Sister McBride writing this time: Until
we get a real nurse here in Samoa, Elder McBride and I have been given the
responsibility of caring for the missionaries who fall ill. As crazy as that sounds, it works out because
the Church has a doctor (the “Area Medical Adviser”) located in New Zealand
that I call and send pictures to for advice. Plus we have Maurice’s brother,
Dr. Dane McBride in Virginia, who has a heart of gold, who also helps us. After nine months of this we now see a lot of
the same problems over and over again – boils, rashes, diarrhea, dog bites and
mosquito-borne illnesses such as Zika.
This has got to be one of the hardest missions for missionaries.
Last week another
missionary couple serving here called me.
The wife is originally from Samoa and has relatives here. She asked me
if I would go and check on her 63-year-old brother who lives in a nearby
village. I reminded her that I am not a
nurse and am not qualified to do that.
Knowing this she still asked me to please go over to his house with her
and check on him. It would mean a lot to
her, she said, so I went.
The family had her
sick brother on a bed in the living room.
I went over and sat down where he was lying to take his temperature and
blood pressure. I sat down with a thud. Samoans generally do not sleep on a mattress;
they sleep on either the floor or on a bed with a board for the mattress.
He had a fever and
his systolic blood pressure was 180 and he was semi-conscious. They could wake him but he would drift back
asleep after a few moments. He had been
like this for at least a week. I asked
the family if he takes any medicine for his blood pressure. They brought me a bag with blood pressure
medicine, antibiotics, and pills for his diabetes. He hadn’t taken any of this medicine for a
week! We were able to get him to take
his blood pressure medicine and one baby aspirin. The family told me that two weeks ago he was
fairly healthy, walking around outside and feeding his chickens. (As we visited, the chickens were wandering
in and out of the house.)
I suggested that
they take him to the hospital but they were reluctant to do so because they
knew that the most the hospital will do is give him an IV and then send him
back home. They have been trying some Samoan
folk medicine instead, where they massage and apply herbs to his body.
The next day I
went to his doctor to ask for his help.
Let me explain here that this particular doctor is better than most on
the island. Sometimes calling a man here
a doctor is like calling me a nurse. The
requirements to hold the title of “Doctor” are not quite as stringent as they
would be in the U.S. Most doctors here
only have a two year medical degree from Fiji.
This particular doctor can at least order x-rays and blood tests, and he
is really good at lancing boils. We
bring missionaries to see this doctor several times a week, and he has been
very helpful.
I asked him to
please oversee this man’s medical care at the hospital. He explained that that isn’t the way it works
in Samoa; he can’t do that. I told him
that if I take him to the hospital all they will do is give him an IV and send
him home, and that if he doesn’t help us this man is going to die. He said he simply wasn’t in a position to help
us. I had with me the sister to this man
who was sick. She burst into tears and
started to cry and this seemed to soften the doctor a little. He gave in just enough to say that, if they
wouldn’t give him an antibiotic with his IV at the hospital, we could call him.
I have to inject
here that I was really impressed with what the sick man’s sister did. As I mentioned earlier, she and her husband
are also serving a mission here. This is
their fourth mission. One of their missions
was in the Philippines where her husband served as the Mission President. I was amazed at how well she knew how to get
to this doctor.
To shorten this
story, an ambulance came and took him to the hospital. There he was given an IV and a shot of antibiotics. Of course he rallied a little and they sent
him home -- and he died six hours later.
This man’s name
was Seto Lealaisalanoa. He was an active
member of the church and worked as a guard on the temple grounds for many years. He was a kind man and will be missed by his
family.
The second part of
my story is about attending his funeral. A Samoan funeral is not anything like an
American funeral.
The night that he
died the bishop and local family were called.
They promptly came to the house where what might be called a “wake” was
held with family talks and expressions of love and sorrow. After about three hours the morgue came and took
the body away. (It took six hours for
the ambulance to come to take him to the emergency room, but the vehicle from
the morgue promptly came. Go figure.) The family had to pay the morgue but the
ambulance to the emergency room is free because they have government run health
care.
The big village funeral
was set for five days later in order to allow time for family members living
abroad to get here, and because of the time needed to prepare for the very
elaborate funeral.
