Spirit of Survival

It is exactly one year since an 8.3 earthquake triggered a powerful tsunami that devastated both Samoas and the remote Tongan island of Niuotaputapu. If this had happened a couple of centuries earlier there wouldn't be as widespread a consternation as we had witnessed September 29, 2010.

The whole wide world watched nature rearing its ugly head; it was brutal, ruthless, and certainly took no prisoners. People closest emotionally to the victims raised utterances of disbelief: why Samoa,why Tonga, my family, my heritage? Some say it happened as a warning to a wicked generation while some say it was due to tectonic movements of the earth's core plates. Whichever school of thought you tend to trust, the fact remains that something awful happened. It was so awful that lives were lost, properties destroyed, whole families and communities were left with an emptiness that would take a long, long time to replace.

It is the filling of that emptiness that determines the fate of these beautiful people that we call families, friends and fellowmen. We often hear that the "natural man is evil", however as Christians we believe that every man has redeeming qualities that lie dormant in our subconscience and when call upon will bloom to become very loving, caring, and compassionate people. We have since witnessed organizations and individuals alike come to the aid of the tsunami victims.

The Samoa Relief Wave is a group of individuals from Utah that realized that "because (we) have been given much (we)too must give". Not because we are excessively rich but because we feel the pain of those less fortunate. We too decided that we must help. We helped facilitate the conveyance of "big love" from the people of Utah in donations. The motive was strictly to help our brothers in need; in partnership with the US Veterans Association of Samoa we distributed that love and hope.

We hope that collectively all of us that helped have put back some oxygen into the veins of a people that have gone through so much. We wish the powers that be the presence of love for the perpetuation of our heritage. Calamities come and go but the human soul lives on.


In conclusion we pay our respects to those who died, and to those who are left behind we salute you for the courage that you have mustered to carry on with life. With your resolute attitude our future generations look forward to tackle any challenges nature throws at them.