[Read] Hot Desk Extract: Delsa Tuitea - Ordained

Ordained (working title) is based on the first woman Vaiea, ordained as a Samoan minister as part of her missionary work in Papua New Guinea. She was ordained under the Ekalesia Faapotopotoga Kerisiano i Samoa – Congregational Christian Church of Samoa in 1912 under the title Faifeau Tamaita’i mo Niu Kini – Female Pastor for New Guinea. Fast forward to 2025, there has not been another female ordained as a minister under this congregation. There are many variables and nuances which I’m sure we can all get into a lovely discussion and debate about but for the sake of this excerpt, we are going to hear Vaiea’s reflections in the vestry of a church, awaiting her meeting with the board of Elder Ministers.

She is not a footnote and wherever this piece develops and travels to, I hope the precedent ancestors and the forefathers of the church comes to light.

Note: Some of the contents in this excerpt have been fictionalised.

 

^{Photo by Asso Myron}

Vestry. Vaiea is in white. She sits in silence.

Vaiea: (sighs) I wonder if heaven is this…silent.

And white? The colour of purity. As per the white people who decided we’d look less savage if we were covered.

What was is that Mrs Mills said “you savage women! In a lamentable condition.”  Aahhh Lilas Mills the beacon of hope we Samoan women needed. I met her when I was a student in Papauta. Vaiea what use are your sausage fingers if you can’t stitch a cross. She was lucky I couldn’t show her what my hands could do.

Mrs Mills had a big nose and it was high up in the air I’ll tell you. My dears, you are not slaves. You have been hand chosen by God to be of service alongside his ordained servants. We were 15 at the time. It wasn’t lost on us, we knew why we were there. To be taught how to be ladies. To become the ultimate prize for the a’oa’os – lay preachers – to wed us. To be the prim and proper First Ladies to spread the Gospel.

Yet Papauta was not just a school for us savage girls to be conditioned. It was a sisterhood. A sanctuary and honestly without them white people knowing, our own form of rebellion.

Teine o le Papa se’i gasolo mai,

Sili lou sei fai lau ula,

Sulu lou titi fai lou pale pua

Tausi pea teu fa’asamoa

Aua ne’i e  faagaloina

Ne’i malo mai tu Fa’a-Europa

Ne’i malo mai tu Fa’a-Europa – May the influence of these European and English visitors not triumph.

The Divine Intervention of John Williams introducing the Gospel is noteworthy.

After all it was prophesised by our very own Warrior Goddess Nafanua.

But God is amazing. How can I not deny that?

He has blessed me with a life of service and love. Love for my Maene….who rests eternally in the depth of the seas that I travel on to continue our mission.

You’re more than just a woman. Maene would reassure me.  I used to watch you growl the girls at Papauta and I thought ‘My what I would do to have her growl me off.’ He wasn’t charming like the other a’oa’os. And when I say charming I mean....overly confident and a bit too sure of themselves.

Our first call to mission was in Ahioma in the East Bay of Papua New Guinea. The Papuans were confused upon our arrival. Probably wondering, why do their brown skins match ours, but their clothes match the bushy moustached white fellow? The children loved singing and playing games. I taught them lape, and before we knew it, our small congregation grew. Not just because of the Word of God, but because of fellowship and seeing people for who they were. Accepting that God made us in His image and we would honour what God has blessed in Papua.

A year into our mission there was a malaria outbreak. Thanks to Papauta I was quite the nurse. I guess my hands were of use after all Mrs Mills. We were stationed close to the shore but the herbal remedies were found in land. Maene had written to our mission brothers and sisters, Moe & Mere as well as Mika & Alofa who were facing the same issue. Alofa and Mere were my Papauta sisters, we all somehow got married in the same year and posted in the same region for our missions.

Tou te tautino e faia galuega alofa mo tagata ma ta’ita’iina i ala o le Tusi Paia.

Do you declare to carry out acts of kindness and love in service to God and teach the people the ways of the Gospel?

This is our declaration before we leave for mission.

Maene, Moe and Mika our clever husbands organised for the village men in our regions to set up a camp where Mere, Alofa and myself would care for those unwell. There were only 3 of us so we trained local women, Tasina was our apprentice. Eager and quick on her feet. Learned to mix the concoctions Mere was so adamant only she could make. Tasina ‘AUA e ke le iloa sae’u.

In the humidity of Ahioma the outbreak worsened. It was 3 months of aiding and caring. Mostly babies and children….who did not survie.

Galuega alofa mo tagata – Acts of kindness and love.

Or so we thought. Maene was suspended and stood down. With silent rage we were sent back here to Samoa.

What use is it being sent to help if you can’t help people the way they need us to? Maene made the mistake of sharing this sentiment. And so we were imprisoned. Our crime: Committing an act of love to save the people of Ahioma.

That was not your mission and you’re not using resources accordingly. Where is your faith?! God is the Healer of all Healers.

Ahhhh there it was. We pray and recite Scripture. Never mind the nursing skills God blessed us Papauta girls with.

After 8 long years our penance had been served. God had forgiven us. The Elders were no longer angry. And we learned our lesson: Our mission is to save people in the name of the Gospel, not save their lives from disease.

Maene was sent to Kiribati a year after we were pardoned. I’d like my wife and children to accompany me. We have not been separated and they are part of my calling to the Lord.

I met Maene when I was teaching in Papauta. Vaiea, you would make a better faifeau – minister – than I. Like I said he was charming and saw me. Maene the genitals God blessed me with disallow me to be a faifeau. He laughed, that infectious laugh that honestly brought my guard down every time. Who knows what God’s plans are Vaiea? But I do pray that whatever they are, that you are factored into mine.

He and the other mission brothers were on the island of Beru in Kiribati.

Maene died on the ship.

Our missionary supervisor Charles Abel wrote to Malua to request that I be ordained as a minister as the villagers of Ahioma have cried to bring me home. They grieve Maene and the void of our absence.

So here I wait. In the silence.

Be still and know God.

I don’t like silence. She’s calm at first. Inviting you to meditate. To exhale the worries of your mind. And release the tension in your soul.

Silence is a devil in disguise. She is clothed in serenity but unleashes fear. She untangles your deepest and darkest thoughts. And contains a hallowed ground for her to worship your insecurities. She dances in the rain of your tears and harmonises the frustrated screams of your mind.

Be still and know God.

I’m tired of being still. Waiting. And yet I am now at the mercy of the men who decide a fate that shouldn’t be given to me just because…..I’m a woman.

Be still and know God.

If I was called by God to serve, have I not earned it in spite of my gender? If the people of Ahioma have pleaded to have me lead their church, is that not a testament I am doing God’s work? Why must I beg?

Be still and know God.

Who is God if we are still subjected to the laws of men? Was my husband’s death in vain or in his service to Christ?

Be still and know God.

The absence of Maene’s affection and belief in who I can be is the hope I cling onto. I shall face these men with God by my side and Maene in my heart.

Be still and know God.

Le Ali’i e ia malulu mai,

O matou loto fatu nei,

Foa’i mai ia le loto fou,

Le loto lava e lelei

Foa’i mai ia le loto fou,

Le loto lava e lelei,

Foa’i mai ia le loto fou,

Le loto lava e lelei,

Knock on the door.

(sighs) May it be Your will Lord. Use me in service to glorify you. And not in those who decide my fate when you are the Almighty God.