Staying safe in a COVID19 climate for Pacific families

For many of our Pasifika community, our 'family bubble' contains multiple generations - in some cases up to 4 generations living under the same roof.  Dr Siautu Alefaio, Associate Dean Pacific | College of Humanities & Social Sciences at Massey University gives us a few suggestions on staying safe AND sane during the Covid19 lock down.  

Dr Siautu Alefaio

As one who lives in a multi-generational family care household (myself, hubby, my 79 yr old father, my younger brother, his wife and four children 9, 8, 6 and 1 yrs), the bubble visual explanation caused a bit of a stir in our larger than the average kiwi-family bubble. A lot of Pacific families have multiple-bubbles under one roof, so just like our family we need to take a bit of time to think, talanoa (talk-story) and adjust some of the ways we will be living. For some families this will be even more difficult if one or more members of the family are still working as part of ‘essential services’. The main question to start with is: how do we keep our families safe?

Firstly, it’s really important we follow all the main guidelines issued by the government: stay home, social and physical distancing, be kind and keep surfaces clean.

 For Pacific multi-generational families, the areas that will be most important to agree on or develop a plan for are:

1. When one (or more) has to leave the family-bubble to shop, work (essential services), or attend fa’alavelave (especially funeral).

These are trying times for Pacific families as many will not be able to attend funerals of loved ones. I witnessed first-hand during both Samoan disasters – tsunami and measles the speed at which families needed to bury loved ones due to the nature of the disaster. It is heart breaking, gut wrenching and an overall emotionally difficult time. But what I have also experienced is the power of Faith – parents, families, churches, villages time and time again have displayed a fundamental belief in God’s call for their loved one/s which brings a reassuring comfort and peace.

1. Nominating one person in the household who will do the shopping can limit the amount of outside exposure. When that person comes back from shopping follow the recommended hygiene practices i.e. wash hands/clean surfaces (for those that work, they will have their own safety protocols they are following).
2. Inside our home we have focused on our daily cleaning habits, basically making sure we clean up after ourselves and wipe down all surfaces. We include the children in cleaning routines just like how we were brought up to do all feau (chores).
3. Adjusting to having everyone at home can be challenging especially for those that are working from home (that’s me). I’ve just had to chillax a little and enjoy some new activities like ‘afternoon naps’ with the lil ones.

All-in-all, multi-gen Pacific families are resilient there are a lot of new ways of living that we will adjust to, it’s probably easier for Pacific families as we are used to living together. However the difficulty will be when one get’s sick especially when we have Mātua (elder/s) in our homes. For this reason our family also agreed on the following plan. If someone get’s sick, they will be confined to a room and after each visit to the bathroom/toilet we will clean these areas down thoroughly.

The main point is to think about this together as a family, discuss it openly and allow everyone the opportunity to contribute. Talanoa is a common term across the Pacific that describes talk-story (or talking in around-about ways). Having time to talanoa (talk-story) about safety in our homes is vital. Take in all the relevant information that comes through the news, and make a family-plan of safety. Then stick to it and keep safe.