The first part of
the funeral took place in the local ward house. It was pretty much the same as
funerals in the States. The Bishop and
Stake President and the widow spoke and songs were sung. The casket was
made of wood with a window on top so as to allow a viewing of the deceased’s
face.
During the final song several women
got out of their seats and walked to the front and gave the widow a hug and
kiss, and I think some money.
After the funeral
we followed the funeral procession back to the family’s home where Seto would
be buried in the front yard next to his mother and father. It is common in Samoa for the grave to be
placed in the family’s front yard.
Land
stays in the family for many generations and this confirms that this is your
family land and it helps keep someone else from claiming it as their land. Sometimes the graves can be very ornate;
others are more modest.
His grave was only
about 3 feet deep with a one foot high concrete wall above the ground. They placed the coffin in the grave and then
covered it with a heavy concrete lid.
There will be no dirt put on the grave.
In about five years family members will come back and open the grave and
take out the bones, oil and polish them and replace them back in the
grave. (If I understand correctly, this
practice is similar to how tombs are treated in some parts of the Middle East
today. You will recall from Genesis 50 that, although Joseph was embalmed in
Egypt, he wanted his bones taken back to Canaan, and when Moses led the
Children of Israel out of Egypt, he took Joseph’s bones with them.)
At the family home
two tents were set up in the yard with chairs in each facing the other.
As one website explains it, there now begins
an elaborate “ceremonial exchange of finely woven mats, monetary gifts and food
between the families of the person who died and the families of those paying
their respects. The importance of mats harkens back to when they served as the
currency of the Samoan people. Nowadays, these mats act mainly as decorations
during the funeral and then are stored away.”
Two main groups
attend the funeral. One is the family of the widowed wife and the other the
guests attending the funeral. There are
one or more talking chiefs, or orators, to represent the two. At this particular funeral the local bishop happens
to be the talking chief for the visiting group.
I was surprised to
see that a woman was the talking chief for the wife’s family. If you look closely at the picture below you
can see she has a specially carved staff or to’oto’o
and a flywhisk or fue over her
shoulder. The fue is made by plating strands of coconut husk to form rope which
is bound to a wooden handle. The to’oto’o
and fue are symbols of the orator’s
status.
She makes several speeches and
then the bishop with his staff stands and makes a speech back. Then food is brought out for all the people
to eat.
After everyone has
eaten the talking chief for the wife’s family makes another speech. Then a parade of mats, money and food is
brought out and given to the visiting family members.
The food is mainly frozen chicken and cans of
corned beef. They gave enough chicken that
day that it took a small refrigerated truck to take it away.
The bishop took all this food back to the
church and divided it up and gave it away.
There was easily enough chicken for every member in his ward to have
some.
Funerals cost
families a great deal of money. In the
United States our tradition might be to give money to the deceased’s family but
here it is just the opposite. The deceased’s
family gives money to everyone else.
Each person in his
family and the village he lived in will be told by the village high chief to make
financial contributions in the form of actual money or perhaps a certain number
of pigs for the funeral.
The LDS Church has
tried to discourage the more elaborate displays of this tradition because of
the financial hardships they have on families.
But the customs continue to be a matter of pride for the family and the
village.
Now after all
these gifts are given out the people quickly gather up the gifts and leave and
the deceased family will take their seats and the ceremony will start all over
again. Once again the talking chief
makes a speech and a talking chief for the deceased’s family makes a speech and
loads of mats, food and money are given to this family.
All this sounds a
little strange to European/American ears, but for the Samoans it represents a
strong belief in the importance of families in this life and in the hereafter.
The graves in the front of the homes are constant reminders of ancestral
heritage. The coming together of entire
villages maintains a strong sense of family connectedness. For the LDS
community, and for other religions as well, having the local ward bishop or
minister involved is a clear indication that, while old customs persist, they
can be nicely assimilated into religious culture without infringing on
Christian thought and practice.
Elder McBride and
I continue to bask in the beauty of these islands and thrill to be living in a
land which is unabashedly religious. “Fa'avae i le Atua Samoa” is the country’s
motto: "Samoa is founded on God."
