The lack of funding to sustain a non-profitable organisation that offered 24-hours mental health support service for people with suicidal tendencies led to the folding of the two-decade-old group. 

Fa’ataua Le Ola (FLO) which means 'value life' was officially dissolved by the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Labour in (M.C.I.L.) in February and is no longer in operation and with that, the suicide prevention line is no longer available to people of Samoa.

The lifeline of the now defunct FLO is rather a “sad story” said its former Chairman, Tuatagaloa Joe Annandale as he recalled the beginning of the organisation that started with good intent. 

FLO has saved hundreds of lives in the last 20 years it was in operation and Tuatagaloa is hopeful that a new group will come through and take through the challenge to revive it. 

“It would have [closed] happened a few years back if it wasn’t for the injection of a substantial amount of money from Joe Keil, his generosity that allowed FLO to continue for these years,” he said. 

“We invested that money in UTOS and got good returns but it was just not enough and we slowly had to rely on an investment…we ended up reaching into the investment itself and got to the point we couldn’t continue.”

FLO has tried to find other avenues to get funding to sustain its operation like fundraising but the figures didn’t add up. 

Tuatagaloa said even after raising money through Walk of Life they found after several attempts that there was more expenditure on organising the events than the funds they raised. 

“It was hardly worth it,” he added. 

“It is not everybody’s cup of tea to be involved with FLO. It was hard for us to get members and I admired the staff, and board members who gave their time and effort to keep things going. 

“The succession plan was to find people to come on board and pass it on to them and we were worried that things were going to dry up and we had to do it the proper way and let people know about it.” 

Leading up to its dissolution, FLO had to sell some of its assets and close down its helpline and people went their ways. 

The proceeds from that and leftover funding remain in a bank account. 

Tuatagaloa said the money left in the account can be used as a seed for the new group to come through and take on the challenge and he and others are happy to guide them through. 

The chairman pointed out that suicide is a terrible thing and a lot of people don’t like to talk about it or be associated with it. 

He said FLO had big sponsors that pulled out and weren’t specific about their reasons but it was the sad reality that people don’t want to be associated with suicide.  

“I feel bad it was during my watch that we came to this with the likes of Joe Keil who gave so much of his time and contribution to keep it going and then we had to do this,” said Tuatagaloa. 

“But if anything is heartening for me is the fact that we saved a lot of lives through time. Sure we’ve gone but we can hold our heads high knowing we saved hundreds of lives and it's humbling and should not be ignored.” 

Asked if he thinks that the Government could have given a bit more financial support to keep FLO in operation, he said the Government has a responsibility to monitor these things and identify where they can help. 

He acknowledged the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS) who did give concessional rates when they were renting in the John William building and that was part of their contribution to FLO’s work.  

However, Tuatagaloa feels that it also comes down to communities that include churches and families noting there is a whole economic situation that is causing stresses in families. 

“You can’t ignore the reality and the impact of telephone and social media is having on people, particularly young folks,” he said. 

“Suicide has been around for a long time and FLO started 20 years ago when it was really bad then and there is a big improvement. 

“We played a big part in saving lives and it has improved for now but without an awareness programme the effect and impact of social media and what that is having on people is scary.” 

Tuatagaloa also spoke about how difficult it was for FLO to access official information from the hospital and police related to suicide to carry out their post-intervention programmes with families of suicide victims. 

He noted the whole idea of the programme was to sit down with family members, and gather valuable information and dig deep into the core of the problem. 

Unfortunately, he said, when the authority withholds such crucial information and “if we as a society don’t recognise those signs then I’m afraid we will continue to lose people through suicide”.