Support
Vai has been with Avivo now for almost a year. And given that Vai knows everyone in Wundowie, of course she’s known her Support Worker Karlee since Karlee was a baby.
“When we were paired up, I couldn’t believe it,” laughed Vai. “I’ve known Karlee’s family for years. She’s a beautiful girl – such a good heart.
“It’s the same with all Avivo staff. I don’t know where you get them from, but everyone has been just wonderful. I can’t imagine having anyone else to support me.”
Early years
Growing up in Samoa, Vai had a turbulent childhood. She lived mostly with her grandparents who raised her. Her grandfather was the town witchdoctor and people would come to him will all kinds of ailments to be treated. He was a very powerful man, but was a gentle giant and father figure for Vai. When he passed away when Vai was 13 years old, she went back to live with her parents. Her mother was very caring and would take in anyone who needed help. Vai’s empathy for others seems to stem from witnessing her mother’s selfless nature.
When she was just 15 years old, Vai decided it was time to expand her horizons and flew to New Zealand with her brother to live with their uncle. Her sister was also living in New Zealand at the time.
Vai wasn’t too fond of living with her uncle, and being too young to get work, she decided to use her sister’s ID to get a job and moved to Wellington, extending her visa for 18 months. Fiercely independent, she found her feet in New Zealand, but when her visa was up, it was time to go back to Samoa.
Her travel bug wasn’t appeased though and at 19 years old, Vai moved to Sydney before settling in Perth. This is where she met and fell in love with her first husband.
She worked a couple of challenging jobs before falling pregnant. She went onto have two children with her husband, but not long after the birth of their second child, Vai’s husband fell sick and passed away.
Vai became a widow with a five-year-old son and two-month-old baby daughter. It was an incredibly difficult time – mourning the loss of her husband while single-handedly taking care of two small children.
The next chapter
Living as a single parent in Perth’s southern suburbs, Vai met her second husband Dennis – although it took Vai a while to warm to him. Dennis had to work hard to win Vai’s affection, but eventually she gave him a chance and they became husband and wife and had a son of their own.
Dennis was upfront about his issues with alcohol and mental health, but Vai stood by him. Her big heart and empathetic nature were the saviours of their relationship. Her attitude of just ‘getting on with things’ meant that she stepped into the nurturing role in their marriage and made sure their family was always cared for.
When they moved to Wundowie, Vai took a job in the local IGA and became very well-known in the area. She became the ‘go-to’ person if anyone had trouble or needed a hand.
By this point, Vai and her kids had also become involved in the local sporting clubs, including the tennis club, where she became President, plus the softball, hockey and badminton clubs. Vai won awards for her sporting endeavours and her kids became record holders for swimming. Her daughter was the first female to earn a karate black belt in Wundowie.
Vai and her kids’ names were regularly in the local newspaper for their sporting achievements.
Vai was soon on just about every committee in the area, including the sporting and school committees. All her spare time was taken up volunteering. To this day, Vai still volunteers in the local community hall, making and serving lunches to locals on a weekend.
No Name Gang
One of Vai’s greatest achievements in Wundowie was ‘The No Name Gang’. Vai gathered local youth who were getting into trouble and instead helped them channel their time and energy into doing something positive for the community. It started when Vai got a tip-off about some local boys who had been vandalising various businesses. She used her powers of persuasion to get the boys together, took them to apologise to the business owners and had them work to make amends for their wrongdoings.
While this initially didn’t make Vai very popular with the group of teens (and some of their parents!), it worked, and eventually earned her the respect of the parents and the boys for helping them onto a better path in life.
The group gained traction and soon there were regular meetups to help beautify the local community.
Vai’s work led to her winning a Youth Care Award, although this was never her intention. She truly believed that people should make right what they had wronged, and she just happened to be the person who they (eventually) listened to.
She wouldn’t let others get away with teasing the group either.
“Once, we had all the chairs pulled out of the community centre and were washing them all down when another group of youngsters came by and started heckling,” said Vai.
“So, I told them to roll up their sleeves and get to work! I wasn’t going to let them get away with having a go at these kids who were doing a good job. If they thought it was funny, I’d find work for them too.”
Vai even got involved when some local teens were found on the wrong side of the law. The Police were going to take them out of town for their community service hours due to having no local supervisor.
“I said that wasn’t good enough,” Vai said passionately. “They created the problems here, they should clean up here, so I became the supervisor as the kids carried out their community service here in Wundowie.”
Heartbreak
Meanwhile, Vai’s children were all growing up and Dennis had become increasingly sick. Vai took on the role of carer for him before he eventually passed away after 32 years of marriage.
Her heartbreak compounded when her youngest son was killed in a car accident not long after his father’s passing. He left behind three children of his own – grandkids that Vai adores.
“I’ve made peace with my son dying,” confided Vai. “I’m grateful for the time we had together.”
Vai has endured enough tragedy in one life to last 10 lifetimes. She admits it is hard sometimes, but remains positive despite the heartache.
Everyone’s welcome
Vai’s latest endeavour is to bring people together for a weekly art and craft meet-up in the local library. It started off with just a few people, but as word-of-mouth got around, it’s grown to almost 20 people some weeks. Vai even secured an Avivo Small Sparks Grant to help support the group.
“It’s a friendly place for people to come together,” smiled Vai. “Some people don’t have anyone in their lives, so we become their family. It gets people out. They can bring some craft to work on or just come for a chat. Everyone’s welcome.”
And as expected, Vai is the welcoming committee for everyone who joins!
