Samoan women from the village of Samatau, now living in New Zealand, are rallying to support the woman who ten days ago, gave birth to a baby girl, in the toilet of a Pacific Blue 747 aircraft. The woman abandoned the new born child, leaving it in a rubbish bin in the aircraft, underneath bloodied paper towels. Baby Grace is now in the care of Child Youth and Family in New Zealand, after being discovered by a Samoan cleaner, who happened to be a nurse.
It is thought the baby was conceived in an earlier working visit to New Zealand. The woman is in custody. The police are charging her with abandonment and assault. She is likely to face a prison sentence of seven years if found guilty.
Pa’u Fereti Puni, an orator ‘Matai’ and representative of the Samatau people in Auckland says: “It is human to feel ashamed, especially with some of the opinions in newspapers and views aired on the radios and television, yet the Samatau people remain compassionate for one their daughters.”
Samoa is a land where most girls have their first sexual encounter at a very young age. Many have had a child before the age of 20. It therefore seems unlikely that this was the woman’s first child. Many Samaon women have very low self-esteem and virtually no self-awareness, particularly those from the lower economical and rural areas. Pa’u Fereti Puni says “The event was regrettable but everyone needs to learn from it, for the sake of their children.”
However, questions still need to be asked, as to how the woman managed to be on the plane when she was 9 months pregnant, as a general practice airlines do not carry pregnant women after the 7th month time frame of their pregnancy.
For the woman to give birth, to stay in the toilet for ten minutes after the plane landed in Auckland and to be able to clean herself up enough to leave the plane without any of the airline staff asking questions, leaves many questions still to be answered. One has also needs to ask, who needs to learn from this unfortunate incident? The family of the woman, the airline staff, the ground staff, those on duty in the airport, the other passengers on the plane, or the wider community in general?
Click Here For The Latest News
Tags: baby born in a aircraft toilet, baby born onboard Pacific Blue airplane, Baby Grace, Sam, tropical island nation
2 Responses to “Samoan Women Rally Support”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Samoan Women Rally Support…
Samoan women living in New Zealand come to the aid of their fellow citizen….
April 1st, 2009 at 9:01 am
trend watch : Samoan Women Rally Support…
[...]It therefore seems unlikely that this was the woman’s first child. Many Samaon women have very low self-esteem and virtually no self-awareness, part[...]…