American Samoa Fa'afafine Rural Program

After months of preparation, our Program Manager was awarded the Intervention & Prevention Award for her poster titled “Developing a Toolkit to Address Violence against Fa’afafine in American Samoa”!

Congratulations, Ms. Jaiyah Saelua! 🩷

Our February submission to the Alliance monthly newsletter, by our Program Assistant, Zee Romero!

"Teen Dating Violence Awareness - Black History Month - Healthy Relationships" By Zee Romero February invites us to reflect on the resilience of our communities, the importance of healthy alofa, and the responsibility our people share in protecting our youth. As we recognize...

We are blessed to have the means to fund & support events that celebrate & empower our fa’afafine community!

Faafetai, Faafetai, Faafetai Tele Lava Amerika Samoa for supporting our 2026 Fa’afafine Festival!

📸: Ammon Fepuleai

Our December submission to the Alliance monthly newsletter — a piece dedicated to recognizing & reflecting on our successes in 2025!

A Year of Growth, Impact and Community--Reflecting on 2025 Written by Jaiyah Saelua, Rural Manager As we close out 2025, the Fa’afafine Rural Program proudly dedicates its December newsletter to reflecting on a year defined by historic accomplishments,...

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year, from The Alliance’s Fa’afafine Rural Program!

The Rural offices will be closed from December 25 - January 4!

The Resource Center will remain available to our community upon formal request. Send your request to [email protected]!

The latest addition to our small Pacific & SOGIESC Library!

Thank you, Doris Tulifau, for your donation to our humble collection, and congratulations on the official launch of your book "Brown Girls Don't Cry"!

Join us for the DOH World AIDS Day Community Awareness Wave! ❤️

Happy Transgender Awareness Week! 🏳️‍⚧️

Pleased to offer safe, communal & organizational spaces for our fa’afafine groups here in American Samoa! Thank you for booking with Rural, Teine O Le SEI! 💚

Thank you to everyone who made it to our November meeting!

Thank you also to the Faafafine Rural Program for hosting us in their office.

To end , let's reflect on the statistics.

These high numbers reflect reported cases. Imagine the statistics if all cases were included!

Remember - Gender-based violence includes violence against LGBTQIA+ & SOGIESC people!

According to the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 69.3% of bisexual women, 56.3% of le***an women, 46.1% of bisexual men, and 47.7% of gay men have reported experiencing contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.

While domestic violence can happen to anyone, many abusers choose to use these and other marginalized survivors' identities and experiences against them in order to shame, hurt, and control them. These survivors often face additional barriers to seeking help, and programs and shelters meant to help them may not have the funding or resources they need to fully support every survivor reaching out.

This is unacceptable. All survivors, including these survivors, deserve help and support. 💜

[Image description: A drawing of two people holding hands. The person on the left wears a light-colored shirt, belted jeans, and a bracelet with a rainbow charm and is facing toward the camera. The person on the right wears a dark-colored shirt and jeans and is facing away from the camera. At the bottom is the NNEDV logo, and gray, purple, and white text reads: “Every1KnowsSome1 Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”]