Le Faamaitele:

Western Samoas Deadly Encounter with and

Exchange of the Spanish Flu

Ninna Balauro,
Cassie Mahuka &
Epifania Petelo
Senior Division
Group Website
Process Paper Word Count: 489

How we chose our Topic

As we searched for an NHD topic, we wanted to choose a local topic and a story that
might be personal to one of us. We also wanted to do a topic that is out of the norm. Most topics
are about the positive impacts of historical events, and rarely about the significant catastrophes
that occurred in our history. As we spoke to our family members and teachers, one topic stood
out the story of how 20% of Western Samoas population died in a matter of a few weeks due
their encounter with and exchange of the deadly Spanish influenza virus. This epidemic came to
be known in Samoa as the Faamaitele or great sickness. In fact, we discovered that two of our
group members have family ties in Western Samoa and at least one of our members has a great
great grandfather, who had been a promising young student pastor or aoao when he passed
away tragically from the Faamaitele in 1918. The Faamaitele is both a personal and interesting
topic that we as a team wanted to explore and create a website for.
How I Conducted my Research
Since we chose a local topic, we began to do our research at the Feleti Barstow Public
Library and collected as much information as possible from the Pacific Collection. We also
received a lot of primary sources on the New Zealand Archives online website. Likewise, we
visited the Samoan Culture Center at ASCC and spoke with Mrs. Okenaisa about the
Faamaitele. Finally, we interviewed a nursing faculty from ASCC, Mrs. Sylvia Tauiliili, about
the pandemic.
How I Selected my Category and Created my Project
We selected the group website category because we wanted to work in a category that
draws on the technical skills in html coding and website design of each of our group members.

Using nhd.weebly, we developed the website with the weebly elements, like text and titles, and added
buttons for easier access. Pictures, quotes and other files were added using the weebly slideshow as well
as custom designed elements.

How my Topic Relates to this Years NHD Theme

The Spanish Influenza was the deadliest epidemic in modern history, infecting
approximately 500 million people worldwide. It happened during WWI, when world powers
were trying to expand their control all over the world. When it reached Spain, it spread
throughout Europe, the U.S., into Asia, then it eventually spread to all four corners of the earth,
transmitted mostly by military personnel. In late 1918, the Spanish Influenza traveled to Western
Samoa, carried there by sick passengers onboard New Zealands Talune ship. There the virus
encountered ill-equipped and non-immune local islanders who exchanged the virus at a terrifying
speed. The Faamaitele ranked as one of the most disastrous epidemics recorded anywhere in the
world during the last century, so far as the proportion of deaths to the population is concerned.