NEWSROOM: 07 October - 13 October 2007

His Highness, the Head of State travels to New Zealand
13 October 2007 - Source: Government Press Secretariat

Cabinet had approved the travel of His Highness, the Head of State, Afioga Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese, for his medical check-up in New Zealand.

His Highness, the Head of State, is accompanied by Masiofo Filifilia Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese, Doctor Lemalu Limbo Fiu and the Head of State’s Secretary, Afioga Fuimaono Titimaea Tafua.
 

Samoans soon will not have to leave the country to have a CT scan
12 October 2007 - Source: Radio New Zealand International

Patients in Samoa will soon no longer have to leave the country to have a CT scan.

Samoa’s first CT scanner, funded by the Chinese government, is expected to arrive in the country by the end of the year.

The CEO for medical health, Dr. Stanley Dean, says most patients have to be sent to American Samoa or New Zealand to have a CT scan performed.

“Once we set up the CT scan here, there’s no point in sending them over to American Samoa. At the moment the patients pay their own airfare, so it will save them money as well, on a return airfare to American Samoa.”

Dr. Dean says the purchase of the machine includes the maintenance of the equipment.

He says to ensure the equipment’s longevity, more than one person will be trained in its upkeep.
 

Holland America Lines’ MS Statendam visits Apia
11 October 2007 - Source: Aleni Penina, Betham Brothers Enterprises Limited

MS Statendam arrived in Apia this Wednesday morning, 10th October 2007. She arrived at 7:00am and departed at 5:00pm. There were 1,126 passengers onboard. Most of the passengers were United States Citizens (659), with 323 Canadians, 41 Australians, 35 British, and 21 New Zealanders. The rest are other European nationals. The Statendam has a crew of 568, with in additional service staff of 56.

This South Pacific Cruise originated in Vancouver, Canada, having stops at Los Angeles, California, Hawaii, Christmas Island and Pagopago before Apia. After leaving, she will call at Suva, Fiji on her way to New Zealand, where she will visit the Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington and Auckland.

The Statendam last visited Apia on 17th October 2006. The ship’s Agent in Samoa is Betham Brothers Enterprises Ltd and shore excursions are operated by M & A Holidays Travel & Tours.

For more information on the MS Statendam, visit: http://www.cruising.org/CruiseLines/displayship.cfm~recordID~119.cfm
 

New Western Union Quick Pay Service benefits utility customers
10 October 2007 - Source: Western Union Money Transfer

Paying telephone and utility bills has never been easier, thanks to the signing of three agreements announced between Western Union Company and SamoaTel Ltd, Samoa Water Authority and Electric Power Corporation, to offer the Western Union Quick Pay service to these corporation’s customers.

These new relationships with Western Union means SamoaTel Ltd, Samoa Water Authority and Electric Power Corporation customers can, for the first time elect to pay their bills at one of the 17 Western Union locations throughout Samoa, using Western Union's Quick Pay service.

Quick Pay, which costs SAT$7.50 per payment, not only saves money, but the fee is less than a single bus fare from Asau to Salelologa (which costs approximately SAT$8.00 one way), where customers previously had to pay their utility bills all at one location. Quick Pay simply enables customers to make cash payments directly to their utility's account from more convenient locations.

Western Union is a leading provider of Money Transfer Services operating through a network of over 312,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world, renowned globally for its services speed, reliability and convenience that help to keep millions of customers connected.

Quick Pay launched in the US in 1999 and is available in 153,000 locations globally. SamoaTel, Samoa Water Authority and Electric Power Corporation are the first utility companies to offer Quick Pay in the Region and to their customer’s region wide.

Western Union's Paolo Fanizza, Regional Vice President Payment Services and Strategic Development said, "There are many synergies between our own Samoa's utility customer’s needs which we hope will be addressed by our corporation. The ease of payment, convenience and reliability of service will ensure customers are satisfied with Western Union Quick Pay service every time."
 

Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development in Samoa
09 October 2007 - Source: Australian High Commission

The Australian High Commissioner, Matt Anderson, welcomed nine highly motivated and well qualified Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development in Samoa last Friday.

Representatives of the media were there at the Australian High Commissioner’s Residence (Tiapapata), to join the youth Ambassadors for lunch at the Residence and to welcome the volunteers to Samoa.

The Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program was launched in 1998 by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, to strengthen mutual understanding between Australia and the countries of the Asia Pacific and make a positive contribution to development.

The program places skilled young Australians, aged 18-30, on short-term assignments of between 3-12 months, in countries throughout the Asia Pacific region. The AYAD program is an important part of Australia’s development partnership with Samoa.

