Several participants suggested that part of the changes to Samoa today involves the conceptualisation of the rights of an individual. This finding is valuable to this study as it signals a rise in individualism for Samoans. Understanding pastoral counselling for Samoans must therefore include allowance for individual ideals, and practices of pastoral counselling need to cater for the increasingly individualised Samoan self. Reverend Lameko shared that the changing emphasis to the rights of an individual rather than any rights that the individual self may occupy in the family and collective community, is partly behind some of the changes that are taking place in Samoa:
[Orig.] Pei o le mea lena ua sese ai mea i nei aso. O le lē iloa e le tagata ona faamatala le upu o le aiā tatau. Ua soona fai, ua abuse. A la ua iloa lelei a. A tatou iloa lelei a le aiā tatau faa-Kerisiano, le aiā tatau faa-le Atua, a, o le aiā tatau faa-le Atua o le condemn yourself. ‘Aua e te manatu ia oe ae manatu i leisi tagata. Tusa o le uiga lena o le mea. Lata fight a mo taita, i lota ita lelei, ae la taotaomia ai leisi tagata. [...] Ae pei o le mea lena ua faafaigata ai mea i nei aso, o le faaaoga o le right, pe ua e selfish. Pei ua e greedy ai, pei ua e manatu faapito ai.
143 [Trans.] That is what is wrong with these days, people don’t know how to explain human rights for the individual. It is abused. If we understand the human right as a Christian, the human right that is God-like, is that you condemn yourself. Don’t think about yourself, but think about others. That’s what I mean; you are fending for yourself now, things that will benefit you and only you, at the expense of others. [...] But what seems to be happening that makes things difficult these days is that people use the right, as if it makes you selfish. Like you are greedy, and think of yourself only. (Reverend Lameko, mature parish minister)
Furthermore, Reverend Lameko suggested that the interpretation of the rights of an individual should be based on God’s creation of humankind. Biblical literalism continues to shape some people’s assumptions about the rights of women compared to the rights of men as noted by this minister:
[Orig.] Ioe, e o’o foi la i le aiā tatau lea e tau aumai i le aiā tatau lea a Tamā ma Tinā, faalēfiafia a’u ia i ai. A iloa e le Tinā lona faasinomaga lona amataga, iloa e le Tamā lona amataga, leai se pisa. Leai a se faapea, ‘Tutusa maua.’ O lena e te silafia, lea fai mai le Tusi Paia, na faia e le Atua Atamu. Ona faia laia lea o le fafine mai le ivi asoaso a Atamu. I lo’u a faamatalaina i lo’u a’u a faifeau, ou te lē iloa i lau susuga, o le faiaoga, tusa o le fafine na fai i foliga o Atamu e le’i faia i foliga o le Atua. Le mea lea tau sau nei faapea e tutusa Tinā ma tamaitai ma Tamā. No. O le mea lena o le a sopo ai le [va], pei o le a lē ava ai. A e iloa lelei a e Tinā, o ia e i lalo o le protection a le Tamā, ona na iloa ai lea o lana role e play. Ia malamalama lelei a. A o le faalavelave pei o le mea lele o le Victim support [SVSG], lea sau nei a, pei o leisi vaega lena ua push ia le mea lea.
[Trans.] Yes, the same goes for the human right of the individual, say for the father or for the mother, I am not quite happy about this. If the mother understands her heritage, her beginning, the father understands his, then there should be no conflict. No thoughts like, ‘We are the same.’ You understand this, it says from the Bible that God created Adam. He then created the woman from
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a rib taken from Adam. My interpretation of this as a minister, I don’t know about you a teacher, is that the woman was created in the image of Adam, not created in the image of God. The thinking nowadays that women are equal to men, no. That is the reason this [space] has been breached, as if there is no more respect. If the mother understands that she is under the protection of the father, then she will know her role to play. This needs to be understood well. The problem now though is that this group, Victim Support [SVSG], they are the ones who are pushing the rights of the individual. (Reverend Lameko, mature parish minister)
It appears that to Rev Lameko, the rights of an individual have actually become a question about whether women have the same rights as men in Samoa. His interpretation of Biblical text is controversial and problematic in a changing Samoa. Reverend Lameko views the work of SVSG as problematic in the Samoan context, as this organisation advocates and promotes the rights of people as individuals. For Reverend Tino however, the issue concerning the rights of an individual lies in its interpretation from a Samoan perspective:
[Orig.] O a’u ia e o’o mai i le aso nei, ou te lē talia lea mea o rights o tamaiti. O la e faamatala mai a i le faaperetania, o le leaga o le faamatala i i [i le faaSamoa]. O le right la e fai mai ai, e lē iloa e se Samoa se right o se [tamaititi] o le right agai le education. Must be educated, must eat food ma alu i le aoga. Must wear good clothes, that the right. Ae lē faapea o ni rights [a tamaiti e tete’e i o latou mātua]; na ona ta’u, a o le mea e fai e mātua.
[Trans.] For me up until now, I do not accept what some call the right of the child. It is explained in the English, it’s just a bad interpretation [in Samoan]. The right that it talks about, a Samoan person does not observe the right [of a child], it’s a right geared towards education. Must be educated, must eat food and go to school. Must wear good clothes; that’s the right. But it’s not a right [for the child to go against their parents]; it is only called the right of the child,
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but it is something that is done by the parents. (Reverend Tino, long-serving parish minister)
The concept of individual rights is at odds with traditional structures of power and authority. The rights of the young Samoan person today to dress or behave how he or she wishes are expressed as part of the many changes observed by Palemia. A parishioner at his church and lecturer at one of the higher learning institutions in Samoa, when asked about any changes he has observed in his students, Palemia stated:
[Orig.] Telē suiga. Telē suiga mai la aso taimi foi o ta aoga taita ia. Aemaise a faavasegaina, o faiga o lavalava. Ia, manatua aso ia, e vaai lelei a le matua i lana fanau, ia dress up lelei. O le taimi lenei ia, tailo poo toe, o isi tamaiti foi ua, pei o, o le ala ifo a i le taeao, ia sulu mai le ie, fai le ofu, ia sau i le aoga. O isi foi tamaiti, e fai ofu foi ia, matuā, pei o la e ō e sisiva, pei la e ō i outing. Ia o leisi tulaga, pei o aso la, pei e matamuli le tama ma le teine foi lele e feofeoai as a, tali pei o se ulugalii, pei se couple. A o le mea lea ua i ai, ua pei o laua ni ulugalii, isi tamaiti foi ia.
[Trans.] Many changes. There are many changes from back then when I too was at school. Especially if I was to categorise these changes, it would be the clothes. Remember in those days parents looked out for their children, so that they dress up well. Nowadays, I don’t think that still happens. Some youth just get up in the morning, put on a lavalava, put on a shirt, and then come to school. Others wear clothes that are inappropriate for school, as if they are going out clubbing. The other situation not like those days, young people were sort of like shy to roam around with their boyfriend or girlfriend behaving like a couple. But these days, it’s as if they are already married couples for some of these youth. (Palemia, young adult man, parishioner)
146 The issue of rights for individuals in the Samoan context is fundamental to the challenge of a flexible and dynamic pastoral counselling response. If people do not have rights, as some participants have suggested, then people do not participate as equals in a dialogical approach that may be proposed from this project. It is therefore vital for pastoral counselling in the context of Samoans, to allow for a changing Samoan self inclusive of a provision for the rights of an individual, within its practices.