It has been a significant year for Pasifika Medical Association (PMA) Scholarship alumni, Miriam Karalus. It is her first year out of the University of Auckland medical school as a qualified doctor and this year she is making a commitment to learn the Samoan language.
“From my perspective, being a New Zealand born afakasi Samoan, I’ve felt distant from my culture because I’m limited in the language. Knowing my language and trying to learn it is very important to me.”
This week is Samoan Language Week and it has reminded Miriam of the benefits of rediscovering her Samoan culture and forming a tight bond with her mother’s homeland.
“I appreciate how important it is to connect to your culture. The language takes that connection to another level and deepens your understanding.”
Miriam comes from a family of doctors. Her father is a doctor and he met her Samoan mother at Napier Hospital, where she was working as a nurse. She has five siblings who are also medical doctors and her great-grandmother was a nurse supervisor at the national nurses’ home in Samoa.
During her last year of medical training at the University of Auckland, Miriam spent time in the kidney unit of Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital in Samoa. She was also in Samoa during the measles epidemic and volunteered to help families who had lost children and loved ones to the disease. She was able to communicate to the patients with the little Samoan that she knew and it made a huge difference.
“I learned introductory statements and people responded really well to that and appreciated the effort that I was making. I valued the time I spent there.”
Last year, Miriam received the Dr Leopino Foliaki Scholarship, awarded to an indigenous Pacific student who is in their fifth year and studying towards a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Auckland.
Dr Foliaki was born and raised in Tonga and was accepted to study towards being a doctor in Fiji, and eventually made the move to New Zealand. While living here, Dr Foliaki became a leader within the Tongan community and a pioneer in the Pacific health sector.
Miriam is grateful to have received a scholarship that honours Dr Foliaki. She is currently working at the Waikato Hospital in general surgery and is using her scholarship to help fund her research in the area of dermatology.
“There’s not much research around how skin conditions affect Pacific Islanders. I want to do this research and use the data to help Pacific Islanders receive specialist care in this area.”
Applications for the Dr Leopino Foliaki Scholarship and the other PMA Scholarships are now open.
Please visit: www.pacifichealth.org.nz/2021-pacific-health-education-scholarships/
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Date: Friday 04 June 2021