Samoa Victim Support Group - A Ray of Hope to many

The Samoa Victim’s Support Group (SVSG) is an organization dear to my heart & it always will be.

Last April was the opening of the Ray of Hope House, a home built in honour of my late father and all that he stood for: love, kindness, and a special generosity for those in need.

The home was built to be a place of comfort and peace for young mothers that experienced traumatic journeys of sexual violence - 6 bedrooms, 18 beds, and a nursing room that I will always be proud of.

SVSG takes in everyone that comes to their door in search of a life free from violence. However, they do not always have the resource to accommodate their ever-expanding shelter. The majority of their staff mostly consists of temporary volunteers so it is also difficult to keep consistency of operations.

In whatever way they fall short as an organization, it is but a molehill in comparison to the mountain of incredible work they do, the lives they save, and the contribution they make to the welfare of our country.

There has been a recent article circulating about a woman and her family’s negative experience with SVSG’s adoption process and overall running of the organization. To my understanding, there have been a few similar experiences to this that have been shared with the public.

Sharing experiences such as this, is good in a way that it works toward holding SVSG accountable and calls for government and community to offer support where is really needed. However, sharing these experiences also invites a negative dialogue around SVSG as a whole, and exposes them as a target. This type of negative dialogue is where it becomes harmful.

Sure SVSG is not perfect, no organization is. Their accountability and transparency of funds/accounts is something that has always been questioned. But if this is such a common concern amongst the community, should we not band together as a people to help address it?

Let’s refocus our energy in a positive way. Put pressure on government, on donors, on stakeholders, on anyone that can help provide consistent technical support, so that SVSG is running in the most transparent way possible and are able to produce regular financial reports accessible to the public.

Let’s create an avenue so that SVSG is running in a way that we can ALL have faith in. Villainizing the founder, condemning the organization, suggesting to shut down the whole operation is not the way forward.

At the end of the day, SVSG are the ONLY ones doing this work, and it is work that is so important to the betterment of our country.

What are the alternatives for the people in the care of the shelter? Lives of violence, rape, abandonment, no lives at all; and that is the harsh reality.

I have been at the office when an abandoned baby was brought in. I’ll never forget that day. The baby was left alone for a whole day (maybe longer) in an abandoned house. The neighbours reported the case to SVSG and someone was sent to get him immediately. They brought him into the office and my mom changed his diaper, which was not a diaper at all, he was wrapped in plastic bags. When she opened it, it had the vilest smell, he hadn’t been changed in most likely 2 or more days. I hate to think of what would have happened to that poor baby if he were left there any longer.

There are children being brought in every day. Some malnourished, some with injuries from abuse, some abandoned for being born from incest. These are the harsh conditions of the children that are being brought into the shelter. If the shelter did not exist, many of the lives of these children would not exist also.

If you are passionate about this cause and helping these incredible survivors, please do so in a positive manner. If you see issues within the organization, acknowledge them yes, but also provide solutions around how we can address them in a sustainable way.

If you want to experience how the organization is run, go and volunteer there, they are always in need of more hands. If you want to contribute to the livelihoods of the girls in the shelter, go and spend time with them, they are always longing for companionship.

If you want to make a positive change in our community, let loving actions speak louder than hurtful words.

For so many women, girls and children that lived lives of fear and violence, SVSG has been their only Ray of Hope. Now is the time for us to come together as a people and ensure that, through whatever adversity, this Ray of Hope continues to shine.

For more information on the Ray of Hope Project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SAlnV04rkM

To find out more about SVSG and how you can contribute visit:

http://www.samoavictimsupport.org/

The violence against women in the Pacific rates amongst the highest in the world