September
2, 2008
SAINEHA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
From the Office of the President
An Open Letter to All Alumni of Saineha High School,
As Presidency of the Saineha Alumni
Association, we would like to give gratitude and thanks to all alumni, all supporters
from “Lolo‘a Halaevalu”; also to those who have become adopted into
the beautiful island paradise of Vava’u.
We also would like to thank you for the love and support you have given
us while we have served in this assignment as Presidency of the Saineha Alumni
Association. It has been two years and
we look forward to going back to Vava’u for the third year celebration and the
resulting change of the Worldwide – Alumni Presidency.
We want to thank those in Hawaii; chapter
presidents and their committees for the fantastic alumni celebration and
reunion. We want to thank all the
chapters that traveled to Hawaii,
and express how much we missed those who were not able to be there. With the downturn of the economy and other
events, it is difficult today for any organization that relies upon
contributions and we would like to sincerely thank everyone for the sacrifices
they have made in behalf of the children of Vavau.
We want to recognize and thank Losaline Tupou for her
contributions as 1st Assistant to the
presidency and formally announce that she has resigned from her position as 1st
Assistant effective July 13, 2008. We
thank her for her efforts made while in office.
We would like to announce that Atimoa Tuiaki of the Kailua Chapter in Hawaii has accepted the
appointment to be 1st Assistant to the President. Ofa Tonga
will continue as 2nd Assistant to the President. We are very happy with this new association,
and we realize that we have much yet to do before the next reunion.
We have participated in several
meetings with the Liahona-Saineha Alumni Committee Sione Loseli;
Viliami Sika; Elder Pita Hopoate;
CES Administrator Inoke Kupu
and Area Authority Seventy, Elder Sione Fineanganofo. We also are glad to have
the assistance of Pataloni Samisoni
Uasila’a and we appreciate his mentoring efforts. It
is important to work together and build good communication between the two
organizations and the current student body, faculty and staff. It is also important to listen to the counsel
of our church leaders and be aware that we cannot change Church policies for
schools that are already in place.
Finally, I would like to set the
record straight of an event that has caused much misunderstanding among the
alumni. This is concerning an unofficial
meeting held in Honolulu,
July 12, 2008 and regarding the attempted changing of the Saineha Alumni
Presidency. As previously agreed to, no
electoral changes to the Presidency of Saineha Alumni will be done until we
return to Vava’u. The next scheduled change
in leadership will take place in July 2009 at Saineha High School
campus. The unofficial meeting on July
12th was supposed to be a Hawaii Area planning meeting with all
chapters invited to be in attendance; no presidency change was on the agenda
and was therefore unauthorized. The
groups in attendance were chapter presidents from Los
Angeles, Anaheim,
and Vava’u and the 1st Assistant to the President and me. Many chapters that had representatives in Hawaii at that time were
not present in the meeting. As I
realized the direction the meeting was taking, I asked them to wait until the
other six chapters were in attendance, along with our Pataloni,
Samisoni Uasila’a. Not heeding my advice, they presented several
names for the Presidency, disqualifying those not in attendance and then
proceeded to take an unofficial vote where myself and my 2nd Assistant, who was also not present in the
meeting, were voted out and the group
voted themselves in as the new Saineha Alumni Presidency - Worldwide. For further clarification, a second meeting
was held after the activities that same evening. At the second meeting, all chapter
representatives attended along with our Pataloni and
Area Authority Seventy, Sione Fineanganofo.
As the meeting progressed the chapters absent in the earlier meeting,
along with the Pataloni Uasila’a
strongly disagreed with the unofficial changes, and by common consent returned
the Association Presidency back to the order of the current Presidency. As further evidence of this restoration, the
farewell fireside of the evening of Sunday, July 13, 2008, presided over by
Elder Fineanganofo, was under the direction of the original presidency. As a result of this restoration, my 1st
Assistant, Losaline Tupou
resigned her position the next day. I
hope this will answer some of the many questions that alumni and friends have
been asking concerning the undesirable events of that evening.
Despite difficulty, we will
continue forward in unity. We are looking forward for our reunion in Vava’u
2009. We are planning great events and
activities throughout the islands of Vava’u.
We want to invite all alumni and friends to join us in the festivities
in Vava’u 2009. Please check the website
www.sainehaalumni.com frequently for
news and the upcoming schedule of events in Vava’u.
Cordially,
Lusakava Finau
Saineha Alumni Association
Worldwide President
Atimoa Tuiaki
1st Assistant
Ofa Tonga
2nd Assistant
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