Suicide linked to poverty, hardships

Poverty, depression and hardships are killing people in Samoa.

And the government should take the lead to address them.

So says Sociologist Pei Tauilii’li Reupena, who is a Counselor at the National Health Services (N.H.S) at Moto’otua. He is calling on the government leaders to work with villages, churches and family leaders to address the issues.

Pei raised the point when his opinion was sought over the spike in the number of suicide cases during the recent past. According to him, hardly a week has gone by during the past four months without a case of suicide.

“Poverty, traumatic events, depression and psychological pressure leads to suicide,” he tells the Samoa Observer.

“It leads to unstable psychological thinking and people usually struggle. If you’re successful, spiritually, physically, psychologically, you’re always happy.

“But if there are factors that stand in front of you and interrupt how you survive, it leads to poverty, sickness and sometimes suicide.”

Looking at Samoa today, Pei says far too many people are struggling to make ends meet. He estimates that about 90 per cent of families in Samoa are struggling with the cost of living, low incomes with many of them living in poverty.

Pei says this is a “disaster” and its impact is starting to show through people seeking what they feel is the easy way out of their problems.

“The truth is, many people are struggling to put food on table because of the lack of income,” says the Sociologist.

“What is happening right now is the gap between the rich and poor in Samoa is getting wide. Only between five to seven families in Samoa are enjoying this ‘economic success’.

They call it economic success, I call it a disaster.”

Pei says people like Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentarians, C.E.Os and their assistants are not affected by the economic climate because they are well looked after.

“But the majority of people who are not working, who are on lesser wages, are living below the poverty line because of inflation.

“We’ve got babies dying from malnutrition and it’s unusual. When I came here (last year), I was not expecting to hear this word (malnutrition). It’s a foreign language for me to hear (in Samoa).”

Being a Sociologist for 30 years, Pei says many people praise Samoa as being “good.”

He disagrees.

“Yes there’s an economic lifeline but a few people are enjoying it,” he says. “But I would say about 90 per cent are struggling socially and economically. They are very poor.”

Pei also points to the changing lifestyles.

“We used to get fish from the lagoon and food from the plantation but it’s hard now to get because they (families) are competing with shops and big businesses.”

One of the areas Pei studies is behavior, thoughts and feelings.

He says poverty doesn’t only affect people economically but it has a psychological effect, leading to suicide.

From his experience, the main contributing factors to suicide in Samoa are relationships and discipline. He explains that some relationships – including same sex relationships - are not accepted by parents and villages.

Pei also highlights what he describes as a “youth cultural crisis” as one of the major problems for Samoa today.

“They are so confused they don’t understand the cross cultural application in between,” he said.

He recalls in the early 90s when youth established a “youth culture” in Auckland.

“It was so bad because when young people from here went to New Zealand, they got sucked in the palagi system and started questioning their traditions and their own way of living,” says Pei.

“What it did is it promoted what is called a youth cultural concept…that was the dilemma our youth needed to learn about the different world and different culture concept.

“It was hard for them because they got sucked in the modern youth culture that was so attractive to them.”

Returning to Samoa, Pei says he finds that there is a huge gap between the youth in Samoa and New Zealand in terms of respect.

“The whole issue of respect is absolutely low here (from youths),” says Pei.

“There is much more discipline in youths in New Zealand and Australia compared to here because they have good youth programmes.

“I’m a social worker and I look at social lifestyles of people. The concept of respect in culture and sometimes disrespect of culture is quite high here.”

Pei recommends more programmes whereby young people can work the Fa’ataua le Ola, the Ministry of Women Community and Social Development and other organisations as part of the solution.

He also says is important that villages, churches and parents are involved to bring together their expertise to tackle issues at the centre of the youth crisis and suicide.

Pei has worked in the Auckland Hospital and Health Consultant for Pacific Island Transcultural Mental Health in Queensland.

He returned to Samoa last year and is part of the newly established Sociologist Department of the National Health Services. He was a Medical Lab technician for nine years at N.H.S before he left to study.