Leader on a mission to help others
GROWING up in a country where her family were considered illegal immigrants, Melissa Lama never had any plans to study at university.
Her only aim was to learn enough to survive in New Zealand.
Born in New Zealand, she and her Tongan parents had to move around a lot to stay ahead of the immigration issues they had.
Life was difficult.
Like many other New Zealand children of past decades whose parents spoke English as a second language, she became a translator at the age of 5.
She knew how to fill out a Work and Income accommodation supplement form before she started intermediate school.
The 29yearold said trying to access health services and the issues with immigration policies drove her to see where she could do better for her Tongan communities.
Her study and work choices have all been towards that end.
‘‘It is all strategic. It’s not necessarily something I want to study, but it’s the best way to position me to be most effective for my community.
‘‘I don’t want any young person to experience what I did. It was a lot to carry.
‘‘Everything I do is for something bigger than myself.’’
Before coming to Dunedin to study, she worked in the public service sector, in Christchurch, as an adviser for the Ministry for Pacific Peoples and as a contractor to various other government departments.
When she did start her studies, she took political science at the University of Otago ‘‘to work out how the political machine works’’, while continuing to work for the Ministry of Social Development to help pay the bills.
More recently, the mother of two completed a master of business administration (MBA).
But she has not shrugged off her commitments to the community.
During her MBA, she juggled family with work for the University of Auckland on the Pasifika strand of an international youth resilience study, and she became the
Otago University Students’ Association president and a Pacific community advocate (particularly in advisory and representative roles for youth).
She also sits on the National Council of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations and is a member of the University Council’s appeals board and the finance and budget committee.
Today, Ms Lama will graduate with her MBA at the Dunedin Town Hall — something she is quite emotional about.
‘‘I’m excited. It was a bit of a journey. I’m not going to lie — I really struggled through the MBA.
‘‘My kids, my siblings and my mother are all very central to everything I do, and so I struggled to study sometimes. I struggled to prioritise study over the people that I love.
‘‘I’m really grateful that I got through because the number of times I nearly dropped out . . .’’
Next, she plans to study for a doctorate in business administration, focusing on the economic and political influence of foreign aid from New Zealand into the Pacific region.
Ultimately, she sees herself working in politics or as a diplomat.
‘‘My brothers call me Jacinda as a joke, but I’m like, don’t do that because you might actually jinx my chances of being prime minister.’’