Call to onboard community champions

Le Va’s Atu-Mai violence prevention team hosted a Community Mobilisation Fono in a bid to strengthen collective efforts towards stopping sexual violence and child sexual abuse.

The fono (meeting), held in Manukau on 26 June, had ‘Boarding the Vaka’ as its theme, indicating a unified call for community champions to mobilise against sexual violence in our communities.

Le Va chief executive, Denise Kingi-’Ulu’ave, thanked everyone for their dedication and commitment towards building safer communities. “We’re about equipping communities with the knowledge, skills and confidence to be able to manage and identify when people are in distress in our communities and families, and to support our workforce.”

Te Puna Aonui chief advisor, Liz Tanielu, praised Le Va’s violence prevention work and the engagement of the community representatives who attended. “Shout out to Le Va, loving their leadership and driving this work programme,” she said. “And the communities – am loving seeing the energy, the different people and the different hats they’re bringing to the space.”

Dr Elizabeth Mati, Le Va General Manager, said when taking a Pasifika values-based lens to the issue, it is clear that violence is not our culture. “Le Va developed the Atu-Mai national violence prevention programme right back in 2018 to equip Pacific young people, families and communities with the knowledge and tools to live violence free,” she said.

Business owner, Anthony Agelu, said he felt humbled and privileged to be involved. “I’m encouraged by the programme and possibly becoming one of the leaders in my community that can help move the initiative forward to hopefully help our people to get above this issue.”

Paul Tupou-Vea, in his role as Le Va’s senior manager for violence prevention, shared the Atu-Mai team’s new work programme and included new insights from a needs analysis looking at increased risk factors for victimisation and unique Pasifika protective factors to prevent child sexual abuse.

Le Va Youth Advisory Group member, Pelea Fruean, said the topic is so important for our community. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are in the dark and suffering from it,” she said. “So, I think it’s important that we should shine some light on them, and I think that it’s good we spread awareness and education as well as creating a safety net for them, and for our people to follow too.”

Nahed Alhaj from the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation agreed the topic is important to communities. “Any kind of abuse or violence, it’s a cycle. So, if we didn’t break it now, it [would] keep going and going like a big snowball. So, it’s important to talk about it now [and] start preventing.”

Reverend Uesifili Unasa said, while it is not easy to talk about sexual violence and child sexual abuse, it is important we do. “It’s a sensitive issue, it’s a difficult issue, it’s a personal issue but we have to engage with these issues questions and challenges with integrity with care and respect,” he said. “Not just for ourselves – but for the people around us, and the community to which we belong.”