The start of National Domestic Violence Awareness month has been marked in American Samoa by an address by the Vice President of Mapusaga o Aiga of Samoa - the Safe Haven Family Programme - Maiava Visekota Peteru
Maiava explained the histoy of Mapusaga o Aiga and its efforts to focus attention on domestic violence in Samoa.
She said American Samoa was better off than Samoa in that it had domestic violence violence legislation.
Later, Maiava spoke about the need for organizations in both Samoas to work together to combat domestic violence
"It's our belief that the coalition of American Samoa and Mapusaga o Aiga has more similarities than differences, and that through those commonalities we believe we can assist each other in our common goal of working towards the elimination of domestic violence and sexual abuse within the commuinity."
