SVSG JUNIORS COMMUNITY OUTREACH

​Executive members and volunteers of the SVSG Juniors, the youth sub-group of Samoa Victim Support Group, are fronting an outreach program, highlighting the important role played by each communities within a village, in raising a child. 
 
On the theme ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, the outreach program kick started at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints at Sataoa.  The program appeals to all sectors of a community from the village council, the churches, the women’s committee, the untitled men and ladies groups and the families, in a community effort to raise a child to a strong and successful adult.
 
Being young advocates of violence free families, the SVSG Junior members knew exactly what shapes a child, having progressed from being children themselves.  They likened the children to ‘photographers’, capturing everything that goes around their environment, both the good and the bad.
 
Bullying, violence, alcohol and drug abuse, were some of the issues focused on during the community outreach.  The SVSG Junior members believe that a break down in the ‘family’ environment gives rise to these pressing issues, but that is when the other sectors of the community comes in to fill the gap. 
 
According to SVSG Junior President Carmenita Solaese, “if the whole village plays their role in supporting and raising a child, no doubt, this child will rise up as a strong leader and a successful adult that the village community can be proud of.”
 
SVSG President Siliniu Lina Chang accompanied the youth to its outreach program.  She acknowledged the initiative by the SVSG Juniors to address family violence through child rearing as a combined responsibility of the village community.  “Thank you to Bishop Tai Ng Wun and the congregation at the LDS Church Sataoa for being the first community to be sensitized on the project.” Siliniu Lina Chang, SVSG President