiss turned out great. I created a head piece so that the candy tag could stick out and a big foil bow topped it off. I wore a shiny silver toga held together by a big light blue fabric belt that also read “Hershey’s Kiss.” I even accessorized with foil bracelets and silver shoes. Some of the other costumes were great as well. Taylor was a vampire, Scott was Indiana Jones, Cynthia was Jim Henson with a Kermit the Frog puppet, Raj was in a trash bag toga. A few of the volunteers made fun of each other by dressing up as members of our group. Tanne was Steve with his plaid, chest hair, bandana, backpack, and bright orange Crocs. Steve was Adam and wore his track jersey and short running shorts (Adam frequently runs 12 miles a day). We also had a few people dress in some funny “Samoa” costumes. Kate was the corrupt Department of Education leaders. She wore a puletasi with money sticking out everywhere and would say things like, “What money!? We have no money!” John was the ridiculous school Standards and Benchmarks. He decorated a white shirt and i’e with all the Standards for his grade. Thanh was our favorite aiga bus, the Blood bus (it has an awesome name and paint job.

The party was great and went off without a hitch! Kate, Jess and I slept over, and Taylor made us french toast in the morning before driving us home! (Taylor and Scott are awesome).