Ariana Paul (far right) gives a koha to a whānau pani in Samoa / Source - Tuala Tagaloa Tusani Facebook Page.
Māori Health charity TriMāori has donated $4,000 WST (approx. $2,250 NZD) to help relief efforts in Samoa. TriMāori co-founder, Ariana Paul, confirmed to Te Ao Māori News that she made the donation on behalf of the charity while she was in Samoa last week.
Paul accompanied volunteers from ASA Foundation, a NZ based community group that is working in Samoa. Paul would go with these volunteers as they delivered these funds to whānau pani.
“Through Givealittle and other donations, that’s how they [ASA Foundation] were able to get koha out to families.”
Paul recounts what led her to donate:
“One day Richard and Tuala [the ASA volunteers] were driving home from somewhere and Richard check his list [of families that requested funds], and they checked what they had in terms of resources and they said;
”Well, that’s as much as we can do today.”
When Paul asked why they were finishing up early she was advised that there would be no more funds coming until the 21st of December at the earliest.
Paul replied “Just take me to a bank, we’ve got work to do.”
The duo then took Paul to a bank where she withdrew $4,000 WST (Samoan Tala) of Tri-Māori funds as a top-up for ASA until the Givealittle funds arrive. These funds will be delivered by ASA Foundation volunteers to whānau that have requested help.
Paul called her experiences in Samoa “life changing” and hoped that Māori would band together to send assistance to our “tuakana” in Samoa.
While ASA Foundation did not request sort of monetary assistance from Tri-Māori, Paul explained why she did so.
“If I can, I must.”