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OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
PRESS RELEASE
(for immediate release – Monday, October 1, 2007)
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Governor Togiola launch October Domestic Violence Awareness Month
 (UTULEI) – Governor Togiola Tulafono today launched October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
In a ceremony at the Convention Center this morning, coordinated by the American Samoa Coalition on Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and the Department of Human and Social Services (DHSS), Governor Togiola, in his remarks, focused on prevention and early intervention to assist in curtailing uncontrolled anger that leads to violence in the home.
(The full text of Governor Togiola’s remarks is below).
The launch was attended by representatives of Mapusaga o Aiga (Family Haven) of Apia, Samoa, the American Samoa Coalition on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, American Samoa Community College, Baha’i Faith, Catholic Diocese of Samoa - Pago Pago, Catholic Social Services, Center for Families of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities, Drug-Free and Truancy programs at DOE, Criminal Justice Planning Agency, Kanana Fou Theological Seminary, Maternal Child Health and Rape Prevention programs at the Department of Health, Methodist Church, Office of Samoan Affairs, Office of Tourism at DOC, Pago Pago Village Council, Teen Challenge Ministries, U’una’i Legal Services, Victims of Crimes Advocacy and Prevention programs of DHSS, YWCA American Samoa and YWCA Samoa.
OCTOBER: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH
by Gov. Togiola Tulafono
“October as Domestic Violence Month is a month to remind us to look back, look forward, and look at what we’ve done in the past year. We have addressed domestic violence in the home, in our village, in church and across the Territory and we must continue to promote awareness until we completely stop the violence on our island, permanently.
It is often difficult to address a crowd like yourselves on this topic since the ones who should be hearing this are not present. Or, could I be wrong? I’m sure the ones needing the message are elsewhere rather than with us today. They know who they are and they know it is wrong to commit domestic violence against others in the home and community.
It is important for us to emphasize the need to explore the root of the problem. In the past, for us here in Samoa, there is a label or stereotype of a man who beats his wife. He is labeled as a wife beater or ‘fasi ava.’ Some people are remembered by great feats, but in this case a man will always be remembered as a ‘fasi ava’ and would forever be referred to as the man who is a wife beater.
The question is then, why do men beat their wives? From memory, I can recall two reasons why a man would beat his wife.
Firstly, and sadly, it is a show of strength. The man wants to demonstrate his strength and control. The problem with this is, it reveals a man who instead, displays the qualities of a coward for not looking for another male to test his strength. Resorting to beating his wife who cannot fight back physically perhaps gives him control but then he also remains a coward.
 Secondly, and again, sadly, a man with a short fuse or filled with uncontrolled anger loses his temper easily which leads to the explosion and in most cases, violence. A short fuse as soon as you light it, blows up very quickly and this is the other cause for the violence we see around us. I believe that most of us sitting in here today are long fused, or have a long fuse, like me, it takes a while to blow up, if at all. If the fuse is extinguished then we do not have a violent situation.
Men, it is our duty to extend the length of our fuses. It would be ideal to have a very long fuse that when it burns there is a chance that it would be extinguished before the explosion. I recall seeing a public service announcement from the military that advises that before you react with anger, sit quietly and close your eyes, and start counting slowly to ten. When counting to ten, your voice is lowered and your anger has lowered as well and you are in control of your anger.
Some of the major causes and stressors creating misunderstandings, which often leads to violence in the home, stem from: (1) unmet financial demands (2) lack of communication and (3) not being satisfied with what you have and wanting other peoples things, like somebody else’s wife, and then coming home and pick a fight with the wife.
Despite a few of these reasons, I believe that the main reason is uncontrolled anger. It is hard to believe that there is a person that is happy beating up their wife. “I’m sorry darling, you were made by my rib, but I have to beat you up because I love you and to show you that I’m happy.” What a scenario! “I’m going to beat you up because I’m very happy.” Imagine it! I have never heard of a situation like that, have you?
Back to my ‘count to ten method.’ After counting to ten and taking a deep breath, and maybe even sing a verse of a hymn like ‘…ua soona olioli nei, lo’u loto ia Iesu…” I’m pretty sure that the anger fuse would have grown longer and the anger that could lead to violence would have been controlled and extinguished very quickly.
Spouse abuse is not only about women. I must add, although a small percentage and a minority, there are women who beat their husbands and particularly those in de-facto relationships. Violence that happens in your home is domestic violence whether it is spouse to spouse or parents to child. Domestic violence is domestic violence is domestic violence.
It is our job to find ways to slow down and defuse and diffuse this anger so violence does not occur. For us parents, our Christian values and beliefs on spanking our children in order for them to do well in life may need to be looked at. There’s a difference between a spank (sasa), and to beat (fasi). A sasa, or spank, is not a beating, but a fasi, or beating, is abuse. We use a sasa as a form of discipline and should be carried out with love (alofa) and never in anger (ita). Our duty as parents and carers is to watch how we are fulfilling these acts.
In closing, again I say, it all comes down to our inability to control our anger, our inability to manage our anger. My challenge for 2007, as we launch October as National Month of Awareness on Domestic Violence, is for us all to become unified in finding a cure for anger. If we can manage anger and communicate with one another, we would get wonderful results. Spread the word in your village, in your church, in your work place, that when you are angry, count from 1 to 10 slowly, sing a hymn, pray or just breathe in deeply.
Today, I encourage the American Samoa Coalition on Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention, your partner agencies and the Department of Human and Social Services to focus on prevention and early intervention. The cure for violence is not through punishment after the act. We must promote the freedom we continue to enjoy on our island to live our lives free from abuse, and to continue to live a safe and happy life within our families, our communities and starting from within our homes.
Soifua.”
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