So’o Sivea has brought her parents, Maiomalo Fusi and Fa’aloto Susana Minoi, to a free community group for Samoan seniors on Brisbane’s south side for three years.
“Bringing my parents here, [there’s] a lot of benefit for them,” she told ABC Pacific.
“Coming here today; it’s sad in some ways because I lost my father two months ago, and he used to come here with my mum.
“Today, you see the other folks here that my father associated with, and it’s bittersweet memories.
“But it’s good to see our older people, our parents; it’s good to see them enjoy each other’s company. Our parents need to connect with each other and to our culture as well.”
They may be far from their island homes and villages living in south-east Queensland, but the volunteer-run program, called “Our Village”, aims to connect Samoan elders.
“Our old people, especially our parents that are old, they get lonely sometimes at home … because our grandchildren sometimes can’t speak Samoan,” So’o said.
“But bringing them here, it’s something that I see my mother looks forward to because she comes and sees her friends.
“The name suits the group, Our Village, and it’s just like our family … it benefits everybody in different ways.”
The wisdom of our elders
It’s an initiative born from a period when COVID lockdowns closed many events and communities, including churches.
“Church used to be their community. Our Village Mafutaga started in the height of COVID,” committee member Rachel Alaimoana said.
The gathering runs monthly at a Brisbane city council hall or park and is open to all Samoan seniors across Brisbane.
“A lot of elderly parents found their community in church, and then all of a sudden … there were a lot who were feeling lonely and not able to connect with each other.
“So we started back in 2021 to organise a gathering each month, where we could come together and have a focus on body, mind and spirit, and [focus] more about the fun aspect of our culture.”
A CPA working at Flight Centre Travel Group, Rachel takes one day’s leave every month to help run the program along with a group of volunteers, many of whose elderly parents also attend.
“People just bring what they can. There’s no requirement to [bring anything]. But you know in our culture, what starts as a morning tea becomes like a lunch,” she said.
“What I enjoy most is the laughs that they have.
“They joke with each other, it’s funny, they sometimes can just be kids again. So seeing them connect and have a laugh has been really fun to see.”
Appreciating our matriarchs and patriarchs
Pastor Sigila Paleso’o said the gatherings were also about the Samoan word mafutaga.
“The purpose of Our Village is to be able to give back to our parents, our grandparents and our oldies, to give them that space where they can come together and just mafuta, which is what we’re all about … fellowship and just enjoy that company or that camaraderie that Samoans are used to.
“Just to be able to appreciate our matriarchs and our patriarchs and the struggles that they’ve had to endure and persevere with to allow us as the younger generation to be able to enjoy the fruits of this beautiful country.”
More than 75,000 people of Samoan heritage call Australia home, and of them, more than one-third live in Queensland.
Samoan is the largest spoken language in Logan City and Ipswich second to English.
Rachel hopes more groups like it will spring up wherever there is a need to support elders in the community.
“If this inspires anyone to start something in their community or if there are groups close to them where they can go and support or see how they can contribute,” she said.
“We have lots to learn from the wisdom of our elders.”
For So’o’s mother, Fa’aloto Susana Minoi, the monthly gatherings also mean games, catch-ups with old church friends, and busting out the competitive side when it comes to special items and cherished memories of her island home.
“I come from Pu’apu’a, Savai’i in the Fa’asaleleaga district, there’s a beautiful lagoon where I come from,” she told ABC Pacific.
“There’s nowhere else in Samoa as beautiful as Pu’apu’a.
“There’s a lot of us from Savai’i here and my heart is so happy … Savai’i is the most beautiful island in Samoa and I think the Pacific too.”
- DINAH LEWIS BOUCHER is a digital journalist for ABC News. The views expressed in this article are hers and not necessarily of this newspaper.
