Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says he has spoken to leaders of the Assembly of God (AOG) Church of Samoa in Māngere, assuring the church cluster is receiving ongoing support.
Speaking with Marama T-Pole, he acknowledged the importance of Pacific health providers working together with health officials to provide wrap-around support and safety to the community.
“The language skills and the cultural intelligence has been significantly one of the key things that are driving safety messages here,” says Sio.
“With the involvement of The Cause Collective and South Seas, the church is getting that language support, is getting that cultural support and pastoral care.”
Sio says AOG leaders are meeting daily with the Pacific providers and health officials.
With the public spotlight on the AOG cluster and once again, the Pacific community, Sio has a message for people who are blaming Pasifika for the spread of Covid-19.
“Pull your heads in,” he says.
“I suspect it has to do with ignorance and fear, and we just need to be mindful that our common enemy is the virus and we’ve all got to play our part.
“I am particularly grateful for the church, because their response when this occurred was to say we forgive them, and then they continued to focus on getting their congregations tested and making sure that the others have opportunities to get vaccinated.”
As of 2 September, there were 332 people linked to the church who have tested positive for the Delta strain.
This week the Government announced a $26 million boost to support Pacific communities during the current outbreak of Covid-19.
