No More Fales. Samoa needs SHELTERS.
That’s the title of a letter from Victim Advocate Mrs. Ipu Lefiti who says that the territory needs to build shelters for families who are homeless.
She says as domestic violence fueled by alcohol and drugs increases, so do the needs and demands for victims.
According to Mrs. Lefiti, the belief there are no homeless people in Samoa is proof that many accept and tolerate domestic violence; that abused people will never leave or seek shelter elsewhere.
She observes that families abandoned by their spouses or partners are cast adrift. Many mothers who have no roots in American Samoa are ignored or oppressed by their inlaws/ sponsors. This forces them to seek other places to live. Most of these mothers have immigration issues, no employment skills, and lack education and money. Despite their silent destitution, they are threatened that their children will be taken away from them.
Mrs. Lefiti is hopeful that the Director of Human & Social Services (DHSS) will be able to justify some of the $12 million in funding slated for a Supplemental Shelter Initiative intended to mitigate the displacement and uprooting of children and families during the social stresses of the COVID-19.
She believes data on those turned away due to unavailable space at the DHSS shelter should be made public.
As someone who has dealt with the current facilities Mrs. Lefiti says, “the DHSS shelter facility has been maxed out at every turn. The original structure still in use is over 60 years old and has only grown a wire fence. There is a Homeless HUD-building that spent more time under construction and maintenance last year than it is worth.”
She continues, “I stare at all those wonderful newly built fales at the Faga’alu and Suigaula Park and the millions of dollars in buildings that were so quickly constructed in Tafuna. It is obvious, the leadership were either ignorant, ill informed or were in denial that homelessness does exist in American Samoa. Hopefully, some of that $75 million unspent CARES Act funding or some of the millions of COVID-19 funding can assist with the building of shelters to accommodate at least 20 families or 50 singles.”