The new volunteers are:

Elizabeth Bell, Fiafia/Sportability Sports Officer, MESC

Benjamin Allsop, Finance Officer, Samoa Red Cross

Caroline van Gemert, Project Officer, Samoa AIDS Foundation

Skye Turner, Veterinarian, APS

Jess Mowatt, Organic Crops Officer, Women In Business

Tina Macumber, Cricket Development Officer, Samoa English Cricket Association

Daniel McIntosh, Plant Genetics & Tissue Culture, MAF

Natalia Pereira, Youth Programs Officer, UNESCO

Holly Pepper, Handicrafts Trainer, Tagilima Handicrafts.
 

My love affair with the sea
08 October 2007 - Source: (Captain George Clarke)

My whole working life was spent on the high seas and I sometime wondered how I managed to stay on and make a career of it. It was not a rosy occupation like some people think due mainly of not having a proper family life and the discomfort from the weather but somehow I managed to survive the thought of giving it up for a job ashore. The reason I suppose was my desire during the early stages of my career to see the world which lead to being a deck officer and this out weighed the discomfort of being pushed around in appalling weather conditions. I had witnessed in many occasions the distractive and frightening force of nature and was no fun trying to work while the vessel was being knocked about in very rough seas in near hurricane conditions. My responsibilities as Master were well tested during such weather conditions for my place was on the bridge attending to the safety of all onboard and the vessel and thus my reward was well earned for I could be on duty for hours or days with little sleep.

One of the worst and frightening experiences I had was during the Christmas week of 1987 in the Bay of Biscay, a well known area to mariners of having foul weather during the winter months. The Bay of Biscay is a stretch of water along the west coast of France to the northern coast of Spain. The trip was from Holland to Italy with a full cargo of steel coils in an old vessel of 128 metres long with a history of main engine problems. We were well into the Bay of Biscay by Christmas Eve when the weather started to deteriorate to Force 8 in the Beaufort scale. The winds were from the northwest gusting from 36 to 45 knots thus exposing the weather to the starboard side of the vessel on the SW’ly course being steered. Under these conditions it was impossible to carry on but too hove to which was to reduce speed and alter course towards the incoming rough seas and high swell. The procedure here was to place the bow slightly off the direction of the weather where she can ride the conditions more comfortably as long as the vessel had sufficient headway to maintain steerage way. The weather forecast wasn’t favourable for the next twenty four hours for now it had increased to severe Force 9 to 10 with winds gusting 50 to 65 knots. It was frightening standing on the bridge and watched the vessel climbing up a fifty or more foot swell and then drops down into its trough causing the whole vessel to shake while the fore deck was a washed under a great amount of water before being thrashed up again by the next high swell. The strain on the vessel being fully loaded down to her marks with a freeboard of about two meters was great and I feared the tarpaulin covers of the hatches being blown away by the great force of the seas and wind and thank the Lord that it did not happen. The hatch covers were pontoons with three layers of tarpaulins secured down by steel patterns and wooden wedges. We had to ride these conditions all Christmas Day and there was no such thing as a Christmas dinner. My bed was a settee on the bridge but it was impossible to have any sleep for I was constantly up adjusting the speed for the helmsman was having great difficulty in holding the vessel in the required direction relative to the weather. I was thankful that I had a good British Chief Engineer who knew the workings of the main engine and my only instruction to him was to keep that propeller going at all times. He did at one time warned me of having problems with the main engine lubricating oil pressure and may have to stop but was doing his very best not to. During the early hours of Boxing Day and still no sign of improvement for some days ahead, I decided to seek shelter in one of the Spanish bays. I consulted the pilot book for the area and found a well sheltered bay which our progress at full speed would not be hampered by the weather. The engineers were informed and requested full revolutions on the main engine when the telegraph was moved over to full speed just before turning around towards the Spanish coast. Everything went to plan and now the wind and seas were directly astern with the appearance of the vessel surfing along at a good speed. At times the seas were breaking on the boat deck and onto the life rafts but luckily they were properly secured and were not washed overboard. Many hours later in the darkness of night we crept into smoother waters and found three other vessels from the eastern block countries at anchor and enjoying the quiet Spanish countryside. It was a big relief when our anchor was dropped and now the long awaited Christmas drink was at hand. A case of beer was passed down to the crew and I had my senior officers to my cabin for a good shot of Black Label whiskey. We had our Christmas Dinner on calmer waters the next day and sheltered for two more days before the weather improved to sail. My owners were informed and they never questioned my action. The cargo was checked and was well secured for the lashings were done by professionals and I wouldn’t have sailed without agreeing that it was done to my satisfaction.

