Ads by Google Ads by Google

Community News Briefs

compiled by Samoa News staff

CHILDREN’S CULTURE MAINTENANCE SUMMER PROGRAM

Looking for something to keep the kids occupied during the summer months? Why not have them learn about the Samoan way of life during the Children’s Culture Maintenance Summer Program, hosted by the American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture, and Humanities (ASCACH) at the Jean P. Hayden Museum compound in Fagatogo?

One of the highlights of this year’s program is ‘elei-making (fabric painting), an art form that has taken the island by storm. The art of creating traditional motifs and patterns that are transferred on to fabric for casual - and formal - wear has gained popularity with both men and women, resulting in artists having to become more selective of the prints, colors, and even the type of fabric they use to market their work.

The summer program will be held from July 3 - July 28 and registration will be open from June 12 - June 23.

Spaces are limited so it is on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

Boys and girls between 7 and 17 years old are welcomed to join the fun, and registration is only $5 per child.

While the summer program has been an annual event for decades, this will be the first one offered in two years.

Last year, officials of the Museum were part of a delegation that traveled to Guam for the 12th Festival of Pacific Arts.

The year before that, the Museum underwent major renovation work and it was deemed unsafe for children to be around the site.

This year however, Arts Council Program Manager Rexx Yandall is excited to announce that the same classes will be offered, and the goal remains the same: to help kids understand ways to preserve the Samoan culture through different traditional art forms.

Participation numbers for the event seesaws, depending on how many other summer programs will be available for local school kids.

Classes will be held everyday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and during the month-long program, kids will engage in lots of hands-on educational activities including upeti carving, weaving, singing, and ‘elei making, as well as learning how to perform the traditional Samoan siva, how to play an ukulele, and a crash course on folktales, legends, and the history of the Samoan islands.

As always, classes will be taught by local artists, working alongside the elderly women who usually weave and demonstrate their work inside the fale-Samoa at the Museum. Everything created by the kids during the program is theirs to keep at the end of the program.

The project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

More information can be obtained by calling Rexx Yandall directly at 633-4347/4490 or by visiting the Arts Council main office in Fagatogo, across from the Lumana'i Building.

INTERIOR PROVIDES GRANT FUNDING TO AMERICAN SAMOA FOR HEATH ISSUES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — May 30, 2017 — Acting Assistant Secretary Nikolao Pula today made available $212,800 in technical assistance funding from the Office of Insular Affairs to support three initiatives supported by American Samoa Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga that will improve critical health care services in the territory.

“We are pleased to support the Governor in improving responsiveness to critical health care needs for the residents,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Pula. “With the limited 

In a separate email, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, was pleased about the $212,800 in technical assistance funding from the Department of the Interior, saying “Being relatively small and geographically isolated from any major land mass, funding plays a crucial role in the improvement to our island’s healthcare system,” stated Amata. “There is still much to be done when it comes to healthcare improvement in our islands, but we remain optimistic that we can bring some real positive changes soon, and are of course thankful for every bit of funding we receive.”

The projects funded from FY2017 OIA Technical Assistance Funds are as follow:

Cancer Patient Navigator Program — $108,320 is provided to the American Samoa Cancer Coalition to assess and modify the community-based Patient Navigation System which will be implemented through the Lyndon Baines Johnson Tropical Medical Center to improve access and guidance in cancer treatment healthcare for affected American Samoa residents.

Comprehensive Clinical Documentation Improvement Initiative — $80,200 is provided to the LBJ Medical Center to improve clinical charting and documentation amongst physicians, medical coders and billers to improve patient safety outcomes, accountability, clinical preparedness, billing procedures, and overall quality of patient care.

Surgical Wound Care and Certified Hyperbaric Technological Training — $24,280 is funded to the hospital to provide for professional training and workforce development and capacity building of the local medical professional workforce, particularly in surgical wound care and certified hyperbaric therapy.