Samoan man tells of his horrific Covid experience and warns Pacific people to keep their aiga safe
More than a year on from his horrific Covid experience, Geoff Muliaga has this heartfelt message for our Pasifika people
"Talofa lava, Last year changed my perspective on this COVID-19, so be responsible don't ignore the signs. Get vaccinated, build a wall so you are able to fight this virus and it's capability. Protect yourself, well being, on-going health and aiga. Soifua Manuia"
“I’ve never prayed so hard in my life, I felt like I was going to die and it was like an aitu passed into me”…Geoff Muliaga Brown Covid19 positive case from the Marist cluster – the biggest cluster in NZ at the time with 84 cases last year in April 2020
“Pacific people have to listen to the ones who have had this – if you value your family and the people you love you will take all the safety advice extremely seriously! Don’t go near anyone but the people in your bubble, don’t visit your other aiga, don’t go to any church prayers no matter how small, if you love your family you do not want them to get this! “ is his heartfelt plea to the Pacific community.
Geoff got hit hard with Corona virus 3 days after MCing the fated Marist College fiafia night with fellow MC Sela Alo who is also recovering from being infected with Covid 19 from the function held the week before NZ’s official lockdown.
“You cannot believe how bad this virus is, its worse then anything I have experienced in my life and I’m a healthy Samoan guy who never goes down with anything”
There is an increasing concern from Pacific health professionals that our communities are putting themselves at risk by not obeying the stay home and social distancing rules, that they may not be getting tested as much as pakeha if feeling the symptoms, and aren’t taking the potential impact of the virus seriously enough.
Jenny Salesa Associate Minister of Health says Pacific communities are facing greater risk of exposure to Covid-19 as our aigas live in urban areas with larger households, which puts Pacific families at risk of rapid coronavirus spread if preventive measures were not observed.
Pacific people are especially vulnerable to Covid 19 living in big multi generation households, having underlying health conditions and not having the room to self isolate at home.
Social media misinformation about Covid-19 is putting Pacific communities in New Zealand at particular risk, government advisors say.
Dr Colin Tukuitonga, who leads a government Pacific health advisory group for the Covid-19 response says "There's too much misinformation and not enough of the credible, reliable information for people and this is a particular issue for the Pacific communities."
Dr Tukuitonga said Pacific communities have been targeted by people peddling fraudulent cures for Covid-19 and warns to only listen to credible information from the health authorities. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also shut down social media claims that there is a link between 5G mobile phone technology and the Covid-19 response "That is not true," she said. "I can’t state it clearly enough. I almost hesitate to speak to it on this platform - it is just not true.
The government is now throwing 17Million at Pacific health sector capacity and messaging for our communities in different languages in an attempt to target information to this vulnerable group.
Dr Tukuitonga said they were now working on bringing in more Pacific health workers to address a shortfall. The challenges for the Pacific health providers have been to move consultations online and the lack of staff to make individual visits to elderly and at-risk patients.
The solutions from our communities are that all our traditional gatherings need to be done online for everything from faikava to church sermons.
Tongan scholar Manase Lua has been outraged and frustrated at the number of Tongans still congregating to drink kava over the weekend urging them to stop and save lives.
To my fellow kava drinkers and regular kava club goers, please listen to the authorities. The more of you breaking the rules and meeting secretly to have kava together, the higher the risk of transmission of the Coronavirus into our communities. These are your parents, sister, aunts, grandparents and kid’s lives you are playing with. Your selfish actions could actually kill people, your people, your own family members. That’s how serious this thing is. Save lives. Stay home. Drink kava online with friends. The faster we beat this virus, the fast we can return to our normal tradition of drinking together.
“Ki’i pinepine pe ‘i ‘api fanga tokoua, kae ‘oleva kuo mate e Kolonavailasi ka tau toki foki ki Fale Kalapu!”
(translation – just hang in there at home my brother until we beat this virus and then we can return to our beloved kava clubs.)
Tokelauan Reverend Tui Sopoaga has moved his Porirua-based sermons online during lockdown with livestream services in Tokelauan and English, sometimes using the platform to share official government advice.
For Geoff Muliaga Brown who was in hospital for five days, he can’t stress how bad Covid19 can be strongly enough - ‘I was begging God for my life, there is nothing worse then when it is agonizingly painful to try and gasp for breath”
Geoff urgently encourages Pacific people who attended the Marist fiafia night and are feeling sick to get themselves swabbed at one of the many testing stations if they haven’t already.
Marist College has told parents every student was being treated as a close contact and to stay in isolation – and Geoff worries about the many contacts that Pacific people would’ve had before that period.
“My son was really sick after the fiafia night, the week before the official Weds 25th lockdown, and so were lots of his mates. He works at a sports store in South Auckland where another senior student at Marist college who tested positive for Covid19 had been working, so you can imagine how the community spread is happening”
“I’ve been chronically sick for at least two weeks – coughing up blood, diarrhoea, aching body, extremely painful even trying to breathe and just exhausted – I couldn’t walk at one point. Imagine this for our older people?”
Geoff says that he was lucky he managed to get to a hospital where he was treated with a respiratory machine, hydration and drugs – "the nurses and care was absolutely exceptional”
“In terms of what you need to do at home - I’ve been isolated in my room and won’t let my family any where near me except to drop off food outside the door. I’ve been in here over a week since coming out of hospital and I’m not leaving until I can get confirmation I’m no longer contagious”
Our families should be the most important thing on our minds right now – this thing spreads like wildfire and you don’t want it to come to your aiga’s doorstep!”
If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP - don't show up at a medical centre
· Covid-19 symptoms: What they are and how they make you feel
· Touching your Face: Why do we do it and how to stop
· Scientific hand-washing advice to avoid infection
Source: Source RNZ, Geoff Muliaga Brown and Manase Lua.