Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Pasifika community workers honoured
Two Pasifika women have been rewarded for going above and beyond in their work with Oranga Tamariki in Marlborough.
Senior practitioner Linda Tausese Opa and Pasifika engagement adviser Lynette Leota have been jointly awarded an Oranga Tamariki Te Tohu Huataki award, which recognises kaimahi/staff who do exceptional work, inspire others, support their teams and represent the organisation’s values.
The women said they were committed to “wrapping the village around families”, so they didn’t have to do the “ambulance work”.
Both women said they felt a strong calling to move to Marlborough from Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland, Leota in 2016 and Tausese Opa in 2020.
The second-generation Kiwis said Te Waiharakeke/Blenheim reminded them of 1970s Auckland, because many children here were migrants with English as a second language. The move had allowed them to have more time and energy for family and community, they said. In Auckland, parents spent many hours at work and on the road, so could struggle to look out for children.
Principles such as respect and looking after the elderly were fading, and peer influences could be negative.
Leota had Tongan heritage while Tausese Opa’s ancestry was Samoan/Tokelauan. They said they thought living in
Aotearoa was difficult for many Pasifika as they lost cultural identity and missed get-togethers with extended family.
Belief in God strengthened them in their work, they said.
Marlborough had a growing Pasifika community, now numbering at least 1400, plus about 2000 seasonal workers.
They said they were excited to be part of Oranga Tamariki’s new approach of co-designing targeted programmes with communities.
The bottom-up approach included supporting the launch of Nav Pasifika Marlborough in September last year.
The sports programme was run by Fijian and Samoan leaders who mentored 12 to 19-year-old Pasifika young people through rugby and volleyball training. Participants trained and competed while building physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing.
Highlights included Nav Pasifika rugby league teams playing a Crusaders versus Moana Pasifika curtain-raiser on April 7.
There was also the Moana Mamas groups, which strengthened cultural identity and community connections by creating support networks for Pasifika mothers.
Working with Pasifika organisation Kalia and the Ministry of Education, Leota had co-designed Roar Learning Vakia, an after-school programme for children aged 3 to 8, in which Pasifika tutors empowered children to overcome academic barriers and unleash potential through learning and leadership.
Oranga Tamariki was also supporting Tu’u Mālohi, an after-school programme run by Kalia for Pasifika boys, which was co-designed by Pasifika experts in health, justice, youth work, faith, community, social services and education.
With help from the Ministry of Education, Leota co-ordinated the donation of laptops to more than 20 Pasifika students to support their education. She also helped to provide 10 Pasifika parents with computer training and Chromebooks through the Ministry of Education’s Digimatua programme.
Outside of her work, she founded Marlborough’s first Pasifika Festival in 2019 and remained its creative director. Tausese Opa was also involved in the Kalia-run event, as stage manager.