My close encounter with a Hurricane as Master was in the early 1990’s in the mid Atlantic Ocean in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle on a trip from Central America to Antwerp Belgium on a fully laden bulk carrier of fourteen knots. It was not a pleasant experience even though I was over a hundred miles from the centre and feeling my way away from its intended track. It was in such uncomfortable conditions that the thought did enter my mind of what a way to make a living and wished I was on dry land doing something else. However it’s amazing how such thoughts were immediately forgotten once the weather had died down and life returned to normal as though nothing had happened.

The most common question now being asked by many since I retired, do I miss the life at sea? I will not be honest with myself in saying, yes or no. There were many attractions in my job even before reaching the pinnacle of my career that I do miss and on the other hand, there were certain areas that I will not miss especially within the last ten years when the industry started to be riddled with mountains of paper work. The areas I now miss are the practical ship handling aspects of the job and the comradeship I found in some of the various crew nationalities and shore officials. I still keep in touch with some past ship mates and friends made in some ports. An example of this was the carpenter and a stewardess on the Thorsisle who were onboard when I first went to sea in 1954.

These two people, a South African carpenter and an American stewardess fell in love and eventually tired the knot and settled at Redondo Beach California. We had kept in touch during all these years and I had seen some of their children grow up from babies to what they are today. The only son is now an executive with Lufthansa Airways in Los Angeles. Their home was my home in California and they had been my guests onboard my vessel whenever I was in port at Long Beach.

I went to sea at the right time for the Maritime industry wasn’t flooded with red tape of many new regulations created by shore bureaucrats that it is now a form filling industry with little time to do the practical side of ones duties.

The decline of the industry occurred in the 1990’s when some shipping companies were made to adopt a system known as the Quality Assurance or QA in short that at first myself and many other Officers and Masters in the company had difficulty to understand what it entailed. The company employed an expert in the QA System and was responsible in implementing the system on all company owned and managed vessels and also in the office. This gentleman was onboard for a week and shortly after he got back to the office I got a telex from the management on the report he made of the poor co-operation he received from me and especially the Chief Engineer. I was very surprised of this criticism for everyone did try to take in what rubbish this Pommy fellow was trying to put over but the Aussie Chief Engineer was adamant that no Pom would tell him in how to run his engine room. We onboard had no option but to comply for at the end of twelve months an auditor from one of the main Maritime Classification Societies, Lloyds of London, Norska Veritas or Germanisker Lloyd was planned to do an audit. I had a few of these audits and was no fun having a complete stranger for a full day checking to see if we were following the procedures written by shore bureaucrats who had never been to sea in how to run the ship. My ship was the first one in the company to be audited and it was made an example to other vessels for we came out with flying colours with only a handful of minor deficiencies and none affecting the safety of the vessel. It was done in Dublin, Ireland by a surveyor from Lloyds of London. I had never met anyone who had a good word about the QA System which was supposed to streamline the industry.

The sea life which I loved was no longer the same in latter years and glad the change happened when I was reaching retirement age for sitting behind a desk all day long watching a computer monitor and taking note of new standing orders and regulations on line was not my piece of cake. Also new in the industry was the introduction of the alcohol and drug tests. I had to undergo a drug and alcohol test without any prior warning from the company. The port was Dubai in the Emirates when suddenly two English nurses appeared onboard and informed me that they were to carry out this test on three officers and three crew members and my name and also the Chief Engineer were included in the list from the company. It was a good thing that they did not come right after lunch for in port the Chief and myself had the habit of having a few Beck’s beer before having a bite.

It was a tough and dangerous way to make a living but in spite of that I did enjoy the positive side and have many good memories.


Alofaaga Samoa.
 

Christians march in Samoa against Scientology
07 October 2007 - Source: Radio New Zealand International

Hundreds of Christian believers in Samoa from Pentecostal churches and ministries have marched in protest against the government’s support of the Scientology religion.

They marched to the front of the government building in Apia where Scientology tents have been put up as the main venue for its disaster training and seminars over the next two weeks.

The protesters have called on the government to reconsider its stance to allow the Scientology members into the country as they would try to persuade many Christian believers to join the Scientologists.

Early this week, the chairman of the main council of churches, the Reverend Oka Fau’olo, denied the council was supporting the goodwill visit by Scientology ministers.

The chairman has warned the country to be very cautious of the organisation’s teachings.
 

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