Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Two members of the Tanielu family — Edwina and Blessing — were awarded scholarships from One Global Family Foundation (OGFF) at last Saturday’s Leions Park memorial service commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the deadly 2009 tsunami. Their father was among the victims of the 2009 tsunami.

Edwina’s scholarship totals $1,000 — the usual $500 for college bound students, and an “extra scholarship” of $500 in honor of Mrs. Tesimale’s husband and OGFF co-founder Mike Foimai, who passed away early last year — and the late Utu Abe Malae, who was a strong supporter of the annual memorial service and two-time Rotary Club president. 

“Edwina, honor you father, your family, and these amazing servant leaders and be one yourself. Be a trailblazer that I know you are,” Mrs. Tesimale said to Edwina. Tesimale has been attending the annual memorial event to award scholarships to local students, whose parents or relatives fell victim to the tsunami both in American Samoa and neighboring Samoa.

Tesimale said, “All of the families I met, broke my heart”. The Tanielu family in particular, gets her on her knees in prayer. “When I met with them, the mother had shared with me that her husband, Pita, was a bus driver — and he died in the tsunami. And the [mother] was only making $200 a month in daycare,” Tesimale said in a quivering voice, before pausing and then continuing, “and her rent was $200 a month” — but there is also food, the children’s school supplies, utilities, and other expenses.

After leaving the Tanielu home, “I knew I was going to do something, anything,” for this family, Tesimale said, adding that Sapapali’i has been an amazing mother to her three children. The oldest, Pete, received scholarships up to 2017 and he has been working in California to help support his mom and family, she said.

Pete was presented with a $500 scholarship for his sister, Blessing (shown in the portrait), who just graduated from high school and is currently in Hawai’i heading to a university in Oregon, where she will pursue a nursing degree.

“What an amazing young woman — excellent in her school work, community service, excels in every way that you can possibly imagine,” said Tesimale of Edwina. “And for us, this is what we hunger for. This is what we want to see. This is the change that we want to see in the world.”

Tesimale told the audience that she is still trying to locate two other recipients, so the pair could be presented their scholarships. One of them is Gapi Woo, whom she said she searches for every year when she comes for these presentations. “I’ve not been successful yet, but I still have hope that I’ll be able to find her.”

“I know that her father and aunty said previously that it’s too difficult for her to come to these events. So they wish to donate the scholarship for Gapi back into the pool of funds for the other children,” Tesimale said, but noted that she still wants Woo — who is in college — to be given this award. The second college student, also with a $500 scholarship, is Tynishia J. Tufu.

OGFF can be found at <www.oneglobalfamilyfoundation.org> as well as its Facebook page.

[photo: FS]